“A Hidden Public Health Hazard”

AN AMAZING third of adult Internet users in the United States have visited some type of sexual site, a recent survey on on-line sex revealed. Vast numbers of people are now giving in to their sexual urges through the Internet. “This is a hidden public health hazard exploding, in part, because very few are recognizing it as such or taking it seriously,” says Dr. Al Cooper, the psychologist who conducted the survey.

Who are especially vulnerable to such cybersex? “Those users whose sexuality may have been suppressed and limited all their lives” but who “suddenly find an infinite supply of sexual opportunities” on the Internet, says Dr. Cooper.

Most of those who frequent sexual sites, however, consider the practice to be harmless. Is it? Just as a drug addict develops a tolerance for the drug on which he is hooked, many cybersex addicts seek an increased “dose” of sexuality on the Internet to gratify their cravings. Why, they may even jeopardize their job and their relationship with their mate!

However, those who want to please God have an added reason to avoid visiting sexual sites on the Internet. God’s Word admonishes: “Deaden, therefore, your body members that are upon the earth as respects fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite, hurtful desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of those things the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:5, 6) In order to ‘deaden his body members’ with regard to unclean sexual appetite, a person needs to cultivate strong love for Jehovah God. (Psalm 97:10) If he finds himself lured to the public health hazard of cybersex, he ought to strengthen his love for Jehovah by studying God’s Word, the Bible. Wholesome association with Jehovah’s Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall can go a long way toward helping a person to strengthen his determination to please God.