Feb 04 2010
Religion Al Mohler, Christian Sexuality, Pornography, Sex
The Christian doctrine of human depravity teaches that all of us are sinners. We don’t become sinners. We are sinners. We are born into sin. It is our nature.
As a pure-bred sinner each of us have the potential to do the most heinous of sins. Even after we have put our faith and trust in Jesus we still have the potential to do awful, terrible sins. The daily news reminds us of murderous preachers, sodomizing priests, and thieving deacons.
Yes, there is still a lot of sin in the church BUT imagine how bad it COULD be without Jesus. While Jesus saves people from the spiritual penalty of sin it seems that eradicating the sin nature is not part of the salvation deal. Christians sin with the best of us.
Preachers spend a lot of time preaching about sin. The blood-washed band is warned of the dangers of playing around with the fire of sin. You will get burned. Many a preacher has said “Sin will take you farther than you want to go and cost you more than you are willing to pay.”
Preachers stress the danger of the slippery slope. A little sin will turn into a big sin. Eating one grape will just whet your taste for more. Who can stop at just one grape? Before you know it you will have eaten the whole bunch. Who can eat just one Oreo? One Pringle?
According to the preachers, God considers every sin the same. There are NO small sins with God. They do warn that, while every sin is the same in the eyes of God, some sins have greater consequences.
There is a special class of sins that preachers focus on above all others. Sexual sins. Adultery. Fornication. Homosexuality. The Big Three of preaching on sexual sin. Adultery is married sex sins. Fornication is unmarried sex sins. Homosexuality is married/unmarried same-sex sex sins.
Sexual sins are bad, I mean real bad.
Why? The slippery slope.
Having sex is like going to the Dairy Queen for a milkshake. Once you have had a Dairy Queen milkshake every time you pass a Dairy Queen you’ll want to stop and have a milkshake. (actual sermon illustration)
Men in particular are prone to sexual sin. If you listen to the preachers long enough you’ll be convinced of one thing: men are so weak that they fall into sexual sin at the slightest temptation. In fact Christian women are often berated for not being modest in their dress thereby causing their brother to sin.
Years ago a Church member was arrested for molesting his teenage stepdaughter. He told me “I couldn’t help myself.” I said “Yes you could. That’s what God gave you hands for. Use them.”
Christian men are often given a free pass on sexual sins. If the world didn’t tempt them, if TV didn’t tempt them, if worldly women didn’t tempt them, if immodest Christian women didn’t tempt them…well they would never commit a sexual sin.
It seems that Christian men are especially prone to slip sliding their way down the slippery slope. Even Jesus said that if a man looks at a woman with lust he has committed adultery already with her in his heart.
It all starts so innocently. Perhaps looking at the lingerie ads in the catalog. Next thing you know you find scantily clad women on TV shows enticing. Before you know it you are watching movies with nudity in them.
Before long you’ll get tired of R rated movies and you’ll move on to NC-17 or X-rated movies.
Then one day you’ll wake up and find your life is consumed with surfing porn sites on the internet. You’ll intimately know how to use the private browsing feature of your internet browser.
Then it happens. You cross the line from digital flesh to real flesh. You commit a real, flesh and blood sexual sin.
You are now an adulterer, a fornicator, or a homosexual.
But it doesn’t stop there. The slippery slope causes you to slide ever so quickly, doing more terrible sins as you slide along. One day, to your horror, you will have become a member of Congress. 
The slippery slope is used to put fear into the hearts of conscientious Christian men. Fear the slope. Fear the “nice ass” look for tomorrow you will be an adulterous, porn addicted man. Many a man is afraid of their sexuality as a result of such preaching.
Al Mohler, a Southern Baptist preacher and theologian writes:
“The simplest explanation for why men view pornography (or solicit prostitutes) is that they are driven to seek out sexual intimacy,” he explains. The urge for sexual intimacy is God-given and essential to the male, he acknowledges, but it is easily misdirected. Men are tempted to seek “a shortcut to sexual pleasure via pornography” and now find this shortcut easily accessed.
In a fallen world, pornography becomes more than a distraction and a distortion of God’s intention for human sexuality. It comes as an addictive poison…
And then, enough is never enough. “If I take the same dose of a drug over and over and my body begins to tolerate it, I will need to take a higher dose of the drug in order for it to have the same effect that it did with a lower dose the first time,” Struthers reminds us. So, the experience of viewing pornography and acting out on it creates a demand in the brain for more and more, just to achieve the same level of pleasure in the brain.
There ya have it. Men seek out porn because they are looking for sexual intimacy and porn leads you down that slippery slope to destruction.
