Porndemic: a quick book review

Title: PORNDEMIC: How the Pornography Plague Affects You and What You Can Do About It.
Author: Taryn Hodgson (with Dr. Peter Hammond and Christine McCafferty)
Publisher: Christian Liberty Books
Year Published: 2013
ISBN: 978-0-9780165-5-3
Pages: 255
Format: Paperback

Without a doubt, whenever I pick up one of the books written by staff from Africa Christian Action (ACA), I am challenged and given hope that issues are being dealt with in South Africa. And this book by Taryn Hodgson is no different. I have met Taryn and appreciate her ministry at ACA very much. In South Africa, ACA is at the forefront of battling the death-at-all-costs abortion machine, and also the very fast declining morality of the South African mindset. ACA has covered many different topics in their books over the years, such as abortion, Biblical government, the genocide in Rwanda, the situation in Sudan, homosexuality, and many more.

In this book, the topic of pornography is tackled head-on, pulling no punches. While the arguments are based squarely on the Bible, research on the topic is also dealt with. Even though it was written for the South African situation, it certainly will benefit readers from other countries too. Some facts from other countries are also presented in the book.

PORNDEMIC is an update on a book that Dr. Peter Hammond published back in 1991. Christine McCafferty started an update more than 11 years ago. Taryn took over the reigns and finally expanded, updated and completed the project.

The book covers the historical data on how pornography was legalized in South Africa, even though the majority by far, were against it. But, then, that is what the ANC does. They claim to listen to public input, just to do whatever they want when the public disagrees with them. The same happened in the case of abortion and homosexual ‘marriage.’ PORNDEMIC deals with the harm of pornography, the Biblical data, hope for those who are addicted, deals with objections to the anti-porn stance, how to deal with the porn law, and more.

It is definitely worthwhile reading, especially for its insights and practical value.

As with my review of James White’s book “Pulpit Crimes,” I do have some negative comments. However, these comments should not stop you from getting your hands on a copy of the book. When I read a newspaper, magazine or book, I expect the spelling and grammar mistakes to be sorted out, since (like most of us would suppose), these published reading materials were supposed to be edited for mistakes like these. There aren’t many, but they are there. Simple things such as incorrect copying of a verse from the Bible, wrong verb forms when the plural is used and not making good use of commas. The comma is our friend, especially in long sentences, and where parentheses are used.

“In South Africa, we need to lobby the Minister of Trade and Industry to have the Business Act (71 of 1991) amended to allow consideration of location (proximity to schools, churches etc.), proximity to other ‘adult’ businesses e.g. night clubs, liquor shops (so that the area does not become a magnet for crime) public participation and discretionary powers for local municipalities.” (pp170-171) I would have made at least one change to this long sentence, and that is using a comma between “crime)” and “public” close to the end of the sentence.

“Phoenix and Indianapolis land use studies indicate that the ‘negative land use impact of a single adult use extends for up to three blocks.’” (p169) I suspect that “adult use” should be “adult shop.”

“[] An Arizona land use study (1990) police found puddles of semen on the floor and walls in the peep booths of ‘adult shops.’” (p169) Here the sentence would make sense by starting it off with “In.”

“. . . web filtering software designed to process thousands of web requests and check them against a global database of millions of known websites that resides in the Internet cloud . . .” (p164) Grammar: “reside.”

“The Internet filtering specialist, Watchdog International, is a tech organisation has blocked child porn from the Internet in many different countries.” (p164) Missing word: “organisation that has.”

“’But if anyone causes one of these little one who believe in Me to sin, . . .” (p xii – Foreword by Dr. Peter Hammond) Misquotation: “ones.”

“Our values and beliefs affects our actions.” (pxiii – Foreword) Grammar: “affect.”

Only a few of these types of mistakes are left in the text that I have not given here. So, there aren’t many, but they are there. But, as I said, don’t let these types of mistakes stop you from missing the content of this book.

“Pornography destroys minds, morals and marriages. Surprisingly in this day and age there are still many people who are not aware that pornography is addictive and just how addictive it is! Research shows that a porn addition is often more difficult to break than an addiction to cocaine!” (p91)

For those that think porn is not such a big problem, this book must be read by them.