Saturday 28 January 2017

Scared straight: educational ponderables as a deterrent to sexual sin.

Maintaining one’s purity in an impure society is difficult. Spiritual strength is paramount to overcome iniquitous allures. Yet, the Bible also gives us plenty of council on the practicality of righteousness, and how it is easier to walk upright if we learn to avoid temptations outright. So this article is focusing on the practicality of holiness.. and how education can give us pause from fornication and/or adultery, by showing us the fearful physical or worldly consequences that could befall us. For when sin touches this world and our lives, it doesn’t just sully our souls; it can have lasting effects on our bodies and mental state. If you’ve had unprotected sex, have a new partner (or more than one partner) this is a consideration. And if you’re a Christian struggling with this temptation, this article is meant to scare you straight and take the edge off that unrighteous desire. Sex is not a trivial activity. And Christians that face temptations should reinforce their fortifications from fornication with information.

Understanding these consequences forms a deterrent to engaging in sexual immorality. This principle is embraced Biblically as well as worldly. It’s for this reason that we are taught that cigarette smoke can cause lung cancer or emphysema. The association of the potential `what-if’ warns us of the risks involved in tobacco, and these risks help to steer us away from this product. And within the sexual niche of this discussion, it can similarly be seen in the government’s educational drive for condom use as a means of safeguarding our bodies from the dangers of unplanned pregnancy and venereal disease (particularly AIDS, which alongside unwed pregnancy has an adverse effect on social programs and hence governmental resources).

Wednesday 11 January 2017

Shame

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things have become new”. (2 Cor 5:17)
This article is not for the brow beating of the saints. It is not meant to condemn or diminish the Lord’s children by suggesting they should wallow continually and eternally in the past affairs of their flesh. When we are born again, we are new creatures in Christ, and the feats of the flesh are the dead memory of our old self, our “old man”. This article seeks to look at a rare occurrence where a Christian’s standing in Christ may not be on as solid as they had presumed. And as such, is intended to cause reflection as to whether we conform to this odd spiritual malignity, a holdover from our past that has no place in our present or future.