Granted human beings have the capacity to be addicted to most anything. I love Goetz caramel creams. I can eat an entire bag of them. I love them. I want them. I lust after them. And one will never satisfy me.
Back to porn.
Maybe I am different from other men. Porn doesn’t do much for me. Oh, at first, it was exciting. The whole forbidden fruit thing. (I missed out on the whole Playboy phase growing up) But, after awhile it lost its thrill value. (so much for the slippery slope) After all, you’ve seen one boob you’ve seen them all. I don’t have any desire to become a rampaging adulterer. The women in the community I live in are safe. They need not fear that I am lurking in the bushes waiting to have sex with them.
Preachers do a great injustice to men by telling them they are poor, helpless creatures lacking any sexual self-control. Instead of learning about respect and self-control they are taught to fear the slippery slope.
It should come as no surprise that the rate of sexual sin within the Christian Church mirrors the world.
It’s time for Christian men to grow up. Stop fearing the naked body. Stop thinking you are an adulterer in training. Be prudent. Be disciplined. Be self-controlled.
As an agnostic I no longer concern myself with the sexual rules of Christianity. I am governed by love of my wife and family. How will doing _____________affect my marriage is the question I must consider. Will watching porn have a negative effect on my marriage? Maybe, probably not. Will subscribing to Playboy (for the articles) hurt my marriage? Probably not. Will having an adulterous affair with my neighbor cause harm to my marriage. Most certainly.
Above all I want to live a life sexually that is healthy, honoring to the body, and honoring to my marriage.
I don’t need a preacher to tell me what is right.
Someone might ask “If you are not a Christian why do concern yourself with the Christian teaching on sexuality?”
This is an important matter because the Christian teaching on sexuality dominates our culture.
It affects all of us.
The Christian teaching on sexuality works its way into our laws, our schools, and our homes.
It matters…
Jan 19 2010
Life Al Mohler, Law of Cumulative Effect, Pat Robertson
Cumulative Cu"mu*la*tive (k?"m?-l?-t?v), a. [Cf. F. cumulatif.]
1. Composed of parts in a heap; forming a mass; aggregated. "As for knowledge which man receiveth by teaching, it is cumulative, not original."
2. Augmenting, gaining, or giving force, by successive additions; as, a cumulative argument, i. e., one whose force increases as the statement proceeds.
There are hundreds of departments in the Federal government. Each department has their own staff and budget. The Federal government operates in a dysfunctional, disjointed manner, with the left hand often not knowing what the right hand is doing.
As a result the true state of the Federal government is often obscured. Politicians like this, of course, because it allows them to escape accountability for their actions.
However, every once in awhile someone will look at the Federal government as a whole. They will actually add up all the future commitments, the debts, etc.
Oh, my God. Our Country is bankrupt. We are headed for ruin.
Welcome to the law of cumulative effect.
We tend to view things in isolation. Rarely to we look at what the cumulative effect is and this can be disastrous for us individually and as a culture.
One factory closes and ships their jobs overseas. No one notices. This same thing happens all over the country. No one notices.
One day we wake up to the news that millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost. Whole industries have been swallowed up.
The law of cumulative effect.
We routinely take vitamins, supplements and prescription drugs. Each are taken in isolation of the other. (outside of known interactions with other drugs) As we have learned in recent times, this can have deadly consequences.
The number of liver failures (and death) from taking Tylenol (acetaminophen) is alarming. Numerous over the counter and prescription drugs have Tylenol in them . For example I take Vicodin as part of my pain management. Each Vicodin contains 5mgof Hydrocodone and 500mg of Tylenol. Taken as prescribed will keep me safely within the maximum dosage for Tylenol.
However, if I take any other medications (or drink alcohol) with Tylenol as an ingredient I could put myself over the maximum allowable dosage. Doing this repeatedly could damage my liver and cause death.
The law of cumulative effect.
Pat Robertson gives another idiotic prophecy. Yawn. Al Mohler write another “God is just in killing Haitians” article. Yawn. A few more spokesmen for God say this or that and all of a sudden I pay attention.
I end up writing posts like They Don’t SPEAK for ME! and They Don’t SPEAK for ME! Part 2
The law of cumulative effect.
The law of cumulative effect plays out each and every day in out individual lives.
Little Leviticus is such a cute boy. He is playful and energetic. Just like his daddy. Yet, on some days Little Leviticus is more playful and energetic than Mom can appreciate. After countless “stop” “please don’t do that’” “leave that alone” “put that away” coupled with crying, screaming, and temper tantrums, Mom is ready to mete out some Levitical justice.
Was the first transgression worse than the last one? Not likely.
