Subject-Files
deconstructionism
On a base level, the idea of deconstruction is when we root down into revisiting long-held beliefs and rethinking them. It is also asking the question: What do I believe?
Whether you grew up in the church or found faith later, this process can be a wider part of our restoration. The goal of tearing our preconceived beliefs down is so that they can be built back up better.
American priest Richard Rohr breaks down deconstruction into three different stages: construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. If we assume construction is our coming to faith and reconstruction establishes our faith, where does deconstruction fit in? The end goal should always be to have a more holistic understanding of our beliefs to reconstruct around. --Christ Church Memphis
Whether you grew up in the church or found faith later, this process can be a wider part of our restoration. The goal of tearing our preconceived beliefs down is so that they can be built back up better.
American priest Richard Rohr breaks down deconstruction into three different stages: construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. If we assume construction is our coming to faith and reconstruction establishes our faith, where does deconstruction fit in? The end goal should always be to have a more holistic understanding of our beliefs to reconstruct around. --Christ Church Memphis
- grace -
Idolatry
“Idolatry is the most discussed problem in the Bible and it’s one of the most powerful, spiritual, and intellectual concepts in a believer’s arsenal. Yet, for Christians today, it’s one of the least meaningful notions.”
--Os Guinness
--Os Guinness
“Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” …Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” I Corinthians 10:7 & 14
“The opposite of theism is not atheism. It's called idolatry. ”
Judging
masturbation
cs lewis
The evidence seems to be that God sometimes works such a complete metamorphosis and sometimes not. We don’t know why: God forbid we should presume it went my merit.
He never in my unmarried days did it for me. He gave me–at least and after many ups and down, the power to resist the temptation so far as the act was concerned. He never stopped the recurrent temptations, nor was I guarded from the sin of mental consent. I don’t mean I wasn’t given sufficient grace. I mean that I sometimes fell into it, grace or no.
One may, I suppose, regard this as partly penal. One is paying for the physical (and still more the imaginative) sins of one’s earlier life. One my also regard it as a tribulation, like any other. The great discovery for me was that the attack does not last forever. It is the devil’s lie that the only escape from the tension is through yielding.
… Disgust, self-contempt, self-hatred–rhetoric against the sin and (still more) vilification of sexuality or the body in themselves–are emphatically not the weapons for this warfare. We must be relieved, not horrified, by the fact that the whole thing is humiliating, undignified, ridiculous; the lofty vices would be far worse.
Nor must we exaggerate our suffering. We talk of ‘torture’: five minutes of really acute toothache would restore our sense of proportion! In a word, no melodrama. The sin, if we fall into it, must be repented, like all our others. God will forgive. The temptation is a darn nuisance, to be born with patience as long as God wills.
On the purely physical side (but people no doubt differ) I’ve always found that tea and bodily weariness are the two great disposing factors, and therefore the great dangers. Sadness is also a danger: lust in my experience follows disgruntlement nearly always. Love of every sort is a guard against lust, by a divine paradox, sexual love is a guard against lust. No woman is more easily and painlessly abstained from from, if need be, than the woman one loves. And I’m pretty sure purely male society is an enemy to chastity. I don’t mean a temptation to homosexuality: I mean that the absence of ordinary female society provokes the normal appetite (CS Lewis, Yours, Jack, 307-308).
He never in my unmarried days did it for me. He gave me–at least and after many ups and down, the power to resist the temptation so far as the act was concerned. He never stopped the recurrent temptations, nor was I guarded from the sin of mental consent. I don’t mean I wasn’t given sufficient grace. I mean that I sometimes fell into it, grace or no.
One may, I suppose, regard this as partly penal. One is paying for the physical (and still more the imaginative) sins of one’s earlier life. One my also regard it as a tribulation, like any other. The great discovery for me was that the attack does not last forever. It is the devil’s lie that the only escape from the tension is through yielding.
… Disgust, self-contempt, self-hatred–rhetoric against the sin and (still more) vilification of sexuality or the body in themselves–are emphatically not the weapons for this warfare. We must be relieved, not horrified, by the fact that the whole thing is humiliating, undignified, ridiculous; the lofty vices would be far worse.
Nor must we exaggerate our suffering. We talk of ‘torture’: five minutes of really acute toothache would restore our sense of proportion! In a word, no melodrama. The sin, if we fall into it, must be repented, like all our others. God will forgive. The temptation is a darn nuisance, to be born with patience as long as God wills.
