David vs. Goliath

So, last October I got an e-mail forwarded from the Lighted Candle Society about an episode of the Oprah show that was titled "237 Reasons to have Sex" which featured "experts" who advocated casual sex with friends, pornography, and having affairs as ways to improve relationships and marriage. Anyway, I logged in and signed the petition to voice my opposition and also signed up for updates on the Lighted Candle Society - an anti-pornography organization. About a week ago I received an invitation for a luncheon at the Lion House for the LCS. Yesterday my sister, grandma and I attended and it was amazing, stirring, and motivational (not to mention the food was MELT IN YOUR MOUTH. I need to get the recipe for those rolls, honey butter & chicken cordon bleu). A couple of the highlights:

- Dr. Mary Beard, PhD talked about back in the 1800s in San Fransisco where they had taken young Asian girls and had a section of town where they would solicit prostitution. The women of the community were appalled at gathered their pots and pans and marched in that area singing hymns. What happened? People stopped coming because they were ashamed and the problem was brought into the open. Now, of course, we can't go around banging pots and pans because most of its online, but I think we all believe there is nothing we can do about it & this luncheon really made me realize that there's plenty we can do!

- John Harmer talked about the almost million dollars that they have put into research of the effects of pornography. The Supreme Court won't let them use morals as a basis of fighting pornography, so they have done much research into the effects of pornography on the human brain. Their theory is that it will actually shrink the brain and show much the same effects as drugs or tobacco. They talked about an ad that would be reminiscent of the 80's - "this is your brain." "this is your brain on porn." I think to compare it to the tobacco industry would be appropriate. For decades people smoked to their hearts content (Ok, so that's a bad analogy) and didn't realize the effects it had on their bodies. From the results of these studies, they'll hopefully be able to show that pornography has just as harmful of effects. Another way that it's like the tobacco industry: it's taken and still is taking thousands of dollars in litigation to bring these tobacco giants to justice for the damage that they have done to society. I believe it's the same with the pornography industry. They're huge. They're goliaths. And what they distribute is breaking up homes and breaking up families and causing extreme addiction and the courts don't fight them.

My sister brought up the point about "freedom of press." This organization is not intending on fighting that, but their mission states "We envision a society where pornography is widely shunned, spurned and recognized as a threat to society. We foresee a future where serious consequences await those that produce and distribute sexually explicit material.In pursuit of this vision, the Lighted Candle Society 1) supports civil litigation against those that profit from pornography, 2) finances scientific research to study the effects of pornography and 3) publishes information to help families combat the scourge of pornography."

Ok, so have I "soapboxed" enough? I think it's easy to give up hope, but they have specific, simple things you and I can do to make a difference. Below is the link if you want to not just know more but do more. You can also e-mail me at sunkist64@hotmail.com for more information. I do not think I would be presumptious by thinking everyone reading this at least knows someone who's life has been affected by this problem. We as women have so much more power than we realize, and as I was sitting there & they were talking about how difficult this fight will be, the spirit touched me so strongly and I felt "but JESUS CHRIST will be with you on this effort" and I almost cried. I do believe this is a righteous battle - and if we don't fight it - who will? What will the world be like when our children are our age?

http://www.lightedcandle.org/r/