Friday, July 29, 2005
The Bible has a word to describe "safe" sex: It's called marriage.
The 1960s were known for many rebellions, among them the sexual revolution. "Free love" spilled from the hippie movement into the mainstream American culture. Premarital sex relations sanctioned by the "new morality" became openly flaunted.
One of the unexpected results of this trend, however, received little publicity. As reported by Dr. Francis Braceland, past president of the American Psychiatric Association and editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry, an increasing number of young people were admitted to mental hospitals! In discussing this finding at a National Methodist Convocation on Medicine and Theology, Braceland concluded, "a more lenient attitude on campus about premarital sex experience has imposed stresses on some college women severe enough to cause emotional breakdown."
Looking back over the years since the "new morality" was sanctioned by a high percentage of the American culture, one finds a rising number of rapes, abortions, divorces, premarital pregnancies and single-family homes, and cases of sexually-transmitted diseases, including herpes and HIV. This evidence is compelling: the old morality produced safer, healthier, and happier people!
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Hebrews 13:4 (NIV)
The 1960s were known for many rebellions, among them the sexual revolution. "Free love" spilled from the hippie movement into the mainstream American culture. Premarital sex relations sanctioned by the "new morality" became openly flaunted.
One of the unexpected results of this trend, however, received little publicity. As reported by Dr. Francis Braceland, past president of the American Psychiatric Association and editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry, an increasing number of young people were admitted to mental hospitals! In discussing this finding at a National Methodist Convocation on Medicine and Theology, Braceland concluded, "a more lenient attitude on campus about premarital sex experience has imposed stresses on some college women severe enough to cause emotional breakdown."
Looking back over the years since the "new morality" was sanctioned by a high percentage of the American culture, one finds a rising number of rapes, abortions, divorces, premarital pregnancies and single-family homes, and cases of sexually-transmitted diseases, including herpes and HIV. This evidence is compelling: the old morality produced safer, healthier, and happier people!
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
Hebrews 13:4 (NIV)
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
You will never make a more important decision than the person you marry.
When Ruth Bell was a teenager, she was sent from her childhood home in China to school in Korea. At the time, she fully intended to follow in her parents' footsteps and become a missionary. She envisioned herself a confirmed "old maid" ministering to the people of tibet. While at school, however, Ruth did give some serious thought to the kind of husband that she might consider. As she tells in her book A Time for Remembering, she listed these particulars:
"If I marry: He must be so tall that when he is on his knees, as one has said, he reaches all the way to heaven. His shoulders must be broad enough to bear the burden of a family. His lips must be strong enough to smile, firm enough to say no, and tender enough to kiss. Love must be so deep that it takes its stand in Christ and so wide that it takes the whole lost world in. He must be active enough to save souls. He must be big enough to be gentle and great enough to be thoughtful. His arms must be strong enough to carry a little child."
Ruth Bell never did become a full-time missionary in Tibet. However, she did find a man worth marrying: Billy Graham. As his wife, Ruth Bell Graham became a missionary to the whole world!
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
And shall cleave unto his wife:
And they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2:24
When Ruth Bell was a teenager, she was sent from her childhood home in China to school in Korea. At the time, she fully intended to follow in her parents' footsteps and become a missionary. She envisioned herself a confirmed "old maid" ministering to the people of tibet. While at school, however, Ruth did give some serious thought to the kind of husband that she might consider. As she tells in her book A Time for Remembering, she listed these particulars:
"If I marry: He must be so tall that when he is on his knees, as one has said, he reaches all the way to heaven. His shoulders must be broad enough to bear the burden of a family. His lips must be strong enough to smile, firm enough to say no, and tender enough to kiss. Love must be so deep that it takes its stand in Christ and so wide that it takes the whole lost world in. He must be active enough to save souls. He must be big enough to be gentle and great enough to be thoughtful. His arms must be strong enough to carry a little child."
Ruth Bell never did become a full-time missionary in Tibet. However, she did find a man worth marrying: Billy Graham. As his wife, Ruth Bell Graham became a missionary to the whole world!
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
And shall cleave unto his wife:
And they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2:24
Friday, May 20, 2005
Even a mosquito doesn't get a slap on the back until it starts to work.
Many people know how Hellen Keller overcame the difficult physical challenge of being rendered deaf, dumb, and blind after a fever as a baby, and how she eventually learned to communicate, learning Braille. Her life inspired millions, one of her ardent admirers being Mark Twain. She was invited to visit every U.S. President at the White House from her childhood on.
What many people don't know, however, is how hard Helen worked as an adult. After graduating with honors from Radcliffe College, she worked to help others until her death at the age of eighty-eight. She wrote numerous articles. She gave lectures for the American Foundation for the Blind, and she helped raise a fund of some two million dollars for this foundation. On her eightieth birthday, the American Foundation for Overseas Blind honored her by announcing the Hellen Keller International Award for those who gave outstanding help to the blind.
Not only are each of us called to overcome our own faults, weaknesses, and limitations, but we are asked to exercise our strengths. "Just surviving" isn't what we are challenged to do. We are destined to use our talents for God's purposes, putting all our minds, hearts, and energy to the work He sets before us.
