Ep.967: Virtual Sex and Pornography – Does God Care?
The damaging personal consequences of porn and how to be free of them
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CHAPTERS
Theme Scripture: Romans 1:28
Never before have we been in such a place of insidious contradiction. On the one hand, technology has opened a once locked door of accessibility. Anyone with an internet connection can now reach that which was once thought to be unreachable regarding knowledge understanding and goodness. On the other hand, technology has given the world the opportunity to throw open the door of reckless indulgence. We can have our curiosities draw us into a dark and powerful vortex of destructive sights, sounds and activity.
Sexual behavior, once considered sacred, has become a mainstream and malignant tumor within our culture. It quietly eats away at our humanity under the guise of "freedom of expression." Pornography - with all of its degrading extremity, explicitness and violence - has become the single most popular destination of the billions who search the web. It is a web of entrapment leading to the ruining of countless lives and relationships. What can we do about it? What should we do about it? Is there a way out of this godless web once you have become entangled?
God does care
First and foremost, it needs to be said that God DOES DEEPLY care about such things, and if you are reading this as a Christian who uses pornography even occasionally, I hope this is the beginning of your wake-up call. Yes, God does care - especially when those who claim to follow his son Jesus engage in works that are in every way disingenuous to godly behavior, desperately vulgar in their content and destructive in every possible way. In short, the sex industry with all of its sensuality and temptation can easily be a ticket to misery, broken lives and loneliness for Christians, as well as anyone else for that matter.
How can something as inherently human as sexuality be so bad? Didn’t God create sex? He did. He created it as a sacred bonding part of the relationship between husbands and wives. It was created as the way through which reproduction would occur and families would exist. So, what happened? How did we go from a sacred and private expression of love to worldwide instantaneous access to blatant acts that in most cases have zero resemblance to any act of love? We got here because of sin – but that is not our focus right now.
What do we do?
Right now we need to focus on what to do, because so many people (especially men) get drawn into this world of dark destruction and cannot find their way out. So, what do we do? We find the truth. We look at and absorb who pornography hurts (and this is shocking to see). We understand what happens to your brain when viewing pornography (and this is scary to learn), and we boldly look in the mirror and ask the hard questions about ourselves (and this is humbling to experience).
Please check out our April 24, 2017 podcast, “Virtual Sex and Pornography – Does God Care?” At the risk of sounding like I’m begging – I’m begging you – listen. What we uncover can fundamentally enlighten and change lives. Even if you don’t ever go near anything pornographic yourself, you need to hear this. Chances are you know someone who is struggling with or even addicted to this stuff. To know and understand the truth is to be prepared to stare evil down and fight it. Please do this!
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Ep.966: Jesus’ Resurrection – What Changed?
How the risen Jesus turned doubt and fear into faith and clarity
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CHAPTERS
Theme Scripture: John 21:12
After the greatest act of love ever committed, Jesus lay dead in a donated tomb. His loyal companions and followers were stunned, sickened by what they had witnessed. But beyond the gory details of this death, they were hit with the uncomfortable thought that perhaps all they had known the past 3 ½ years was a lie, fake, delusional. This man Jesus they had trusted and loved was dead. He died like everyone else. There was no last minute fire from heaven to kill the Roman soldiers or the angry mob of his own brethren demanding his death. There was no angelic rescue team to pull him off that dreaded piece of wood. He was dead. For real. No one was coming to save them from the Roman rule. They would not be sitting on anyone’s right hand in the new government. They had seemingly been duped. Now what? Well, three days later, it was imperative that the risen Jesus convince them beyond a shadow of doubt that all he had promised was REAL and was happening. His followers needed to be 100% convinced and energized to tell the Good News at any cost to all who would listen. The man Jesus was gone forever, but the spirit Jesus would have life within himself, and power to restore all of mankind back to his Father. They needed to urgently tell that story to you and me. How did they go from feeling ultimate betrayal and grief to absolute certainty and joy?
Walking someone along a path of believing in something outside of their own circle of experience is hard enough. Jesus was risen from the dead. Just think about the import of that fact alone! His disciples had seen Jesus raise other people from the dead before – but it was he who had raised them and it was he who had always assured them about all of his miracles. Now Jesus was not only the one raised up to life, his nature was changed – he was different – he was spirit. How do you walk someone down the path of not only observing such unorthodox and never-before-seen changes, but accepting them so thoroughly that they would be willing to stake their very lives on them?
You do that in small steps, very small steps. Jesus’ resurrection was announced by an angel, and this dramatic presentation of an event that Jesus himself foretold certainly got their attention. He then needed to show himself – but how? Remember, his followers had just days ago been through the most traumatic experience of their lives as they were all witness to the cruel, inhumane treatment Jesus was subjected to. They watched in horror as he was brutally crucified, and some of them saw him die on that cross. They were now panicked, hiding and unsure. Jesus knew all of this so when he did show himself, he did it in such a way that he could ease them into a whole new level of faith. Jesus did it step-by-step.
Check out our April 17, 2017 podcast, “Jesus’ Resurrection – What Changed?” and walk with us through the thrilling and inspiring events that took place during the 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection. Listen to how he methodically, unmistakably and compassionately revealed himself. Surely this is a journey that you do not want to miss!
