50 Shades of Strange

I have not read 50 Shades of Grey, nor do I plan to. The book is a bona fide publishing phenom, but every description I have read is that the story amounts to literary pornography. For that reason, I can’t imagine anything helpful coming from the film version set to be released later this year. I’ll be sitting that one out too. So I have great sympathy for the concerns Aimee Byrd expresses about the reception of the forthcoming movie. 

She writes: Now the trailer is out for the movie. And just this week, I am encountering more shades of strange for a movie that isn’t even releasing until February. I am shocked by some of my mom friends that have posted the trailer on Facebook, tagging some of my other mom friends about the “Mom’s Night Out” they look forward to having in February. Some of these women profess to be Christians. They all have daughters in middle or high school. And sons.   Continue at Denny Burk

The End of Morality Laws? Not Exactly

Does the legalization of same-sex marriage and polygamy mean the end of all morality laws? George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley thinks so, and he openly celebrates the death of all morals legislation—or, at least he says he does.

Turley was the lead counsel in the “Sister Wives” case in Utah that legalized polygamy in that state last month, a reversal of the very morals legislation that the U. S. government required of Utah for that territory to be admitted as a state in the late nineteenth century.

Here is how Professor Turley explained the case:  Continue at Al Mohler

Lil’ Wayne, Pepsi and Twisted Sexuality

Last month, Pepsi Co. broke ties with the rapper Lil’ Wayne over controversy stemming from a song released on his most recent album titled “Karate Chop.” In the tune Wayne describes beating a woman in a sexual act until part of her body “looks like Emmitt Till.”

Till was a young African American killed in Mississippi in 1955. Originally from Chicago, he was visiting relatives for the summer. At some point, Till allegedly whistled at a white married woman named Carolyn Bryant who proceeded to tell her husband of Till’s actions. Her husband, Roy Bryant and a friend, J.W. Milam proceeded to track Till down, nab him at gun point and drag him to a barn where they beat him mercilessly before shooting him in the head. The men then threw Till’s body in the Tallahatchie river where it was discovered by some boys fishing a few days later.

Till’s mother was so distraught and outraged that she had her son’s body transported to Chicago where she insisted Emmitt be given an open-casket funeral. His mother’s wishes were carried out and Till’s partially decomposed and grossly disfigured face was displayed at the service. The incident was published in the paper along with the photo of Till’s swollen corpse.

The men who murdered Till were later acquitted and the case became one of many that fueled the civil rights movement in America.   Continue at Ryan Rindels

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Believe God, Not Porn

This article was originally posted at my site.  You can also connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

On December 30, 2012, Russell Moore tweeted,

The Bible Belt: When the strip club you pass on the highway has “Happy Birthday Jesus” on the neon sign outside.

This begs the question concerning whether or not a strip club can celebrate the birth of Christ while communicating that a woman’s value is solely dependent upon her sexual availability. You see this lie perpetuated in how women are portrayed on Television, in movies, books, music, etc. and even in how women portray themselves. Of course, this devaluing of humanity is not reserved for women only. Men too are often reduced to sexual objects in our culture and society (Consider the young man who cannot keep his shirt on in the Twilight movie series). What Christians must understand is that how we view other humans and how we want other humans to view us reveals what we believe about the value of humanity. Both Porn and God make arguments about the value of humanity. Porn communicates that the value of men and women is bound up supremely in their sexual availability. God, on the other hand, argues that man is valuable because he or she is created in His image (Gen. 1:26-27). Who will we believe?   Continue at SBCVoices

20 Ways Satan May Seek to Destroy You

He is the serpent, the Great Dragon, Beelzebul, the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the evil one, and the adversary. He is Satan. And—if you are a follower of Jesus Christ—he hates your guts with a passion. Like a roaring lion he is prowling about seeking to destroy you. How can you stand firm and resist the devil so that he will flee from you? First, do not be naive; you must consider his ways.