On the purely physical side (but people no doubt differ) I’ve always found that tea and bodily weariness are the two great disposing factors, and therefore the great dangers. Sadness is also a danger: lust in my experience follows disgruntlement nearly always. Love of every sort is a guard against lust, by a divine paradox, sexual love is a guard against lust. No woman is more easily and painlessly abstained from from, if need be, than the woman one loves. And I’m pretty sure purely male society is an enemy to chastity. I don’t mean a temptation to homosexuality: I mean that the absence of ordinary female society provokes the normal appetite (CS Lewis, Yours, Jack, 307-308).
We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he “wants a woman.” Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want.
“He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition (one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes).
“Now Eros makes a man really want, not a woman, but one particular woman. In some mysterious but quite indisputable fashion the lover desires the Beloved herself, not the pleasure she can give.” --CS Lewis; The Four Loves
“He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition (one does not keep the carton after one has smoked the cigarettes).
“Now Eros makes a man really want, not a woman, but one particular woman. In some mysterious but quite indisputable fashion the lover desires the Beloved herself, not the pleasure she can give.” --CS Lewis; The Four Loves
The true exercise of imagination, in my view, is (a) To help us to understand other people (b) To respond to, and, some of us, to produce art. But it has also a bad use: to provide for us, in shadowy form, a substitute for virtues, successes, distinctions, et cetera which ought to be sought outside in the real world — e.g., picturing all I’d do if I were rich instead of earning and saving.
Masturbation involves this abuse of imagination in erotic matters (which I think bad in itself) and thereby encourages a similar abuse of it in all spheres.
After all, almost the main work of life is to come out of our selves, out of the little, dark prison we are all born in. Masturbation is be avoided as all things are to be avoided which retard this process. The danger is that of coming to love the prison (CS Lewis, Yours, Jack, 292-293).
Masturbation involves this abuse of imagination in erotic matters (which I think bad in itself) and thereby encourages a similar abuse of it in all spheres.
After all, almost the main work of life is to come out of our selves, out of the little, dark prison we are all born in. Masturbation is be avoided as all things are to be avoided which retard this process. The danger is that of coming to love the prison (CS Lewis, Yours, Jack, 292-293).
During masturbation, the body releases hormones; namely dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin, testosterone, and prolactin; which collectively produce a boost in pain relief, positive mood change, and sex drive.
Over time, this “feel good” feedback loop trains our bodies and minds to crave this direct self-gratification as a quick fix for our biological urges, anxiety, boredom, and stress. Dopamine is the hormone behind the brain’s pleasure-reward system that reinforces our cravings and leads us to seek out the same rewards in future. Endorphins reduce pain and boost pleasure, resulting in a feeling of well-being. Both have significant roles to play in fostering addictions.
Regardless of what people may say about being able to choose when and where they masturbate, the fact is, masturbation is addictive.
Over time, anyone with a pattern of masturbating will notice a gradual increase in their compulsions to:
--Teaching Humble Hearts
Over time, this “feel good” feedback loop trains our bodies and minds to crave this direct self-gratification as a quick fix for our biological urges, anxiety, boredom, and stress. Dopamine is the hormone behind the brain’s pleasure-reward system that reinforces our cravings and leads us to seek out the same rewards in future. Endorphins reduce pain and boost pleasure, resulting in a feeling of well-being. Both have significant roles to play in fostering addictions.
Regardless of what people may say about being able to choose when and where they masturbate, the fact is, masturbation is addictive.
Over time, anyone with a pattern of masturbating will notice a gradual increase in their compulsions to:
- Turn to masturbation whenever they feel stressed, lonely, upset, angry, hurt, frustrated, or unable to sleep
- Masturbate even when there are no sexual urges
- Think about masturbation, and become aroused by remarks that are not intended to be sexual in nature
- Seek out more and more sexual stimulation, at times resorting to using objects
- Masturbate outside the home, in public places
- Impulsively touch their private parts, even in the presence of other people
--Teaching Humble Hearts
Self-abuse, noun
1. Abuse of oneself or one’s abilities.
2. Masturbation.
1 Corinthians 6:18 (NIV) further confirms this, saying that unlawful sexual relations defile our own bodies: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.”
Isn’t it still better to masturbate than to commit fornication?
The easy answer to this question would be, “Yes, it is better to masturbate, because at best it corrupts only one person. It certainly is the lesser of two evils.” However, why would a loving, holy, all-powerful God abandon you to a situation in which you have to choose any evil, whether it be “lesser” or “greater?” To really answer this question, we must again go back to God’s original plan for sex.
