The Shame of Pornography and God’s Justification of Sinners

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“God knows I am worse than even the Accuser accuses. But still loves me as His own. Take my reputation. Give me Christ.” R. C. Sproul, Jr.

I recently watched Gary Wilson’s TED’s talk “The Great Porn Experiment.” In this talk, Wilson discusses the high stimulation impact pornography has had on men since the beginning of the internet. He discusses the correlative symptoms of pornography use like failure to perform in normal sexual relationships, failure to connect in relationships, and depression. Immediately, this video made sense to parts of my story dealing with depression and fighting pornography.

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Sojourning Through the Deluge

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I went and saw Darren Aronofsky’s Noah during the opening weekend with my wife. The point of this article isn’t to review the movie. You can find some helpful reviews from Greg Thornbury, Joe Carter, Brian Mattson, and Kevin McLenithan at CaPC (those will give the sweep of evangelical responses). As they mention, there were positive and negative points about the movie, but the one area where I think Aronofsky pushes into the narrative well is right as the flood starts and the Ark is being tossed about by the wind and the waves. During this scene, you can hear the cries of people mixed with the roar of the waters. You can hardly distinguish the two. That realization that all other humans were being killed by the deluge weighed heavily on Noah and his family.

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Four Ways Churches Can Equip Families to Rehearse the Gospel

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All this hub bub about rehearsing the gospel story in your home, but I haven’t asked one question, “How can churches equip families to do this?” Yes, families must make much of God. Yes, we are all responsible for our families. Yet, when we read through Scripture, when we see God’s people acting faithfully, it almost always starts with the leadership of the church. God seems to normally use strong leadership to strengthen families and individuals.

This is true primarily because we are a body. We are connected--ligaments to bones to flesh. You cannot remove a part of the body without other systems breaking down. The journey we take with our families is squarely walked hand in hand with a church and the Church. We follow the Trailblazer as sojourners and exiles within a living, breathing community.

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