“The wicked has laid a snare, but I will not turn away from your law.”
As pornography spreads rapidly through online social media, the problem of harmful effects on youth is becoming increasingly serious. Amid governments’ strengthening regulations on social media, voices calling for church members to respond together based on Biblical values are growing.
In May of this year, the famous social media company X introduced new content regulations that officially allow pornography, including allowing users over 18 years of age to access adult nude and sex scenes produced and distributed through consent. In addition, other social media such as Instagram and YouTube have also been found to have issues raised concerning adult content.
YouTube was no exception. According to the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCC), from 2019 to August 2023, there were more than 1,600 videos for which the Korea Communications Standards Commission requested corrective action due to pornographies, prostitution, and sex crimes.
In addition, sexual exploitation and deepfake pornography are rampant on social media. Deepfake pornography is a video that synthesises a victim into pornography using artificial intelligence technology. It was revealed that 4,691 cases of deepfake video production were detected by the National Security Commission between January and April of this year.
As the problem aggravates, voices concerned about the negative impact on youth are also growing. CBN News in the U.S. reported that as pornography spreads in the U.S., children are becoming more comfortable with nudity and the proportion of children aged 9 to 12 who thought it was normal to share nude pornography was 21% as of 2020 among the children surveyed.
A study by Professor Kim Jae-yeop’s team at Yonsei University found that pornography was a major cause of sexual violence among adolescents. Watching pornography can lead to actual sexual violence crimes.
Many Countries are responding by strengthening related laws, and the Christian community is urging believers to unite and respond through the Word. “If we are to raise our children according to the Biblical truth, our most pressing problem is to address the poisoning of their minds by pornography,” said Heather Hefner, director of communications for American Family Association Action.
“It is our responsibility to protect our children from these destructive influences,” Hefner said. “Parents, churches, educators, communities and lawmakers must unite behind Biblical truth to prevent children from being exposed to explicit content.” (Source: Comprehensive Gospel Prayer Newspaper)
I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. (Psalms 119:101, 119)
God, please protect the next generation, whose thoughts and minds are being polluted by the spread of pornography through social media and technology. May You guard the hearts of our young generation and sanctify them with your Word. In this era when one can easily fill the lust of the body and eye with a click, may You grace them with wisdom to resist the snares of enemies and choose to protect their souls. Let governments, churches, and families unite in protecting their children and raising them with the right values so that they can be raised as the Lord’s valiant generation who do not depart from the word of life and go forward without ceasing for the Lord and His kingdom.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