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Ep.965: How Were Politics Part of Jesus’ Crucifixion?
The Pharisees, the Sadducees and the politics of the crucifixion
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CHAPTERS
Theme Scripture: Luke 23:2
Thinking about the death of Jesus always produces a variety of emotions. On one hand, we feel a deep sense of gratitude, hope and praise, for without his willing sacrifice and ignominious death, we would all remain under the sentence of sin with no possible way out. In short, we and the entire human race would be doomed to destruction. On the other hand, when we think of his death, we feel the dull, persistent aching pain of sadness, because we know Jesus was an entirely innocent man who was subject to the most unfair and devious kinds of deception, mistreatment and torture. Did you ever wonder what was behind the events that brought Jesus to the point of crucifixion? Did you ever think about who did what and why to position the Savior of all mankind as an enemy of the state?
Who actually crucified Jesus?
To clearly understand the events that led to Jesus’ death, we can examine a really simple question – “Who crucified Jesus?” The most obvious answers are “the Jews,” as provoked by their leadership, and “the Romans.” These are two groups of people who were very much at odds with each other. That just makes us ask another question – did they collaborate together on this or was there more to it? Well, there was more to it – MUCH more.
Two rivals join forces
Let’s start with the Jews of that time, specifically those in Jerusalem who had authority over their own people of Israel. Being under Roman rule meant that their “authority” was very limited. But that did not prevent major internal wrangling for power and influence among those who were in positions of perceived authority. First you had the Pharisees, a group who elevated themselves above the people by way of generations of adding “oral traditions” to the original Mosaic Law, which made following the Law an impossible task. Then there were the Sadducees. They were supposed to be the “priests” among the Jewish people but instead focused themselves on politics – on expanding their political power as far as the Romans would allow it. Pharisees and Sadducees did NOT agree on a lot and did NOT get along, yet in the end they joined forces to eliminate Jesus.
Next, we have Annas, a Sadducee who was supposed to be the High Priest over Israel at that time but was not allowed that title by Rome because he was a forceful, powerful man. Annas, even without the title of High Priest, maintained major influence. And then there was Caiaphas, also a Sadducee, who became the High Priest as an appointee of Rome. Though he was the nephew of Annas, he was deemed a much more controllable man by Rome.
When you combine these two groups and these two men you get a real mix of power and a great divergence of opinion and process in wielding that power. Unity was not their strong suit, and yet they all united to eliminate Jesus, the most peaceful, apolitical and God-honoring man to ever walk the earth. What did they do, how did they do it and most importantly how did they get away with it? Mix Pontius Pilate and Roman rule into the picture and you find a tangled web of political influence and intrigue. Check out our April 10, 2017 podcast, “How Were Politics Part of Jesus’ Crucifixion?” and trace the pieces and influences that led to Jesus’ death. If you're like me, you'll find the whole thing to be astonishing!
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Ep.964: So, What Are My Choices?
The principles, preferences, passions and pressures of choice
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CHAPTERS
Theme Scripture: Joshua 24:15
We make choices every day. Some are easy choices that we don’t even need to think much about and there are others that require some on-the-fly time and attention. Then there are the choices that can be difficult and even agonizing. These are the choices that can make or break a life or shape a destiny, or at the very least, alter the near future. These are the biggest choices we face, but they may not necessarily be the most important ones. We probably don’t think about how often our really big decisions end up being a sum total of many small and seemingly irrelevant choices we have made without much thought. The point is that all of our choices carry a measure of importance! So, what guides us in the choices we make? Are we most often influenced by how we feel about things or by what our friends or family will think? What are the most important factors in successful Christian decision making?
The whole process of making choices is very much a matter of subconscious thinking. It has been said that 95% of our mental processes regarding our choices are “below the surface” and this can be alarming. Think about it – this means our everyday choices are substantially based upon how we feel about things rather than what we think about things. So, our emotional interpretations of our past experiences (which you and I both know can be highly skewed) can easily carry much more weight in our decisions than sound thought and reasoning. Understanding this as a Christian who is supposed to be following in Jesus’ own footsteps should prompt us to want to know how to reframe the whole decision making process.
We would like to suggest to you that there are four key elements we can employ in our decision making. For Christians, being aware of these elements makes it possible to not only use them but to direct them as well. The first and most difficult of our key elements of choice is that of principle. For a Christian, principles are the external fixed points of reference that are built upon integrity, morality and godly righteousness. Abiding by principles in decision making is difficult because to do so is an intellectual decision. By definition, our thinking, no matter how sound it is, does not carry the same decision making weight as our feelings. This creates a real dilemma because God-based principles are often unnatural, require strong effort to follow and are contrary to our emotions.
How do we plow through such a dilemma and grab hold of these most important principles? We define them with simplicity and rehearse them regularly so they become a part of our very fabric instead of just being some ideas that we visit on Sundays. As we go through this process it is also imperative that we define and understand the other three key elements of our choices. What are they and how do we master them? Check out our April 3, 2017 podcast, “So, What are My Choices?” and follow along with us as we take on clarify and attempt to maximize these important and emotional aspects of our life choices.
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