Work hard so God can say to you,
"Well done." Be a good workman,
one who does not need to be ashamed
when God examines your work...
2 Timothy 2:15 TLB
Many people know how Hellen Keller overcame the difficult physical challenge of being rendered deaf, dumb, and blind after a fever as a baby, and how she eventually learned to communicate, learning Braille. Her life inspired millions, one of her ardent admirers being Mark Twain. She was invited to visit every U.S. President at the White House from her childhood on.
What many people don't know, however, is how hard Helen worked as an adult. After graduating with honors from Radcliffe College, she worked to help others until her death at the age of eighty-eight. She wrote numerous articles. She gave lectures for the American Foundation for the Blind, and she helped raise a fund of some two million dollars for this foundation. On her eightieth birthday, the American Foundation for Overseas Blind honored her by announcing the Hellen Keller International Award for those who gave outstanding help to the blind.
Not only are each of us called to overcome our own faults, weaknesses, and limitations, but we are asked to exercise our strengths. "Just surviving" isn't what we are challenged to do. We are destined to use our talents for God's purposes, putting all our minds, hearts, and energy to the work He sets before us.
Work hard so God can say to you,
"Well done." Be a good workman,
one who does not need to be ashamed
when God examines your work...
2 Timothy 2:15 TLB
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Many receive advice, only the wise profit by it.
After haggling heatedly for several hours about which type of water main to purchase for their city, the town council of Pacific Vista was still deadlocked. One member suggested, "Let's appoint a committee to confer with the city engineer at Los Angeles to find out which type they have found to be most successful over the years. If we can profit by another city's mistakes. I think we should do so."
Leaping to his feet, an angry councilman - obviously full of civic pride but with little discretion - replied, pounding his fist on the table, "Why should we have to profit by the mistakes of Los Angeles? Gentlemen, I contend that Pacific Vista is a big enough town now to make its own mistakes!"
Most of us are surrounded by good advice at any given time.
- The books of our libraries are full of it.
- Preachers proclaim it weekly.
- People with high varied experiences and backgrounds about with it.
- Schools give access to it; labs report it.
- Commentators and columnists gush with it.
But all the good advice in the world is worth very little... if it isn't heeded. Be one of the wise - value and apply it!
Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
Proverbs 13:10 NIV
After haggling heatedly for several hours about which type of water main to purchase for their city, the town council of Pacific Vista was still deadlocked. One member suggested, "Let's appoint a committee to confer with the city engineer at Los Angeles to find out which type they have found to be most successful over the years. If we can profit by another city's mistakes. I think we should do so."
Leaping to his feet, an angry councilman - obviously full of civic pride but with little discretion - replied, pounding his fist on the table, "Why should we have to profit by the mistakes of Los Angeles? Gentlemen, I contend that Pacific Vista is a big enough town now to make its own mistakes!"
Most of us are surrounded by good advice at any given time.
- The books of our libraries are full of it.
- Preachers proclaim it weekly.
- People with high varied experiences and backgrounds about with it.
- Schools give access to it; labs report it.
- Commentators and columnists gush with it.
But all the good advice in the world is worth very little... if it isn't heeded. Be one of the wise - value and apply it!
Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
Proverbs 13:10 NIV
Saturday, March 19, 2005
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.
A painting in an ancient temple depicts a king forging a chain from his crown, and nearby, another scene shows a slave converting his chain into a crown. Underneath the painting is this inscription: "Life is what one makes it, no matter of what it is made."
You may have been given certain "ingredients," just as a baker may find the staples of flour, sugar, and oil in his kitchen, but what you create from the talents and genetic propensities given you is... up to you! Live your life so that it might be measured according to these words of an anonymous poet:
Not - How did he die? But - How did he live?
Not - Where did he gain? But - What did he give?
These are the units to measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.
Not - What was his station? But - Had he a heart?
And - How did he play his God-given part?
Was he ever ready with a word of good cheer,
To bring back a smile, to banish a tear?
Not - What was his shrine? Nor - What was his creed?
But - Had he befriended those really in need?
Not - What did the sketch in the newspaper say?
But - How many were sorry when he passed away?
The memory of the righteous will be a blessing...
Proverbs 10:7 NIV
A painting in an ancient temple depicts a king forging a chain from his crown, and nearby, another scene shows a slave converting his chain into a crown. Underneath the painting is this inscription: "Life is what one makes it, no matter of what it is made."
You may have been given certain "ingredients," just as a baker may find the staples of flour, sugar, and oil in his kitchen, but what you create from the talents and genetic propensities given you is... up to you! Live your life so that it might be measured according to these words of an anonymous poet:
Not - How did he die? But - How did he live?
Not - Where did he gain? But - What did he give?
These are the units to measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of birth.
Not - What was his station? But - Had he a heart?
And - How did he play his God-given part?
Was he ever ready with a word of good cheer,
To bring back a smile, to banish a tear?
Not - What was his shrine? Nor - What was his creed?
But - Had he befriended those really in need?
Not - What did the sketch in the newspaper say?
But - How many were sorry when he passed away?
The memory of the righteous will be a blessing...
Proverbs 10:7 NIV