SEXY christians - Baker Publishing Group

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Sexy Christians: An Oxymoron?our Sexy Christians Seminars, Diane and I have had the opportunityto ask thousands of believers, “How many of youhad a mom or dad who talked to you in depth about sex asyou grew up?”The affirmative response rate is only 1 to 2 percent. Instead,most of us grew up hearing strange messages with dual implicationslike, “Sex is dirty; save it for someone you love.”This explains why we usually start a seminar by asking,“How about allowing us to take the role of your surrogatemom and dad in the faith? Over the next two days we willshare with you the lessons God has taught us about havinga dynamite marriage—sexually and spiritually.”The Missing PieceAs believers, we absolutely must have a framework to helpus examine our marriage and our world. I say that so firmlybecause merely telling followers of Christ that sexual immoralityis wrong doesn’t work. It sure hasn’t worked so far.Instead, we must give believers a clear vision of the God-givengift of their sexuality as followers of Christ.Again, Christians have a distinctive advantage over non-Christians when it comes to sexual fulfillment. We’ll prove thisto you in the pages that follow. As believers, we need a clearvision of God’s best for us if we intend to walk in purity. Idefine vision as “a vivid picture of what can be, motivated bya driving passion that it should be.” The underlying problem:most Christians don’t even remotely understand the truth oftheir potential as sexual beings.Let’s stop right here for a moment. I’ve worked with peoplelong enough to know that some of you are thinking right now,Wait just a minute, Ted. How can you say that it doesn’t workto simply tell followers of Christ that sexual immorality iswrong and then turn around and declare that most Christiansdon’t remotely understand the truth of their potential 23Dr. Ted Roberts and Diane Roberts,Sexy Christians: The Purpose, Power, and Passion of Biblical Intimacy,Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2011. Used by permission.
The Purposeas sexual beings? Talk about sweeping generalizations. Comeon, Ted. You can do better than that!Like all generalizations, these statements don’t apply in everysituation. In the majority of cases, however, I’ve found them tobe sadly and precisely true. A recent study by comScore thatmeasures internet traffic revealed that 66 percent of internetusingmen in America between the ages of eighteen and thirtyfourlook at online porn at least once a month. 1 This finding hasrather sobering implications with respect to the guy in the pew.Since the average amount of time spent cruising pornographicsites is two to four hours per visit, our guy in the pew is probablygetting more porn per month than he is the Word of God.In speaking at various men’s conferences over the last decade,I have discovered the vast majority of men in the churchare losing the battle for sexual purity. In two large men’sconferences where I spoke recently, I asked the pastors if Icould ask their men some honest questions. They grantedpermission, and over 90 percent of the attendees admittedthey were struggling—and falling. In other words, the enemyhas made dangerous inroads into the lives of many, including anumber of our trusted leaders. Even more shocking is the factthat these were strong, healthy churches. At first the pastorswere stunned, but now we are helping them get ministries inplace to help these men experience real healing.And men are not the only ones who have this problem. Onlineporn use is a systems problem that reaches every cornerof the family. A recent study showed 40 percent of femaleinternet users now engage in problematic cybersex behavior.2 An even more troubling statistic reveals that twelve- toseventeen-year-olds have now become the largest consumersof internet pornography. 3Pastors are not immune to this struggle; in fact I believethey are particularly vulnerable. In the final chapter of thisbook I will share the shocking results of a recent clinical evaluationI did on evangelical pastors. My findings have shownsuch a dramatic problem that I have limited the clinical side 24Dr. Ted Roberts and Diane Roberts,Sexy Christians: The Purpose, Power, and Passion of Biblical Intimacy,Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2011. Used by permission.
Page 4: Contents7. Getting Up Off the Floor
Page 7 and 8: Forewordthe gigantic health problem
Page 9 and 10: IntroductionGood Morning America!Te
Page 11 and 12: Introductionsee them again. But the
Page 13 and 14: P art 1The PurposeGod’s Design fo
Page 15 and 16: The Purposesky, I found myself wres
Page 17 and 18: The PurposeI was already flying ful
Page 19: The Purposethis fact, and even fewe
Page 23 and 24: The Purposeproblem.” They have co
Page 25 and 26: The PurposeBelow are some comments
Page 27: The PurposeHome PlayEvery game has

SEXY christians - Baker Publishing Group

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?