www.wefightporn.com
As with all links, I do not necessarily endorse everything or everyone associated with the link. But, there is good here. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
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Here is a site that does what all of us should do as Christians. The devil is stealing families' futures and destroying lives through pornography. It is time to declare war. It is time we fight porn.
www.wefightporn.com As with all links, I do not necessarily endorse everything or everyone associated with the link. But, there is good here. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
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I have decided to write several articles on the theme of 'what I want my children to remember from my teachings.' These are things that I hope they carry with them through adulthood.
#1 – There is a God From the time they were too little to understand, I've taught my children about God. Opportunities abound. When you are out and about and see the beautiful sunshine streaming down, talk about how God made the sun on day 4 of creation. As we plant flowers or take some to a loved one, the 3rd day of creation is discussed. Everything around us, each beautiful sight, are all opportunities to tell about God and what He has given us. Each meal begins with thanking God for what He has provided for us to eat. Each day ends with another talk with our heavenly Father. God is in all we do and we do all because of Him. He is who we live for and who we serve. His Word is also daily 'food' for us and time is taken to read it. We sing to learn about His Word, and it is a part of our school day. Life revolves around Him and is because of Him. “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” (Psalms 19:1-6) (Exo 19:5) Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a PECULIAR treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
(Deu 7:6) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a SPECIAL people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. (Deu 14:2) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a PECULIAR people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. (Deu 26:18) And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his PECULIAR people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; (Psa 135:4) For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his PECULIAR treasure. (Tit 2:14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a PECULIAR people, zealous of good works. (1Pe 2:9) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a PECULIAR people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: After reading these verses ask yourself this question: Do I really believe God will be satisfied with me living a "normal" life? I am so sick of being normal and being expected to be normal, I want to be weird, peculiar, unique, different, unusual, strange, abnormal, extraordinary, excellent because I belong to God, not this world. And I don’t care what anyone else says about me, I want God to know I am His and no one else’s. He made me and He bought me and He can do anything He wants to with me and I will not resist Him, rather I will help Him any way I can. Many times we want to care for our wives, but wind up making them angry and defensive instead. This usually happens when we are treating them less like a wife and more like a child. Instead of feeling cared for they feel humiliated. If we want to care for our wives properly we have to remember that they are adults and treat them accordingly.
Other times we fail in our attempts to be caring because we don’t understand what they want. I remember on several occasions men around me and perhaps even myself saying, "you just can’t understand women." It certainly feels that way sometimes, but that is not a biblical perspective on the matter. There are two factors involved here. One is that I don’t have to understand women, only my wife. I don’t have to understand how to please your wife and you don’t have to understand how to please mine. The second is that I can understand my wife if I put my mind to it and gain the knowledge of her that I should. 1 Corinthians 7:33 explains, "... he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife." It is not a sinful thing to please your wife, in fact, Paul says the husband should love the wife as his own body. I dare say many men know their own bodies far better than they know their wives. Additionally, a man I admire quite a bit who was an imperfect man(one who had problems to overcome), a preacher, an elder (which means he was married), and an apostle; Peter said, " Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered." 1 Peter 3:7. Notice that we will have difficulty ever giving her honor without dwelling according to knowledge. So what are you doing to understand your wife. What pleases her? What upsets her? What do you know about her? I mean REALLY know, not just think you know. Spend some time learning what you thought you already knew. Realize, especially if you have been married for several years, that your wife is not the same person she was when you met or when you married. If you don’t adjust to the changes you will grow farther apart rather than closer together. For those of you (very few) who follow my Momma Monday posts, I apologize for the absence of posts. I believe I have missed 3 now and I've had very few other posts during those 3 weeks. As this pregnancy with twins progresses, I find it difficult to string coherent thoughts together to form posts. I feel as though I've been in a famine of good topics to discuss here. I've been doing some things to 'oil the gears' and get things going again. In the meantime, enjoy this post of someone else's thoughts.
