The Robertsons open up about pornography: Childhood exposures and the road to freedom

On a recent episode of “Unashamed,” the Robertson brothers and Zach Dasher dove headfirst into the infamous P-word.

Pornography has become an epidemic that enslaves millions and millions of people, most often boys and men. While it’s technically been around for millennia, the digital age has brought porn into the mainstream and made it nearly impossible to avoid. It’s on our televisions; it’s on our phones; even artificial intelligence has fused with the industry in ways that can only be described as sick and depraved.

Today, many boys are exposed to porn long before they hit puberty.

Al, who grew up in an era where pornography was still confined to magazines, says he first encountered it at a “very young” age — “probably 7 or 8 years old” — while living next door to the bar Phil owned and operated before his radical conversion to Christianity. This early exposure caused Al to struggle for years, even into his marriage.

Zach Dasher has a similar story. When he was just 11 years old, his friend’s older brother put on an adult movie with the intention of introducing the younger boys to pornography. Years later, Zach learned from renowned Christian counselor Dr. Trent Langhofer that exposure to pornography before puberty has “the same effect on you as being sexually molested.”

“It made a lot of sense to me because that was an imprint in me that I dealt with for years. ... I think that that early exposure probably set me on a trajectory of sin for many years,” he says.

Jase, who was lucky enough to avoid exposure in his early years, says that he sees pornography as an issue that roots back to creation. God created Adam and said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone,” so out of His kindness, He created Eve and subsequently marriage and sex. Pornography, however, is a perversion of God’s good design.

Not only does it isolate man, which God already said wasn’t good, it also taints his view of reality, and harms his relationships, especially the one with his wife, Jase explains.

Al says something that helped him think differently about pornography was having his own daughters and wrestling with the reality that every girl on a magazine page or a screen is not only someone’s daughter but also an image bearer of God. “You start thinking like Jesus thinks,” he says.

Zach found freedom in not just learning the truth but by taking action. Accountability was key in helping him break the cycle. Confession is the first step, he says, and if you’re married, it needs to be to your wife. “Now you’ve got skin in the game,” he says.

“And then after the confession, you have to find new rhythms ... we are what we consume.”

“If you consume something different, then you will become something different. You will worship what you behold. And so if you're beholding entertainment, then that's what you will eventually begin to worship,” he warns.

Freedom is “truth coupled with discipline.”

To hear more of the panel’s honest conversation, watch the episode above.

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