First of all, masturbation will not truly relieve the sexual pressure that one may feel. It may for a short moment, but in the long run it only creates a deeper desire and capacity for sex, which will lead to more masturbation. If you let yourself become enslaved to a sexual high, you will find that you need to go to increasingly extreme acts to maintain the same degree of excitement. There are even ungodly sex therapists who recommend masturbation as a way of increasing sexual desire, not lessening it. This creates a vicious circle, like the junkie who craves a “fix,” but is only temporarily satisfied. The more he indulges in his dependency, the more ensnared by addiction he becomes. This is the nature of all sin. That is why Jesus declared that all who sin become a slave to sin (John 8:34).
Furthermore, masturbation usually involves fantasy, visualization, and often pornography. The Bible is very clear as to what God expects of us in these areas of fantasy and lust. It teaches that we must not look lustfully at each other nor should we behave in such a manner as to entice others to lust after us.
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a girl. I know full well that the Almighty God sends calamity on those who do. Job 31:1-3 (The Living Bible)
You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28
While the above verses refer to men lusting after women, all women know that it can very easily be reversed to apply to themselves as well. Men may be more easily visually stimulated than women, but women can be just as vulnerable to sexual fantasy in the emotional realm. Both are sin in God’s eyes, and both can be brought into subjection by controlling our thoughts through Christ’s power. --What the Bible Says about Masturbation
1. Abuse of oneself or one’s abilities.
2. Masturbation.
1 Corinthians 6:18 (NIV) further confirms this, saying that unlawful sexual relations defile our own bodies: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.”
Isn’t it still better to masturbate than to commit fornication?
The easy answer to this question would be, “Yes, it is better to masturbate, because at best it corrupts only one person. It certainly is the lesser of two evils.” However, why would a loving, holy, all-powerful God abandon you to a situation in which you have to choose any evil, whether it be “lesser” or “greater?” To really answer this question, we must again go back to God’s original plan for sex.
First of all, masturbation will not truly relieve the sexual pressure that one may feel. It may for a short moment, but in the long run it only creates a deeper desire and capacity for sex, which will lead to more masturbation. If you let yourself become enslaved to a sexual high, you will find that you need to go to increasingly extreme acts to maintain the same degree of excitement. There are even ungodly sex therapists who recommend masturbation as a way of increasing sexual desire, not lessening it. This creates a vicious circle, like the junkie who craves a “fix,” but is only temporarily satisfied. The more he indulges in his dependency, the more ensnared by addiction he becomes. This is the nature of all sin. That is why Jesus declared that all who sin become a slave to sin (John 8:34).
Furthermore, masturbation usually involves fantasy, visualization, and often pornography. The Bible is very clear as to what God expects of us in these areas of fantasy and lust. It teaches that we must not look lustfully at each other nor should we behave in such a manner as to entice others to lust after us.
I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a girl. I know full well that the Almighty God sends calamity on those who do. Job 31:1-3 (The Living Bible)
You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28
While the above verses refer to men lusting after women, all women know that it can very easily be reversed to apply to themselves as well. Men may be more easily visually stimulated than women, but women can be just as vulnerable to sexual fantasy in the emotional realm. Both are sin in God’s eyes, and both can be brought into subjection by controlling our thoughts through Christ’s power. --What the Bible Says about Masturbation
materialism
|
Mar 13, 2023: Christian World Review: Materialism and The American Soul
One of the most impactful paradigm shifts I have ever lived through would undoubtedly have to have been during university. I went to a small Christian School that was very focused on the Bible and mission work at large. Throughout my first year of study, I felt as if I was in the center of God’s strategy room, surrounded by giants of the faith. At the time, I took whatever they said as the Gospel truth. Consequently, you may be able to imagine my surprise and confusion when I overheard the school’s president talking about the best way to keep homeless people off the property. |
Materialism has even wormed its way into the culture of Christianity in the States at large. The most in-your-face example is undoubtedly the unreasonable prominence of the prosperity gospel. Another good example is the way Christmas is generally celebrated. Although the holiday is about the birth of Christ, the big focus of December 25 is typically the things we bought each other, even in Christian households. Culturally, it’s more of a time to give one another the things we’ve wanted all year; then, a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. In its more subtle forms, it reveals itself in the way wealth is often associated with church position. For example, have you ever seen a church leader (elder, priest, deacon, or pastor) whose lifestyle is below their community’s standard of living? Even in poorer neighborhoods, they tend to be near the top. After all, no matter how little people possess, having a nearly homeless religious leader would just be unbecoming. 3.13.23 |
pornography
“God didn’t create you to be that way. God created you to have an intense longing for your wife. For the two to become one flesh. Sin created that same longing for every other woman. The Bible didn’t tell you to flee from lustful desires when it couldn’t actually happen. You can’t get there in your flesh, you can’t get there by trying harder, you can’t get there by feeling guilty, but you can get there by giving your life over to Christ.”
