A New Man

Luke Reynolds begins this book by sharing an afternoon in his childhood in which he and his friend enjoyed typical boyhood games. Both their games and their innocence were shattered when they came, entirely by chance, upon a porn magazine buried in a woodpile. That single occurence began many years of addiction and spiritual illness in Reynold's life, proving in brutal reality how addictive the filth of porn really is. Some have referred to porn's putrid attraction as a siren's call, but I'd call it more of a carrion call: all it offers is trash and the ruins of a person's soul, yet the seeds of hell planted in every heart since the betrayal of Eden answer it with a diseased hunger. I never fully realized how harmful pornography is until I read this book. I was drawn into Reynold's frank honesty and grueling story after just a few pages and couldn't put it down. Luke Reynolds is a man who has escaped this death trap and fearlessly, thoroughly reveals all the snares and the damage that it does to the soul. In this book, he not only refutes pornography, but takes a deep exploration of a man's heart and how society, from porn to advertising, has distorted its true image. Reynolds explains the inflated macho image that the world has tried to paint of men: completely tough, needing no one, and dominator of women. This image is a false model of masculinity, robbing men of not only their human vulnerability, but their ability to truly connect with women. Only weak women like being dominated and only weak men will rule them; God, Reynolds explains, has a different design in mind. Reynolds proves, many times in this book, just how much porn tears both the male and the female soul apart. Sometimes it reduces a man to a wreck of a human being, while others it makes a monster of him; such was the case of Ted Bundy, Reynolds explains, whose entire sadistic bloodthirst actually began with a Playboy. After Bundy became addicted to the wanton images, he could never get enough: he developed an evil craving that grew with every image and ultimately demanded the horrid death of a woman to be sated. I had never come close to grasping the harm pornography does to a man's soul, in regards to his views of women, until reading this. Porn, spiritually speaking, spills a woman's blood and afflicts a man with the sadistic desire to consume it. In this book Reynolds proves, with Ted Bundy's horrific revelation, that porn opens a black hole in a man's soul: dark and cold, never satisfied, and constantly consuming and destroying everything in its path. Women are dealt a death blow of another kind: their spirits are crushed and their bodies, abused and disregarded, are dangled above these black holes to draw men into them. What porn does, in a nutshell, is completely destroy God's design of both men and women. No wonder men addicted to porn have a hunger that's never satisfied: a man naturally seeks a woman to complete him, a woman that is full and complete herself. Yet,

Men in today's American society have a lot of insecurities that are finally coming to the fore front. In the Earlier years men needed to be the tough guy, the guy that didn't show emotion or express his feelings. To be a man you have to be the promiscuous girl chaser. Porn is the leader in this ideal and no one knew how influential porn was in the every day lives of men around the world and how negatively it impacts them. In Luke Reynolds memoir A New Man he shows how negatively porn affects men's lives all across the U.S. Luke Reynolds shares with the world his struggles with pornography and in doing so connects with any man out there who have ever picked up a smut Magazine or orders pay-per-view porn on their TV's. He starts out his book recalling the first time he had ever seen a porno mag. He recalls exploring a river bed with his friend on a Saturday morning, when he came across an adult magazine next to a log. He passionately shares his mixture of intrigue and embarrassment at what he was seeing. He was only eight years old when he came upon the magazine. He then goes on to share that from then on he had a problem with watching pornography. As a man in my young stages of adulthood I can relate to his story. I remember my first time reading a girlie magazine and I recall sharing the same exact feelings that he portrays in his book. I remember being shocked at what I saw and still I couldn't stop turning the pages. I too regularly watch porn not realizing the negative effects that porn has not only on me but my relationships women and how I view them. Not only does Luke Reynolds share his struggles with pornography, he also shows how it skews men's view of woman. He shows how porn degrades women; by the way they are treated in the magazines and films. He points out that the women in every porno film are in some way shape or form conquered by the man they are engaged in intercourse with. He also shows how porn films never have foreplay and that it effects the men watching it because they get the wrong idea what having a relationship pertains to. Because of this men don't know how to properly treat their women and it indirectly is the cause of why marriages go under. Not only is his memoir about the negative effects of porn but it also shows the problem with our society's idea of what a man is. To aid his point he gives stories of men that act like a real man should versus the closed off loner that our society views a real man to be. He shows through this section called Authentic Strength how a real man is the person who looks out for others, can share his feelings, and treats the women in their lives the way they should be treated. I too have had trouble with relationship troubles because of what. I believed society wanted me to be. I was the womanizer, the guy who would never cry. Because of this I would cheat on girls who deserved to be treated the right way. They needed to be courted and treated like a human being. This book touch

