I've been looking at porn on the Internet for years, and I am finding it practically impossible to overcome the habit. How do I finally rid myself of the stuff?

Here are three steps that will help you resist the temptation in the future.

First, If you have pornographic magazines or videos, throw them all away immediately. Since the Internet has been a problem, at the very least you should install filtering software on your computer. You might even want to consider whether there is any way you can take a break from using the Web entirely, or go a while with minimal Web access (perhaps with the images turned off in your browser or with a text-only browser, like Lynx, that does not use images).

Second, find a person with whom you can be honest about your habit, and be accountable to him. A friend, family member, or someone else you look up to can help you win the battle. Don't try to do this on your own. It is also helpful to have this person in your life as an example of how to treat women.

Third, take a look at your motivation to overcome the habit. Are you simply trying to conquer the temptations because the habit is embarrassing or because you are afraid you will be caught? Elevate your motivation so that you are working to overcome the problem for the sake of love. Do it for the love of women and to make yourself worthy of your future bride.

When a person looks at pornography, on some level he is looking for love. It is a warped attempt to give of yourself and receive another. The fantasy woman may seem as if she is entirely yours, although a million other men feel the same way toward her. If a young man longs for love, then he must strive to acquire the selflessness that will enable him to properly love a woman. Getting rid of porn should not be seen as a loss but as an opportunity to grow in that selflessness.

Imagine that you found the woman of your dreams and got married. As you carry her across the threshold of your honeymoon suite, she wraps her arms around your neck, looks into your eyes, and whispers how excited she is. She tells you that she has waited all her life for this day, and to make it extra special, she has been looking at thousands of pornographic images of men on the Internet. You would probably drop her on the floor. You see, not only should we wait for our spouses with our bodies; we must wait for them with our minds. So for the sake of love, trash the pornographic magazines, Web sites, and videos. If you're going to get married one day, isn’t your bride worth waiting to see?

If you persevere in the battle for purity, you can and will lose the desire to look at pornography. You will not lose sexual desire, but when you see women degraded, you will be filled with pity for them instead of lust. What many men do not realize is that the virtue of purity is not supposed to annihilate your attractions. It won’t make you forget how beautiful women are. It will open your eyes to the full beauty they possess, so that you won't want to look at them as mere body parts. When you trash the porn and decide to actually love women, you will see that the passing satisfaction of porn was nothing but an illusion that promised you everything and gave you nothing.