“The Bible says we must flee from sin. It’s an action. It’s a running in terror from it, because it will separate us from God, from our kids, from our wives.”
Ken Harrison; Promise Keepers
“The Bible says we must flee from sin. It’s an action. It’s a running in terror from it, because it will separate us from God, from our kids, from our wives.”
Ken Harrison; Promise Keepers
race
Feb 24, 2022: Adventist Review: Should Christians Be Color-Blind?
Color blindness is a simplistic framework for relating to the complex realities of contemporary life. It often betrays our inability to see God’s image in those not in our image—whose color, culture, and ethnicity are different from ours.
Color blindness is a simplistic framework for relating to the complex realities of contemporary life. It often betrays our inability to see God’s image in those not in our image—whose color, culture, and ethnicity are different from ours.
1960s Civil Rights Movement and the Prosperity Gospel
The black church played an instrumental role in the landmark legislative victories of the Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s. However, there were unintended consequences that came along with those victories.
From the shadow of emancipation until the dawn of desegregation, black communities contained the full depth and breadth of black existence – doctors, lawyers, teachers, musicians, artists, day laborers, share croppers, winos, and petty thieves – the whole gamut of black life. When blacks were allowed through legislative victories to move out of predominately black communities into “better” white communities, the members of the community who were best equipped to take advantage of this “opportunity” were the most educated and affluent. Over time, black communities were depleted of precious resources leaving the makeup of the communities more homogeneously poor and undereducated.
The families that left were still culturally tethered to their former communities by one institution – the black church. These families could not get the authentic black church experience in the suburbs and many families had been tied to these institutions for generations. The black church was a spiritual and cultural lifeline to those who left.
The church desperately needed those families as well. The churches needed to do all that they could to keep the “tithes and offerings” from leaving along with the exodus, so some adopted the prosperity theology as a way to draw back the affluent who wanted the black church experience and have them comfortably fit in with the “least of these”, the undereducated and impoverished from the community. The prosperity ministry held up the affluent as role models and also may have assuaged any anxiety or “survivor’s remorse” that they may have had when returning to a decaying community.
This is a dangerous mix. Any hierarchy implied or otherwise in a spiritual institution based upon material possession is a disaster waiting to happen with the poor and disenfranchised ultimately paying the price and stuffing the coffers as they wait their turn to be blessed – pyramid scheme 101.
--Andre Kimo Stone Guess
Randy Alcorn [Eternal Perspective Ministries]
The black church played an instrumental role in the landmark legislative victories of the Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s. However, there were unintended consequences that came along with those victories.
From the shadow of emancipation until the dawn of desegregation, black communities contained the full depth and breadth of black existence – doctors, lawyers, teachers, musicians, artists, day laborers, share croppers, winos, and petty thieves – the whole gamut of black life. When blacks were allowed through legislative victories to move out of predominately black communities into “better” white communities, the members of the community who were best equipped to take advantage of this “opportunity” were the most educated and affluent. Over time, black communities were depleted of precious resources leaving the makeup of the communities more homogeneously poor and undereducated.
The families that left were still culturally tethered to their former communities by one institution – the black church. These families could not get the authentic black church experience in the suburbs and many families had been tied to these institutions for generations. The black church was a spiritual and cultural lifeline to those who left.
The church desperately needed those families as well. The churches needed to do all that they could to keep the “tithes and offerings” from leaving along with the exodus, so some adopted the prosperity theology as a way to draw back the affluent who wanted the black church experience and have them comfortably fit in with the “least of these”, the undereducated and impoverished from the community. The prosperity ministry held up the affluent as role models and also may have assuaged any anxiety or “survivor’s remorse” that they may have had when returning to a decaying community.
This is a dangerous mix. Any hierarchy implied or otherwise in a spiritual institution based upon material possession is a disaster waiting to happen with the poor and disenfranchised ultimately paying the price and stuffing the coffers as they wait their turn to be blessed – pyramid scheme 101.
--Andre Kimo Stone Guess
Randy Alcorn [Eternal Perspective Ministries]