Christian Chastity

In our overly "sexualized" culture and society, you see adolescent boys and girls eager to rid themselves of the very things that God has given to them as a gift. Some one's virginity is almost despised by modern day youth due to it being mocked and it's meaning diluted. I was blessed enough to keep my virginity until marriage. Likewise my wife entered into marriage as a virgin. I can't forget the ridicule and heckling I received though throughout high school about my chastity. I honestly didn't do it for God initially and it was more of pride then anything else but after I received Christ I noticed the importance of it even more.

What are we teaching the youth of this age? (as if I'm not one being only 22 lol ;-) ) I'm a youth pastor and know all too well the mindsets of those that I teach. I'm very close with my students and hear many of their problems and concerns. I think we as teachers and models of the Word of God need to realistic. Let's come to an agreement that no matter what, teenagers are going to be attracted to the opposite sex and want to act on that attraction. Parents can either know about it or not. If I were a parent I would want to know about it. I, therefore, have taken a slightly different approach. I don't discourage them from dating but try to teach them how to date in a Christian way.

Teenagers desire relationships and to be loved and to feel attractive. They will get it from whoever is showing it to them. The job that we have as teachers is to show them what true love is and what real attraction is. Not in denying the physicality of attraction but bringing to light that it's so much more than a desire for the outward appearance. Not denying love but bringing to light that love is valuing that person's well being above your own desires.

A man that truly loves a woman will value her purity above his own sexual drive. He will value her reputation above all and will hold her vulnerabilities with great care, never taking advantage of them. He takes pride in treating her as an equal, expecting from her nothing more than God's love to be reciprocated. He desires for a relationship that can reflect God to others and provide hope to those that are lonely.
A woman that truly loves a man will cause him to become something he never imagined he could become. She will make him wait and grow in character while encouraging him along the way. Not forsaking him in his inability but allowing him to attain a level of intimacy that few men actually get to know. A point where sex pails in comparison to the level of spiritual intimacy that's being encountered.

The fact is that movies, tv, music, billboards, etc. are all pumping sex at these kids 24/7 and diluting love and intimacy. Couple that with raging hormones and you have a catastrophe waiting to happen. Please address these issues with your children and loved ones. Honestly, they may not listen to you but you have to be open to them. Teenagers are naturally rebellious (I know, tell you something you don't already know). My point is this though, that if you attempt to corner them into your decision or punishment then it'll just back-fire. I'm not saying to not set down rules but as the scripture says "TRAIN up your child in the way that they should go". You can't train by just setting mandates for people's lives and leaving it at that.

Secondly, get someone around your child that you know they respect i.e. a peer and have them speak to them as well. Nothing is more effective then a friend or peer that rebukes you. To them you're just mom, dad, pastor, old-head, senile, etc. I've sat in far too many prayer groups and heard too many pleas from mothers, asking me to help them with their children. I hate seeing mothers cry, it breaks my heart because I recognize the love they have but you have to teach your children wisely not forcefully.

Teenagers, being hormone driven is natural and God given. The question is what will you listen to more, your hormones or God. I would like to think I'm not a bad looking guy and could have had sex before marriage but honestly it's not worth it. I love my wife and I love being intimate with her but sex is way overrated in today's society. Honestly the greatest thing about sex isn't the orgasm but the intimacy. You can't get that level of intimacy with someone that's not your spouse, no matter how hard you try to find it. The purity of loving someone that's your wife or husband is unmatched. I believe I told my class one day that the world takes things and tries to make them look so good but it's just like putting whip cream on crap.

My wife's long time friend didn't wait to lose hers. Her standard was better than most though in that she would make men wait a year or so. She felt that waiting until marriage was unreasonable and no man is going to do that for a women these days. She felt is was simply a fairy tale. When my wife began to describe how I courted her, how I left prayers on her voicemail, washed her feet and poured oil over them, proposed on a mountain top (God is so cool..that's another story), would leave her mother's house when things got a little hot and heavy because I didn't want to go too far, she began to cry. She thought that stuff like that never happened but it does. You just have to wait. God knows how to prepare His men and women for marriage and trust me you will be well pleased ;-)

It's possible to wait. It is, I've done it and others have as well. It's worth it, I mean it. Even if you don't believe that it's worth the wait is definitely not worth the cost. My wife works in the microbiology lab at KU Med. She says that a majority of STDs don't even show symptoms in men. Couple that with pregnancy(or for some of your abortion....I'll leave that for another day) and the disappointment and it's really not worth it. Please don't allow this world to dictate what determines a man or a women. A real man sets the bar above the norm and a real women won't even bat an eye at someone that isn't going to wait until they're ready. Just make sure that time you're ready is the wedding night. Drop me any questions that you have or any prayer requests. I would love to assist in any way possible.

God bless

Christian Apology

Here lately I have been in a much deeper state of prayer. I desire intimacy with God above life itself and I'm truly making every attempt to acquire His heart for His people. For those of you that know what I'm speaking of it is a blessed curse. The world bows before the power of Love and that same love will cause men to conquer nations against insurmountable odds. Love will also bring with it though, the harsh reality that if it is to be truly expressed toward an individual, it must be done so by allowing that individual to choose whether or not to reciprocate the feeling. Now given the choice of Love or not is a painful game to play. Can you imagine or remember what it felt/feels like when that love isn't shown in return? That is what I feel when I look at people now. Not a frustration or resentment but that empty, screaming, weeping feeling that invokes the most cultured into a primitive mind. Imagine your most precious loved one stripped from your life without reason and that's only a taste of the pain that God feels for those that turn away from Him. We as Christians have to remind ourselves of that continually.....