1. He may slander God to you in order to cast doubt on God’s goodness and shipwreck your faith (Gen 3:4-5).
2. He may tempt you to deceive others in order to create, or maintain, the impression of being more spiritual (Acts 5:3; Jn 8:44).
3. He may corrupt your mind and steer you away from the simplicity of Christ and His gospel (2 Cor 11:3).
4. He may hinder [cut in on, as in a race] your gospel witness and steal it from unsuspecting hearts (1 Thess 2:18; Matt 13:19).
5. He may wrestle against you, fighting against your progress in Christ (Eph 6:12).
6. He may tempt you to commit sexual immorality against your spouse as a result of neglecting the intimacy of the marriage bed (1 Cor 7:5).
7. He may harass you with some form of fleshly affliction (2 Cor 12:7). Continue at Paul Tautges

A God-Centered Sexual Ethic

Intro: Remember that Corinth was afflicted with the love of philosophy and rhetoric. They wanted that which sounded good and seemed wise. It didn’t matter whether or not it was right, they just liked fine sounding and wise sounding things. (Cf. Acts 17:21 They spent their time either hearing or telling new things. Beware the itch for new things when the old will suffice.) Their pride led to division. Now, remember that James told us that envy and strife are accompanied by every evil work (James 3:16). It is no wonder, then, that Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians for the approval of a church member committing incest (1Corinthians 5:1-13). A proud and envious person who is striving with others is never satisfied, and that person is very likely to seek out his satisfaction in any place and manner that he can find it, except in God.

It is in this context that Paul establishes a God-Centered sexual ethic.

1. The Relationship Between Worship And Sex :9-11

They were once sexually immoral, but God has forgiven them and cleansed them of these things. The gospel of Christ is a message of sacrifice of self as well as good news that God gives us that which is better. Having cleansed them of their sins, God has given them Himself.

That being said, immorality is idolatry. Note the downward spiral of sin in Romans 1:18-17. The worship of the Creator is traded for the worship of the creature and carnal passions. It is not that the carnal passions are wrong, but outside of the context of worship of God, they are filthy and immoral, and they lead to that which is unnatural in the pursuit of pleasure and satisfaction. One only need observe the glorification of sex and the objectification of people in our nation to recognize that immoral sex is an act of misdirected worship.

True worship leads to monogamous, heterosexual pleasure. Note that the mandate given to Adam and Eve was not only to take dominion, but first to be fruitful and multiply. This mandate is about imaging forth God. It is about worshiping our Creator and showing His greatness through the way that we live. Being fruitful means having sex and raising children. Note also that there is pleasure associated with it, because Moses said that the man and woman were to cleave to each other, and that they were naked and not ashamed (Genesis 2:24-25). Man and woman were to enjoy their union, and they were unashamed in their union.  Continue at Pastoral Musings

Sin Wants To Be Your Friend

A friend of mine has been leading a class based on my book The Next Story. He emailed me a couple of days ago to say that he was preparing to teach on “Privacy and Visibility,” two areas where the digital world has brought a great transformation to our lives. Right before he went to teach the class, he came across a sad story of yet another pastor who has destroyed his ministry for the sake of following his lust. It was a pointed illustration of new realities in this new world. It was also an illustration of something that transcends the digital world.

Until Tuesday, Jack Schaap was pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, outside Chicago. First Baptist is the largest church in the state with something like 15,000 people attending each Sunday. Schapp’s pastorate came to an abrupt and shameful end on Tuesday.

Jack Schaap had left his cell phone on the pulpit and a deacon had seen it on the pulpit and had picked it up to bring it back to him,” Trisha Kee, who maintains a Facebook group for ex-congregants, told the station. “From what we understand, the deacon then saw a text come through from a teenage girl in the church, and it was a picture of Jack Schaap and this girl making out.

Church officials announced that he had been fired for “a sin that has caused him to forfeit his right to be our pastor.” Schapp has since confessed that he was involved in an affair with a girl of sixteen who had come to him for counseling.  Continue at Tim Challies

See also:

Particular Pitfalls of Independent Baptists: Legalism

Learning from Herman Cain

Albert Mohler has written a thoughtful challenge for Christian men in light of the news swirling around Herman Cain.

