y s a   l e a d e r s

These materials were written by individuals with extensive background in the area of helping individuals recover from pornography use. The committee that wrote these materials includes LDS ecclesiastical leaders, LDS professional therapists, and counselors. These materials are not an official church publication. These materials are intended as a helpful resource only, not as the definitive way to approach counseling on fighting pornography. We do believe the insights these resources provide can assist leaders in dealing with this significant challenge.

For priesthood leaders; their loving guidance, counsel and generous amount of time that they give ward/stake members are very much appreciated. It is recognized that a large portion of their interviewing hours are spent in helping members repent of pornography use. Many of these members, having repeatedly viewed pornography and who started at an early age are now addicted. It is hoped that these materials can help leaders deal with these issues. There is a great need for priesthood leaders to have clear, consistent training to help them be more effective in helping their members overcome this destructive sin and/or addiction.

The attached materials have been developed to give you better understanding of how to:

1. Detect a member’s pornography involvement
2. Assess the scope and nature of the involvement
3. Assist them in developing a personal plan of action
4. Help them in following their personal plan of action
5. Provide accountability and support after repentance

The principles which guided the development of these materials are:

1. There is no specified time period for repentance.
2. Repentance is produced and reflected by proper behavior.
3. Sin has consequences.
4. Love motivates people to change.
5. Forgiveness comes from God.
6. Healing comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
7. Bishops must follow the promptings of the Spirit.
8. It typically takes a long time to repent of sins of an addictive nature.
9. Christ said to the sinner, "Go and sin no more" (John 8:11). We shouldn’t expect less.
10. A change in heart, as mentioned in Alma 5, is the goal.

Although masturbation is not specifically mentioned in these materials, it is recognized that it is a behavior typically associated with pornography use and there are some members that participate in masturbation that do not participate in pornography. Leaders should work with members to help them overcome both issues.