Pornography is no longer confined to Playboy magazines or adult video stores. It’s on billboards, it’s in New York Times bestsellers, and it’s one click away on the browser in your pocket. Christians today cannot avoid encountering porn; instead, we must win the war in our minds. Yet sadly, many Christians today are slaves instead of overcomers.
A number of excellent resources have been published in recent years addressing this growing problem. To this arsenal we add Rescue Plan by Deepak Reju and Jonathan D. Holmes. This book is designed to enable ordinary “disciplers” to help their friend, their child, or their fellow church member escape pornography.
The authors define pornography addiction as “voluntary slavery”. That is to say, it is both an act of the will and a pattern of actions that controls our will. In the same way, the gospel brings freedom both by transforming our desires and by enabling our will to say no to the flesh. “Sexual sin combines the cravings of our bodies and our hearts” (37). Restricting access and replacing anonymity with accountability are important tools, but must be accompanied by a change of desires in the heart.
Several things set this book apart from others on the subject. Most notably, the book addresses porn use by women as well as men. We often view porn as a man’s problem, but as the authors show, that is demonstrably no longer the case. While men and women may be drawn to porn differently, sexual sin is a human problem, not a male problem.
The book also specifically addresses masturbation. While many Christian leaders (James Dobson for instance) consider masturbation to be permissible or unimportant, the authors present a clear argument that masturbation is, in fact, sin and slavery according to Biblical principles. (One disappointment: the authors characterize Tim Chester as “pro-masturbation,” but in context, they misrepresented his positon.)
Another thing Rescue Plan does well is being frank and practical without being explicit. Reju and Holmes share real stories of individuals they have counselled from wide-ranging scenarios. They look at the differences in how men and women view porn, the unique temptations singles may have, and the destructive cycle of broken trust when a spouse struggles with porn. In each of these scenarios, the sin of pornography may look different, but the hope of the gospel remains the same.