Luke Reynolds has written a powerful and important new book about the disastrous effects of pornography on males in our society. A New Man is timely and should be read by anyone who has ever gazed at a centerfold or rented a porn video. Reynolds writes with a fierce passion, and argues that the overconsumption of pornography not only turns females into objects, but produces massive numbers of weak and emotionally immature males. It's hard to deny the impact that violent and demeaning pornographic images have had on the last few generations of males, particularly in the United States. Reynolds tells of his own prior addiction to pornography, and how overcoming it led to spiritual growth and a strong and lasting relationship. I strongly recommend this book to everyone.

Pornography. A mere mention of the word conjures up deep, disturbing emotions and insights a riot of epic proportions within my very being. To speak the word "pornography" makes me understand that this murderer of men and women alike will no longer be a silent killer, and that pornography will never be a victimless crime, although some would certainly enjoy this falsity to be masqueraded as reality. To read about it, the lives it has captured, the civil wars it has caused, and the abuse it has levied invokes fear, and yet gives me hope and courage, and a perspective that pornography is neither a you nor me issue, but rather a we issue. This theme of courage, specifically the courage to combat the social ills caused by the deceitful and cowardice nature of the billion dollar pornography industry, and even pornography itself, is outlined masterfully in Luke Reynolds's new book, A New Man, truly a book for every man. Reynolds confronts his own personal nemesis of pornography head on, equipping readers with a surplus of power and reason. The gentle yet passionate Reynolds honestly reveals his own struggles and how the ultimatums presented him by life have given him the courage to fight porn in his own life, but more importantly to fight the influence of pornography on culture. With a first-rate, in-depth analysis of the effects that pornography has on society, weaving its web of destruction far beyond the advertised agenda of "fantasy and pleasure", Reynolds reminds readers of the correlation between pornography use and violence, rape, murder, and other heinous crimes. At first glance this idea may be met with denial, but that is exactly what the pornography industry wants you to think! There is insurmountable empirical data outlined in Reynolds book that makes this reality impossible to deny, and even more difficult to accept. Reynolds links multiple national travesties, including the Ted Bundy murders and the recent Virginia Tech shootings, to the effects of pornography on society, numbing us to violence, robbing us of any real voice, and making that which is insecure even more so. Now there are many books of the self help genre on the market discussing the personal battles of lust and pornography. The problem with most of them, as I have found as an interested partisan in the issue of pornography, is that they attempt to attack the problem by confronting individuals, hoping to inspire change in one's self and for one's self. Unfortunately, the disease and addiction of porn is not solely about the viewer or those being viewed, but rather about a monstrous corroder of communities throughout the world that has, and excuse my pun, snuck in through the back door. Reynolds thankfully strays from this common idea of fixing yourself, and offers a refreshingly au courant perspective and a greater incentive to not only abstaining from pornography use, but to replace the disease of pornography with a cure, and that cure being to engage the pornographic

A New Man by Luke Reynolds is an absolutely fascinating view of modern man that outlines how pornography, advertising, and popular culture affect his confidence, his effectiveness, his relationships, and his contributions to society. It is exceptionally well-written, straight forward, and powerful; I couldn't put it down. Insightful, surprising, and at times provocative, Reynolds' style is immaculate. A must read for both men and women.