Elder Kearon: Overcome Pornography’s Harm With Trio of Hope, Help and Healing

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By Kaitlyn Bancroft, Church News

Elder Patrick Kearon testified of the Savior’s power on Saturday, March 1, during the 2025 Utah Coalition Against Pornography Conference for Hope, Help and Healing. His address, in a prerecorded video, was the conference’s morning keynote session.

The Utah Coalition Against Pornography is a nonprofit organization focused on “raising awareness about the harmful effects of pornography and promoting education, prevention and recovery.”

Hundreds of people turned out for UCAP’s annual conference, held this year on the Salt Lake Community College campus. The proceedings were also globally livestreamed in 140 languages, and session recordings will be available for online viewing later this month.

Elder Kearon focused his remarks on what he described as the “beautifully optimistic trio” of hope, help and healing for anyone harmed by pornography.

Hope

He first explored hope, particularly for those harmed by their own choices or the choices of others.

Any habit, compulsive behavior or addiction that takes over a person’s life can feel like a never-ending battle, he said, one that robs an individual of self-worth, separates them from life’s beauties and isolates them in a cycle of guilt, shame and despair.

But the Savior’s atoning gift provides a way back from any loss, wound, pain, heartache or addiction, no matter how low someone has sunk, Elder Kearon continued. That’s why the sense that an individual is beyond help — beyond the reach of Jesus Christ’s Atonement — is itself harmful and destructive, he said.

“Our God of hope offers miraculous healing, peace and assurance that we are never alone,” Elder Kearon said, “and when we are in the depths of misery and cannot feel His love and grace in our hearts, we must cling to the knowledge of this eternal truth in our heads until we can feel once again.”

Help

Elder Kearon next spoke about giving and receiving help. He said that many of those gathered at Saturday’s conference represent the best of science, research, counseling and medicine.

“Help can be found from others all around you, and help comes from above, and we need both,” Elder Kearon said.

He emphasized that modern medicine and faith are complimentary; and mentioned that the Church provides a variety of resources for those struggling with addiction, including mental health services and a 12-step addiction recovery program.

Giving and receiving help takes deliberate, concerted, resolute effort, Elder Kearon said, with plenty of forgiveness and grace for all involved when those efforts don’t always bring the desired outcome.

“So we keep trying again and again,” Elder Kearon said. “We employ every beneficial resource, angle and approach. We, like the Savior, do not give up on ourselves or others, and we do not abandon hope again.”

Healing

Finally, Elder Kearon spoke about “the sometimes unbelievable prospect of healing.”

Healing occurs when loved ones work together in a healthy, supportive and non-blaming manner, he said; and healing is accelerated through honest communication, healthy boundaries and personal accountability.

He explained that for believers, “it is a source of boundless comfort to have the reassurance that the Savior walks this path with us.”

Elder Kearon continued that it can be hard to believe in His atoning power when in the midst of struggles, setbacks, frustrations and reopened wounds, but the Lord does not expect perfection. “He yearns for our progress, and He will stay with us to the end.”

Elder Kearon also referenced the New Testament story of the woman with an issue of blood who, after 12 years of suffering, touched the Savior’s garment hem and was healed.

This “blazing moment of brilliant faith,” in which an individual reached for the Savior, is “so profoundly hopeful and significant,” said Elder Kearon — because Christ declared her not just healed, but whole (Mark 5:34).

“The Savior does not merely treat symptoms. He restores souls.”

‘Infinite Means Infinite’

Elder Kearon concluded with his testimony that the most difficult, daunting challenges can be overcome through faith in Jesus Christ.

“My ultimate hope for those of you still battling, which I know you can achieve, is that you will receive the greatest of all God’s gifts, eternal life,” Elder Kearon said. “This is well within your reach. ...

“If you are prone to worry that you will never measure up or that the loving reach of Christ’s infinite Atonement mercifully covers everyone else but not you, then you misunderstand ‘infinite.’

“Infinite means infinite. Infinite covers you and those you love.”

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