Mohler points out five lessons to be learned:

1. The Christian man must realize that credible accusations of sexual misconduct or immorality are fatal to credibility and ruinous to Christian witness.

2. The Christian man cannot dismiss any charge of sexual immorality as being a private matter of no public concern.

3. The Christian man must plan his life in order to assure moral accountability and protections.

4. The Christian man must depend upon his church, the congregation that is so essential to his Christian vitality and faithfulness, as a bulwark against sin.

5. A Christian man knows that his wife is his best defense against sexual immorality and sexual vulnerability - and his most important witness to character.

Read the entire article HERE.

Gay Rights: Did Chick-fil-a really say?

Chick-fil-a has come under fire recently for their stance on gay marriage (click here to read more). Some are calling the company anti-gay (which in my estimation is slander and bullying). Gay rights is one of the major social, political, & religious issues today. From a Christian perspective, the discussion must be rooted in Scripture. So let's do that. First, because every person is created in the image of God, we all have equal value, worth, & dignity. It's therefore my firm conviction that any kind of bullying, name calling, slandering, or discrimination is wrong. However,  I also believe the testimony of Scripture and the history of church firmly establishes marriage between one man and one woman. I reject any attempt to make this belief discriminatory or frame the debate with words like anti-gay, hate or closed-mindness.

As a Christian my ultimate authority is Scripture. As a Christian I strive for the good of my city, the well fair of my neighbor and city, & the establishment of justice through the reign of Jesus. Justice cries out when people are bullied or discriminated against. However, discriminating against someone is something completely different than accepting. For parents out there, this may make more sense with an example. My love for my children are not based in any way on their actions, beliefs, or attitude. I will love my two girls regardless of what they do or say but this doesn't always mean I will agree with their decisions. My disagreement with their choices doesn't mean I love them any less.

What's more. I am not showing favoritism. I'm not picking and choosing what I do or do not consider sin. Trevin Wax describes my beliefs well:  Read Trevin's description HERE

Purity, Power, and the Missing Mark of the Church

Arguably the best general description of the effect the New Testament Church had on its society is given by Luke in Acts 17:6. When an unruly mob could not find Paul and Silas — the source of their irritation — they dragged other Christians before the city officials and declared, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6). What was intended as a damning criticism, however, was actually an unintended accolade because unbelievers were admitting that the early Christians were having a substantial impact upon society, a society characterised by polytheism, gladiatorial combats, sex outside of marriage, divorce, infanticide, and abortion. This account sounds just like life in early twenty-first century Western civilization, doesn’t it? Well, it does, except for the bit about the church turning the world upside down.

Our postmodern, pluralistic society is not far removed in essence from first-century Graeco-Roman society. Ungodliness is still here, immorality is still in evidence, and the life-is-cheap attitude still pervades. But society in the West does not really notice or take seriously the church. Why? Could it be because the reality of the living God is not being seen in the Western church? Could it be because there is no attention-grabbing evidence of the transforming power of the gospel? Could it be because, to some extent, the sign ichabod is metaphorically hanging over the doors of many sanctuaries and around the necks of many Christians? And if all this is the case, why is it the case? Could it be because, generally speaking, Christians in the West are simply not as devoted to the Apostles’ teaching as we should be? I am increasingly convinced that this is the case.   Keep Reading>>>

What is Going on with the Pastors in America?

Here are some startling statistics on pastors; FASICLD (Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development). This quest started in 1989 as a Fuller Institute project that was picked up by FASICLD in 1998. 

After over 18 years of researching pastoral trends and many of us being a pastor, we have found (this data is backed up by other studies) that pastors are in a dangerous occupation! We are perhaps the single most stressful and frustrating working profession, more than medical doctors, lawyers, politicians or cat groomers (hey they have claws). We found that over 70% of pastors are so stressed out and burned out that they regularly consider leaving the ministry (I only feel that way on Mondays). Thirty-five to forty percent of pastors actually do leave the ministry, most after only five years. On a personal note, out of the 12 senior pastors that I have served under directly, two have passed away, and four have left the ministry totally—that is, not only are they no longer in the pulpit, but they no longer even attend a church. And, I run into ex-pastors on a regular basis at conferences and speaking engagements; makes me wonder “what’s up with that,” as my kids would say. 

