Taking Pride in the Divine Design.

Taking Pride in the Divine Design.

How are we to see this restriction? That is the Divine Design of creating sex for the exclusive domain of the martial union of one man and one woman so long as they both shall live. Are we to look at this as a barrier to our fun? Is this the picture of a fence separating a row of wide-eyed 5th-grade boys watching the new roller coaster opening at the amusement park? Or maybe see this as something good and loving, like the guard rale guiding us along a high mountain road, which will bring us enthralling views of creation once we reach the top. One of the most disturbing myths surrounding the Divine and sex is that God is down on the subject. The truth, however, is quite the opposite.

In reality, God created something profoundly beautiful and exciting in sex, and doing life according to His Design brings us into lush green fields of pleasure. When it comes to God and sex, some will argue that because Jesus technically never used the specific verbiage of pre-marital sex, gay marriage, or other hot-button catchphrases of our day, such as trans-gendering, sex can therefore be defined in the eye of the beholder. This argument is particularly voiced in the onslaught of those in the LGBT+ movement’s Pride Month. After all, they might say, “If it feels good, it must be ok,” because Jesus loves us.

No, Jesus did not comment on those specific issues, but he didn’t need to. He clearly defined the root of this discussion by going back to creation when the religious bean counters of his day debated where the fine line was between no-fault divorce and acceptable grounds for marital termination. (more…)

Finding Grace and Following the Guide. Or. (God and Sex Part II.)

Finding Grace and Following the Guide. Or. (God and Sex Part II.)

The bottom line is that when Deb and I got married, she was a virgin and I was not.  One of the modern myths about sex is that it’s just physical and no big deal. I don’t believe this and that is certainly not my journey.  The emotions have been all over the place in my adult life. At one point I can experience the true forgiveness and redemption of Jesus with an understanding of grace that people with less checkered lives just can’t understand.  On the other hand, there are still residual times when I ache for my choices of sexual activity before marriage. I don’t blame the girl. I know it was my decision and it pains me.  If there was anything that I could take back, it would be those pre-marital sexual actions that I took during the dark ages on my high school years and young adult life.  But I can’t. (more…)

The Daily Decisions And Transformation.

The Daily Decisions And Transformation.

I’m not a country western fan.  In fact, I like to tell people that God created music and then Satan made an attempt at it which resulted in country-western.  Really, there are so many different genres of music that I enjoy from classical to Christian hard rock. Head banger music is what our church admin assistant calls it.  I’ve picked up a love for Irish, Scottish, and English folks music of late and sometimes old traditional Russian music will find its way to my Pandora stations.  A seasoning amount of classic rock is threaded through my week as well.  But I just can’t make the switch to country-western. Ok, maybe some John Denver once in a while.  But that’s probably a bit more folk than western.  No, country music and I just don’t do business with each other.

My wife however grew up on the country twang.  Many of those songs bring fond memories to her and set her at ease.  I don’t naturally like country, but she does.  Thus the question of what do we listen to over the car radio. (more…)