Arrows in Our Hand: Bible Time As always, I include my disclaimer. I am not aware of everything on the above blog. It is written by Christian, but she is someone that I don't know. I cannot say I agree with everything on her site, but it does look like a wonderful blog! For those of you who use e-sword, I have a special treat for you today. Here is a website where you can download free books and files that work with e-sword.
http://www.gravelhillchurchofchrist.com/ click on e-sword files on left column. Literal translations, including Alexander Campbell's, Commentaries, Sermon collections, article collections like Why I Left . . . etc. If you do not have e-sword you can download it free here. As always the inclusion of a useful link does not endorse everything that is taught or included at that link. Use wisdom and caution, and as the old saying goes: eat the fish, but spit out the bones. How do you decide whether you are a good father and husband? Perhaps you
have noticed or even been following the story of the Powell family from Utah. The drama ended when the father killed himself and his two sons in a house fire. It is fairly evident that the missing mother was killed by him as well. Now we find out that long before (2 years) these events the police had found disturbing images of parent-child incestuous relationships on his computer. It was not established how deeply involved in this kind of demented behavior Mr. Powell was and we will probably never know. This man was obviously a horrible husband and father, but it was not realized until too late. Let me point out just a couple of things. First, as rotten to the core as this guy was his boys still apparently loved him. According to the social worker who was there, the boys rushed into the house to see their dad allowing him to slam the door and lock her out. Some fathers don’t realize just how much impact they have on their children. Apparently, This man’s father had some kind of impact on him as well. The grandfather had been involved with child pornography even to the point of recording some himself. Think of the difference between what Abraham passed on to Isaac and what this man was passing on to his son. Considering what was being passed from father to son in this family, and assuming that the boys were still young enough to be innocent and safe in God’s eyes, perhaps he did them a favor. It is a shocking thought and certainly some of their family will miss them, but they may now be better off than living and being influenced by this man. Second, here is the key: it is easy to compare ourselves to this man and think highly of ourselves. I haven’t killed my wife, so I must be a good husband. I haven’t victimized my children or killed them so I am a good father. These are the kind of rationalizations that we make and the kind of comparisons that we make to feel better about ourselves rather than honestly and objectively assessing our strengths and weaknesses. There is always someone horrible to point at that is worse than me. Sometimes we can even say we are doing better than most others, but that should never be our goal. We need to strive for excellence, even perfection. We have to judge ourselves by God’s standards, not by the average American husband or father. God sets guidelines to achieve a higher quality than the world. Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Eph 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. We talked last week about Abraham passing the torch of faith to his son and
the importance of fathers today doing the same for their sons. This week we want to look at the single biggest faith building event in Abraham’s and Isaac’s common experience. That experience is recorded in Genesis 22. Have you ever looked at Abraham offering Isaac in this light. If they did not have an incredible relationship before the events of these chapters, Isaac probably would have turned against Abraham for the rest of his life. Abraham tied him up, laid him on an altar after making him carry the fire wood, and lifted his hand to kill him and burn his body as a sacrifice to God. Do you think Isaac ever forgot that God came first in Abraham’s life? Do you think Isaac ever forgot the day that God saved his life by having a voice from Heaven stop his father and providing a ram for the sacrifice in his stead? How could Isaac ever doubt that God would take care of him? Now, there has never been and never will be another case like God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son on an altar. However, God expects every father to put Him before any children and even before his wife. When we get that confused we pass on the wrong faith. If our faith is in our job, our spouse, our family, our parents, our preacher, our kids, the government, etc. that is what will be passed on to the next generation. It is one thing to say God is first and I trust him completely, but it is a completely different thing to live it. Abraham lived it and his son learned it. If we live it our children will learn it as well. Talk is cheap, live it! There is a quote from Nazi Germany attributed to Martin Niemöller that is
some variation of the following: In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me - and by that time no one was left to speak up. At what point would you stand up and speak up for the rights of someone that was different from you, someone with whom, perhaps, you even vehemently disagree? There was a news story this week about Catholic Hospitals and other non-profit religious organizations being forced by the new health care laws to provide insurance for their employees that includes birth control and the 'morning after' pill which are diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Catholic religion. The Catholic church is fighting back against this law claiming it is unconstitutional. The question to think about is this: Should you defend the religious freedom of the Catholic church against an intrusive law even if you are not Catholic and don't think they are right about birth control? What is the straw that breaks the camel's back with you? Where would you draw the line and say this has gone too far? Just think about it. |