From our recent research we did to retest our data, 1050 pastors were surveyed from two pastor’s conferences held in Orange County and Pasadena, Ca—416 in 2005, and 634 in 2006 (I conducted a similar study for the Fuller Institute in the late 80s with a much greater sampling).

• Of the one thousand fifty (1,050 or 100%) pastors we surveyed, every one of them had a close associate or seminary buddy who had left the ministry because of burnout, conflict in their church, or from a moral failure.   Keep Reading...
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A Tool for Accountability in a Pornified Culture

In this Gospel Coalition discussion, D. A. Carson comments about the use of Covenant Eyes for accountability in the battle against Internet pornography —

 

 

(Watch on YouTube.)

Today, 72% of kids have been exposed to pornography on the Internet. At colleges,

62% of men and 17% of women spend time online every week for sex-related amusement.

Covenant Eyes provides an accountability forum that monitors every website visited and rates the content. This information is compiled into easy-to-read reports which are sent regularly to anyone you choose. This helps friends, spouses, and parents have ongoing conversations about responsible and pure Internet use. Fleeing sexual temptations means we must flee the alluring anonymity of the Internet. We must choose to be accountable.

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Free Educational Resources from Covenant Eyes:

• Sign up to watch Covenant Eyes’ free seminar online about Internet safety.
• Get two free e-books for parents and pastors.
• Listen to Covenant Eyes' interview with Al Mohler about the danger of digital distractions.
• Get the free e-book, Internet Pornography: A Ministry Leader’s Handbook.

Related Resources by Pastor John:

• How does unbelief contribute to the need I feel for pornography?
• "This is the Will of God for You: That You Abstain from Sexual Immorality"
• Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 1
• Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 2
• Sex and the Single Person

The Cross and Pornography

The following is from my most recent book (Harvest House) due out around the first of the year. “What Every Man Wishes His Father Would Have Told Him.”

 

I offer this additional excerpt from the chapter on pornography in response to your “requests” from my last post. I found the criticisms warranted and agreed with them. Thanks S.L. I should have offered a few more paragraphs so as not to assume anything. This then is the very next series of paragraphs from within that chapter. For the record, the book itself is saturated with the message of the Gospel. The second chapter being entitled, “Never Move Past the Gospel.” My own personal subtitle for the book is “The Gospel and Manhood.” Point is, there is a larger context to the thoughts offered here in.

This particular chapter on pornography is born out of my experiences as a pastor at Community Bible Church, in Nashville. It is my attempt to make sense of sin’s insanity. Our church recently traversed the details of on sexuality. We pulled no punches and dealt head on with the matters of pornography. As a staff and elders, we’ve determined to take back sex and sexuality from the corruption of the world. We have developed a ministry dedicated in part to giving young men freedom from the destructive power of porn (Trajectory). There is a freedom in Christ.

I have wept with men (and their wives) shattered by the pain and despair of pornography’s lethal venom. As recently as today (6/21), I wept with a young marriage ravaged by it. I hate pornography and what it can do to men. I consider it a damnable lie of the devil. My heart is broken. Keep Reading....

Theology, Therapy, Twitter, and the Scandal of the Gospel

There is not shortage of perplexing realities in our world today, but counted among them must be the fact that many rather well informed people seem to be shocked that Christians believe the doctrines of Christianity.

Over the weekend, Rep. Anthony Weiner announced that he will seek a leave of absence from the House of Representatives in order to seek professional treatment in the aftermath of his sexting scandal on Twitter. In the words of his spokeswoman, Risa Heller, the congressman left last Saturday “to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person.”

She continued: “In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well.” Keep Reading...