Lifestyle as a lid
Why do we talk about the importance of a healthy lifestyle? Because we are “bought with a price”? But is it only about honouring God–important though that is? As Adventists we are proud to say that our diet enables us to live much longer than the average. But is it just about living longer? Or being happier because we exercise or have good habits?
I would like to suggest that the primary reason for a healthy lifestyle is so we may be better equipped to deal with sin. Whether we like it or not, our spiritual lives are wrapped inside our lifestyles. That means that our lifestyles become a lid on our spiritual health, and our spiritual strength determines whether we overcome sin–or not.
Think about a sin you are struggling with that just won’t go away. There’s a good chance that you have been saying to yourself, I need to pray harder and do more Bible reading. While that might be true, there is a tendency in that moment to forget the shape of our lifestyle that is impacting our time with God–the amount of sleep I get, the time I leave for work, the stress I take on, what I watch for entertainment, and so on… all these things as a package are impacting the extent that I am able to operate as “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). And only when I come to that point of living in a state of sacrifice and emptiness before God, is Holy Spirit able to find the space in my hearts to baptise us with his power.
So here’s a question: in what ways is your present lifestyle acting as a lid on your spiritual growth?
All the best for the Journey, Gavin.
Quote of the day
Holiness is not a condition
into which we drift.
John Stott
“All men watch porn” scientists find
In today’s Daily Telegraph, Jonathan Liew reports on some research at the University of Montreal on porn. As I posted about some time ago, I think such findings have serious implications for parents and poses challenges for the discipling of our church members.
By Jonathan Liew
Researchers were conducting a study comparing the views of men in their 20s who had never been exposed to pornography with regular users.
But their project stumbled at the first hurdle when they failed to find a single man who had not been seen it.
“We started our research seeking men in their 20s who had never consumed pornography,” said Professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse. “We couldn’t find any.”
Although hampered in its original aim, the study did examined the habits of those young men who used pornography – which would appear to be all of them.
Prof Lajeunesse interviewed 20 heterosexual male university students who consumed pornography, and found on average, they first watched pornography when they were 10 years old.
Around 90 per cent of consumption was on the internet, while 10 per cent of material came from video stores.
Single men watched pornography for an average of 40 minutes, three times a week, while those in relationships watched it 1.7 times a week for around 20 minutes.
The study found that men watched pornography that matched their own image of sexuality, and quickly discarded material they found offensive or distasteful.
Prof Lajeunesse said pornography did not have a negative effect on men’s sexuality.
“Not one subject had a pathological sexuality,” he said. “In fact, all of their sexual practices were quite conventional.
“Pornography hasn’t changed their perception of women or their relationship, which they all want to be as harmonious and fulfilling as possible,” he added.
Video: Dublin Organisation
At my church in Dublin, our board has recently voted to recommend a new type of organisation where we would combine 3 churches under a single board, following a single vision. In other words, 1 church in 3 different locations. Part of the advantage of this is to try and free up our pastors to work as a team according to their spiritual gifts.
But most importantly, we want to provide the time and the focus to implement what we are calling a City Seminary, a seminary focused on discipleship for lay people, based in the city where they live, to equip our members fulffill our mission together. We are rather excited about the possibilities. It is still early stages, but if you would like to look at the initial presentation we made to our board, you can watch it below.
All the best for the Journey, Gavin.
Sexual Addiction
Recently at Andrews University, we had a visit from the leading Christian writer and speaker on sexual addiction, Mark Laaser. Before his visit, I had no idea how pervasive sexual addictions are, not only within culture, but within the Christian community.
If sexual addiction is as bad as the statistics below suggest, this raises huge implications for discipleship training, because if we are not addressing sexual addictions and pornography at church, but at the same time trying to teach discipleship, we will probably make little impact.
Here are some of the statistics from the website of http://www.freedombeginshere.org/
• Sex is the #1 thing people search for on the Internet
• There are over 420 million Pornographic Internet pages
• 12 to 17 year olds are the largest consumers of Internet pornography
• 42.7% of Internet users view pornography
• The pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink
• 70% of women keep their cyber activities secret
• Women, more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.
• 68 million porn search engine requests daily
• 2006 Worldwide Porn Revenues = $97.06 billionSource: http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html
• 7 of 10 lay leaders in the church admitted to visiting adult Web sites at least once a week
• 4 out of 10 pastors said they did the same.Source: http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=3316
• 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography.
• 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust;
• 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.
If you would like to find resources to help with this problem and to raise awareness in your church, you can visit http://www.freedombeginshere.org/ and also Mark Laaser’s website, http://www.faithfulandtrueministries.com/
Best wishes for the Journey, Gavin.
Video: Run!
Something a little different.
On the first Sunday following the tragedy of September 11th, 2001, Carter Conlon delivered this soul-stirring message at Times Square Church in Manhattan. The sermon was titled, Run For Your Life. This video clip is just 4 minutes of that sermon, where he urges people to serious living as Christians.
The original website is http://braveheartedgospel.com/Run.html.
Best wishes for the Journey, Gavin.