real hope for lasting freedom
“But godly men will not masturbate, even if the Bible is silent about it” — or so people say. Is it OK to create “rules” for living that God didn’t include in the Scriptures? Can they help? Can they hurt? Man-Made “Rules” for Righteousness Man-made rules for righteousness always make sense. They’re really pretty easy […]
“I might be ‘addicted’ to masturbation? How much is ‘too much’?” In Part 1 of this FAQ, we showed that the the Bible mentions, but does not condemn masturbation. In Part 2, we saw that we do have freedom to masturbate, provided it is not an expression of sinful lust. But if we’re “allowed” to […]
Masturbation and Lust… are they the same? In Part 1 of this FAQ, we demonstrated that when masturbation is mentioned in the bible, it is not condemned. If we claim it is wrong in spite of that fact, we risk creating and promoting a “man-made” rule for righteousness… something that’s doomed to fail (Col. 2:20-23). […]
I’m going to take some heat for this blog post… (Note to our Catholic brothers and sisters… these articles are written from an Evangelical Protestant perspective. Due to some differences in how our traditions come to our understanding of God’s moral law, there will always be some issues upon which we disagree… and this is […]
The cultural and (unfortunately) “Christian” taboo that our bodies are shameful and/or primarily sexual is painfully in evidence at the gym where I work out. Good Ol’ Days At my high school in the locker room for gym class, guys stripped, showered, and dried off without ever bothering to wrap in a towel. The same […]
God has patience with Christian teachers who support or promote a worldly, sex-obsessed view of female breasts. How do I know? Because He did with me. He’s Patient, but Not Passive… I used to parrot the “moral majority” by defiling my Gospel preaching with a message that unwittingly portrayed women and their breasts as sex […]
They’re wearing bikinis! My wife and I enjoyed watching the Olympics. As volleyball fans, we made a special effort to watch as many of the beach and indoor matches as we could. One day, while watching Kerri and Misty continue their Olympic “undefeated” streak, one of my 11 year-old son’s friends came to the house. […]
Victory over sin is short-lived when God’s truth is traded for lies. God’s Kingdom is founded on truth. Only submission to “the God of truth” brings spiritual redemption (Psalm 31:5). Deception led us into sin. Truth alone leads us out (John 8:32). If a lie gives you apparent relief, it will be only temporary. […]
I was in a online forum recently where someone posed the question in the title of this post. There are a lot of people today who really see no harm in porn. So… they ask… why is porn wrong? This was my response: ========== Porn is wrong because it tells lies. It lies about the […]
We exist to glorify God! Paul said that whatever we do, we should do for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Jesus made it clear that He is very concerned about our thoughts and motives (the “why?”) as well as our actions (Matt. 5:28). Consequently, we would be prudent to assess ourselves by how […]