The law of cumulative effect.
I write this post to remind all of us about the law of cumulative effect. Beware of looking at things in isolation. We must also be aware that there are times where 12 doesn’t make a dozen. Sometimes, even if things look connected they aren’t. They are simply random, isolated things that “look” like a pattern.
The next time you smoke a doobie or go out to the pub for a drink remember the law of cumulative effect.
The next time you eat 1/2 a package of Oreo’s and wash them down with a 24 oz bottle of Dr Pepper remember the law of cumulative effect.
In other words…
Pay attention.
Jan 15 2010
Religion Afganistan, Al Mohler, Christian Nation, Christianity, Iraq, John Piper, Pakistan, Pat Robertson
They all use the same Bible.
They all believe the same Bible.
They all worship the same God.
They all believe the same about Jesus.
They all believe the same about man’s need of redemption.
They all believe in heaven and hell.
Whether they call themselves Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant or Baptist they believe the same. Whether they are a part of a denomination or independent they believe the same. Whether they are liberal, charismatic, conservative, or fundamentalist they believe the same.
Regardless of the name over the door every Christian Church essentially believes the same.
The cardinal doctrines are settled. God is God. Jesus is Jesus.The Bible is truth.
Yes, they differ in matters of eschatology, worship styles, music. social rules, government and politics BUT these matters are peripheral to the central truth of the Christian Church, Jesus the Christ crucified and raised from the dead.
Yet, a funny thing happens when a noted Christian pastor/bishop/elder/priest/para-church leader says something controversial…
Well, they don’t speak for me!
They don’t represent me.
They don’t speak for all Christians.
As with real families, when the crazy uncle says or does something bizarre we are quick to distance ourselves from them. We pretend they are not a part of our family.
But they are.
So it with the Christian Church.
Try as they might to distance themselves from the crazy uncles in their midst, the uncles are still part of the family. It is called the family of God. The blood washed band.
So stop trying to pretend that Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, Paul Crouch, Jack Van Impe, Al Mohler, John Piper, Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Creflo Dollar, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Jack Hyles, Bob Gray, Ernest Angley, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Jim Wallis, the Pope, etal are NOT a part of your family.
TBN, GOD TV, and the Church channel represent you.
When Pat Robertson gives his latest prophecy he speaks for you.
When the Pope condemns condom use in Africa he speaks for you.
When Rick Warren condemns homosexuality he speaks for you.
When Al Mohler, John Piper and every Calvinist let the world know that God is in the killing, maiming and destruction business they speak for you.
When hate-mongering Christian Michele Bachmann waxes eloquently about God she speaks for you.
When James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Doug Phillips, Gary Demar, Rousas Rushdoony speak they speak for you.
When the Southern Baptists pass resolutions about homosexuality and women in the ministry they speak for you
When a politician invokes the name of the Christian God they speak for you.
When a priest molests a boy his actions reflect on you.
When Ted Haggard smokes crack and has sex with homosexual prostitutes his actions reflect on you.
When your pastor steals, lies, and sleeps around his actions reflect on you.
When a Christian nation on behalf of a Christian God bombs the hell out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan and kills tens of thousands of people they do it in your name.
They are YOUR family.
They worship the same God as you. They read from the same Bible as you. They believe in the same Jesus as you do.
Object all you will about my unfair judgment…
The NON-Christian world sees things just like I have represented them here.
The FORMER-Christian sees things just like I have represented them here. They see the Bible as the problem. They know to abandon the Bible is to abandon Christianity. They see no other solution to this problem but rejecting the Bible. It is the Bible that is at that foundation of all the speaking that goes on in God’s name. God has spoken! Where? In the Bible.
Every wild, bizarre, vile pronouncement that Christians make are propped up by the Bible. Book, chapter, and verse.
What is your response to this post? Do you want to beat me up, in Jesus name of course? Do you want to straighten me out? Do you want to expose my biases, my errors in judgment? Do you want to attack me and tell me I have an axe to grind or that I am jaded, cynical, and hateful? (all true BTW)
Anything but deal with the main premise of this post.
They Don’t SPEAK for ME! Part 2
Jan 14 2010
Religion Al Mohler, Haiti, Haiti Earthquake, John Piper, Pat Robertson, Reformed Christianity
Pat Robertson gave us his take on the matter. Now Southern Baptist theologian Al Mohler gives us his. If John Piper would chime in on Haiti we’d have the father, son, and holy ghost of knowing the mind of God. (Piper did write a poem about Haiti.)
Mohler is smarter than Robertson. He is one of those Reformed Christians that knows how to use words carefully. Yet, when I parse of all Mohler’s words and read between the theological lines it is clear, Yes God hates Haiti.