Here is the reason for this post...

I was once again blog-surfing and came upon an individual, who also posted a comment on this site. He is an atheist/agnostic and I don't suppose to know anything more about him than what information he was offered me. I noticed that in the header of his blog he stated that he had once been a believer and from since has fallen away from the faith. I asked him what was the reason for his lack of belief the gest of it was faulty church doctrine. He was tried of being told that he had to speak in tongues in order to be saved among other things...

The scripture that we need to remind ourselves of, and the basis for this post is
Romans 2:24 "As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

The Apostle Paul is addressing Christians. This struck home for me because it made me realize that the vast majority of people don't believe because it's improbable, they lack belief because we make it impossible. CHRISTIANS are the ones that have watered down a compassionate love for people with church jargon and doctrine instead of loving the unsaved into repentance. Are we really that trivial to believe that any one specific thing is necessary for salvation other than confession and belief that leads to action? We are destroying the very testimony we claim to uphold because we so quickly forget about Christ's love and begin to feel justified in our reasoning of anger or truth. Let's make it clear, ALL CHURCH DOCTRINE IS FLAWED SOMEWHERE!!! No church, pastor, evangelist, etc has any definitive truth other than Christ is Lord. The core essentials are what matters. I personally believe in speaking in tongues although I never have. If someone does not believe in that then fine, I can refer them to a strong Biblically sound church that it doesn't occur at. My concern is that they get some place that they can hear the true Gospel being preached and taught, nothing else.

I apologize from the sincere heart of a Christian to all of those that have been mislead or deceived by those that do things under the auspice of Christianity but are without love.

I am not saying love sin, by no means, love righteousness above all things but don't forget that out of God's righteousness He died for us while we were yet sinners. The only difference between the saved and unsaved is a "Yes". That one "yes" in anyone's life can change their life forever. Christians we need to regain the sincere heart of compassion and weeping. Lament for your world and countrymen that are dying in sin. Weep because it is because of our calloused hearts that many of them are in the state they are now, both living and dead.

Is love so easily taken off that upon you being offended you feel justified to stand up for yourself? Read John 7:7 "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. " You want to know why the world can't hate you? BECAUSE IT CAN'T HATE IT'S OWN!!! The world can only hate the Christ in you. Let's not so easily forget what we once were or some of us still are. Paul said that it's because of Christians that God is blasphemed, not due to the unliklihood of Him existing.

On behalf of Christians, I once again apologize to every person that's been told they're condemned to hell by some fool supposing that He was God. I have no authority to judge your final destination. I can only judge between sin and righteousness according to scripture. A person's soul is in the hands of the Lord.

Sorry I had to vent a little but in closing Christians, we need to be sure that we act out of love toward each other and those outside the faith as well. Not in condoning sin but exposing it with the same heart that a father disciplines his little girl with. Stern correction with encouragement following it is the proper recipe. Let's get to it brethren. Exalt the love of Christ so that He can draw all men unto Him.

Christian Hope vs. Atheist Hope

I'm addicted to atheists/agnostics blogs, I'll admit it. Something about testing wits against people who are self-proclaimed rationals gets me going. While reading though I have to admit though I began to feel heavy. Not because of discouragement but because of the lack of hope. I completely understand where atheists are coming from but what hope does it offer? "Rational" thought that tells me when I die I will just fade away into dust, offer that to a fatherless child and keep a dry eye. Offer your scientific method to refugee camps and tell them that their existence is a mere conincidence and really they have no purpose.

See even through all the discourse and reasoning that atheists suppose to do they still can't offer life. They can offer a prolonged dying experience but life is only given by God. True life. See the thing that so many fail to realize, Christians included, is that Christ gave us hope for a true life in Him. In Him, I come to the realization that everything around me is temporal and what truly is important isn't the value of my current status but pressing toward what is to come. Unfortunately though that is like explaining quantum physics to a 2yr. old.

I asked an atheist once who was debating over humanitarian efforts made and weren't they sufficient and equal to what I offered. My question to that is "what happens after you leave?". That house you built will fall, that water that you gave can dry up, and with every cure you come up with there is someone that can't afford it so tell me where is science's all-mighty reasoning and cure? When did science console people on 9/11?

How do you believe in something that is ever evolving but still consider God to be illogical? Isn't it possible to believe that I have just come to a conclusion that you have yet to discover? Instead atheist presume to have truth, although that truth is continuously modified, claim to be logical, even though that logic is again based on the truth that's evolving, and then desire to remove anything deified from existence because it's illogical. What's going to happen when your logic leads to God? That's assuming that you haven't already predetermined He doesn't exist and therefore will revaulate your conclusion because it contradicts your hypothesis.

Name one bad thing that the Bible offers? Not religion and religious history or people that have done things under the title of religion but specifically quote to me one thing that the Bible states that would be harmful to any individual? Name one thing that Christ asked us to do as believers that you would consider immoral or distasteful? If you can't then why do Atheists despise it so much? Is it not the people that are flawed rather than the belief itself? Yet so commonly we as human beings can't differentiate between the two and end up destroying the very thing that could save us.