God hates sin. God judges sin. In the Calvinistic scheme God is not an idle participant in his creation. The earthquake that ravaged Haiti wasn’t an accident, a cruel twist of fate. God is the first cause of everything. Thus, he sent the earthquake to Haiti.
Mohler writes:
…In truth, it is hard not to describe the earthquake as a disaster of biblical proportions. It certainly looks as if the wrath of God has fallen upon the Caribbean nation. Add to this the fact that Haiti is well known for its history of religious syncretism — mixing elements of various faiths, including occult practices. The nation is known for voodoo, sorcery, and a Catholic tradition that has been greatly influenced by the occult.
Haiti’s history is a catalog of political disasters, one after the other. In one account of the nation’s fight for independence from the French in the late 18th century, representatives of the nation are said to have made a pact with the Devil to throw off the French. According to this account, the Haitians considered the French as Catholics and wanted to side with whomever would oppose the French. Thus, some would use that tradition to explain all that has marked the tragedy of Haitian history — including now the earthquake of January 12, 2010.
Does God hate Haiti? That is the conclusion reached by many, who point to the earthquake as a sign of God’s direct and observable judgment.
God does judge the nations — all of them — and God will judge the nations. His judgment is perfect and his justice is sure. He rules over all the nations and his sovereign will is demonstrated in the rising and falling of nations and empires and peoples. Every molecule of matter obeys his command, and the earthquakes reveal his reign — as do the tides of relief and assistance flowing into Haiti right now.
A faithful Christian cannot accept the claim that God is a bystander in world events. The Bible clearly claims the sovereign rule of God over all his creation, all of the time. We have no right to claim that God was surprised by the earthquake in Haiti, or to allow that God could not have prevented it from happening.
God’s rule over creation involves both direct and indirect acts, but his rule is constant. The universe, even after the consequences of the Fall, still demonstrates the character of God in all its dimensions, objects, and occurrences. And yet, we have no right to claim that we know why a disaster like the earthquake in Haiti happened at just that place and at just that moment.
The arrogance of human presumption is a real and present danger. We can trace the effects of a drunk driver to a car accident, but we cannot trace the effects of voodoo to an earthquake — at least not so directly. Will God judge Haiti for its spiritual darkness? Of course. Is the judgment of God something we can claim to understand in this sense — in the present? No, we are not given that knowledge. Jesus himself warned his disciples against this kind of presumption…
Does God hate Haiti? God hates sin, and will punish both individual sinners and nations. But that means that every individual and every nation will be found guilty when measured by the standard of God’s perfect righteousness. God does hate sin, but if God merely hated Haiti, there would be no missionaries there; there would be no aid streaming to the nation; there would be no rescue efforts — there would be no hope.
The earthquake in Haiti, like every other earthly disaster, reminds us that creation groans under the weight of sin and the judgment of God. This is true for every cell in our bodies, even as it is for the crust of the earth at every point on the globe. The entire cosmos awaits the revelation of the glory of the coming Lord. Creation cries out for the hope of the New Creation.
In other words, the earthquake reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only real message of hope. The cross of Christ declares that Jesus loves Haiti — and the Haitian people are the objects of his love. Christ would have us show the Haitian nation his love, and share his Gospel. In the midst of this unspeakable tragedy, Christ would have us rush to aid the suffering people of Haiti, and rush to tell the Haitian people of his love, his cross, and salvation in his name alone…
How many Haitians are there tonight who think the earthquake is a reminder that Jesus loves Haiti?
If I was Haitian I might be inclined to pray to God and ask him to PLEASE leave us alone.
I want to end this post with some comments from John Piper’s Facebook fan page. The comments follow John Piper writing Weeping over these pictures from Haiti.
- Lord help us trust YOU and YOUR plan.
- Heartbreaking. praying for the people of Haiti, that they may see the Lord through all of this.
- Jesus is weeping with you, Dr. Piper.
- How do people face a tragedy like this without Christ in their lives. May many come to know their Savior through this.
- Praying for Christian workers to aid these wonderful people..
- God is Good, and all He does is Good and Fair… but sometimes it’s hard to believe that…
- May the Lord use this to send missionaries to spread the Gospel at this time. What an opportunity for the Gospel to go out!
- Such destruction. Lord send your angels! You’re the God that raises the dead. Raise the dead Lord.
- God, please help every hurting person. Especially those who are lost.
- Weeping with John…
The Christian doctrine of human depravity teaches that all of us are sinners. We don’t become sinners. We are sinners. We are born into sin. It is our nature.
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