I had a great chat with Alise Wright and we talked about her upcoming book project Not Afraid. Plus, we talk a bit about a few other things like marriage equality and Mark Driscoll’s new polemic book “Real Marriage” (and I may need to offer some bonus video material on that insightful stuff); can men and women be friends (best of friends, even when they are married to other people); and Alise’s upcoming personal work in keeping with her calling.
Tag: gender
NiNJA Interviews go POP with Kevin Keigley
My funniest Ninja video to date! ENJOY. (If you like it, share it. It’s a Creative Commons item!)
Path to Porn..for women (part 1)
Confession: I recently viewed porn. It’s not the first time.
And so have you.
Porn: noun
1 pornography.
2 television programs, books, etc., regarded as catering to a voyeuristic or obsessive interest in a specified subject.
In this case, it was clips from a primetime television show on NBC, not graphic and explicit sexual content. But, porn has much to do with lacking purity, and self-discipline. I wasn’t interested in either at the time. It doesn’t matter how graphic it was or wasn’t, I picked a path.
I know it’s a common path, so I’m starting a post series on porn, to get the topic out in the open. You’ve seen porn. Of course you have. That’s just simple statistics. The only thing in question is for how long, or how often…but far more importantly, why are you, and are you hiding it, and do you feel stuck or trapped? Well, the gig is up.
7 Reasons this porn stuff is a typical situation:
• Television/especially cable/dish/satillite
• Smart phones/phone with internet access or image viewing capabilities
• Internet…duh. It’s got to be reason # 1. (plenitude of images & privacy to do as one pleases=lack of discipline.)
• Over-Sexualized culture/media, especially in advertising
• Plentiful supply normalizes or excuses inappropriate or damaging behavior/habits.
• Video games/books/products
• Cultural Idolization of beauty, youth, virility, and social acceptance.
We’ll get into the heart of the issue, behaviorally, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, and find some ways to detour this path that will damage us and our relationships. We’ll help each other out, okay?
I will speak from my purview, as a women. We live in a time that is highly visual, tied to fantasy, that supplies huge amounts of voyeuristic material. It’s not something mostly “men do” (look at or participate in). Women do too.
However, I challenge you men reading to cover this topic in the next two weeks in a post or post series, or at least link to this post to support bringing this topic to light.
And ladies reading today, I challenge you to take on this topic, too, not as something that you wish guys wouldn’t do, etc., but as something that somehow effects your life somehow personally, and convicts you to somehow find a better way.
Often “Literature” and Story/Fantasy are like gateway drugs to this type of porn for women…I wrote a bit about this sort of thing in a past article, 5 Reasons I Don’t Read (Christian) Chick Books.
Confess what trips you up.
Coming up in the next post…thoughts, feelings, and reasons you and I try the Path to Porn.
In later posts, we’ll work together to discover some resources to help and guide us: detours from the path.
But, here’s the question for today: What particular vehicle makes porn all too accessible for you or someone in your life? Anonymous comments are always welcomed.
Best of…
Here’s a collection of posts you may have missed that are worth a read, a second look, or passing glance:
1. On Speaking About Gender: (A “how to”…in church this has gotten to be a sticky subject.)
2. And this too: (The poster that made me want to be a guy)
3. On Understanding the Bible: (Things you’ll get wrong when you study or read the Bible)
4. Most likely to surprise Evangelicals: Why the Rapture is garbage Doctrine.
5. On modern day Baal Worship: (Does Tech = Baal? Find out.)
6. 5 Mistakes you can make when you’re thinking about ditching your church:
7. 7 Reasons Why (Christians) Aren’t Ready for Heaven.
8. Faith and Fleecing God: (Some surprising stuff about Gideon)
9. Post with the most puns referring to the word “sharp“. (Called Like Jael, I got you so Pegged) Remember the underdog, tent peg through the head story? Tough sledding for Sunday school teachers, but enough gore to keep the adults happy or guessing. Guessing what? Exactly.
10. Taste the Sensation: The Holy Spirit is (apparently) quite a bit like a York Peppermint Pattie: This self-test will give you the scoop. (humor) I should mention that the most popular humorous self-test on this site is here: Can Your Soul Fit into a Mailbox? Find Out Fast.
11. 7 Reasons Why My Blog Will Make you Cry Less than Jon Acuff’s (humor) blog.
12. Funniest 18 seconds of video I ever shot:
I probably did a bad job with this…so maybe you can help me. What posts have you liked? You can “nominate” posts for “best of”. Think back, or Do a search, pick your favorites, and share them in the comments section. Thank you for reading.
What to promote your own favorite blog post? Leave a link.
Capacitarianism: Final Gender Post in Series
Post IV
“Capacitarianism” (Transcending the worn out terms “egalitarian” & “complementation”)
I’m drawing this proposal series on gender and the church to a final post. Well, final for now. (I’ll leave room for a sequel series, just in case…)
Plenty of other recognizable names will be shedding light on this topic in the weeks and months to come. Let’s hear if they have anything new to add.
Among all this discussion, I do realize not everybody will be encouraged to push toward a better understanding of gender as it relates to God’s plan of redemption. Plenty of times we talk, and we talk, but we don’t move our positions. We just dig in.
Though many times we learn too little, something much worse can happen too: Talk stays talk.
In the end, talk of men or of angels doesn’t about to anything but noise, if it cannot be a reality of love, enacted. Action, far more than arguments or dialogue is what transforms.
I have no doubts that these issues about equality, roles, church, gender, and what-have-you will be wrestled by laity, theologians, and debaters…ad nauseum. I hope it’s been clear that my point in these four posts was to cast the topic in a new light, and see if we could think bigger than our current terms afford us. Either way, like life, it is all fleeting…just as King Solomon proposed.
For now, I will leave you with these following 5 offerings below, (and I welcome your own additions, or other comments, in the comments section below).
The 5
As we encounter these gender-themed topics and the church; and as we continue dialogue here, or elsewhere, please take these 5 suggestions into consideration.
1. Don’t use the Bible as a weapon. A fine line will be crossed when we use Bible verses as “backing” for our position, and claim we are “being Biblical”, while at the same time cherry picking words and phrases that support what we’ve already been told, or are wont to personally believe.
The Brass Tacks are this: Interpretation of the Bible must well mirror the nature, attributes, and over plan of redemption that is God’s. One’s view on gender must articulate God’s Story.
…Some of you may say the Bible IS a weapon! Yes, the Bible is called the “Sword” of the Spirit, but first let that sharp thing pierce (convict) your own heart, or protect your heart from Evil. Please don’t go chopping away wildly and cut off ears, or other things…
2. Don’t assume or concede that just the two main positions are the only viable stances in contemporary times (i.e. egalitarian and complementation).
I, for one, will not be compliant to this tact, nor will I adopt either view fully as I dialogue, especially as a prerequisite to having a conversation on the topic.
3. Admit the “answer/s” about gender, and church roles, and how this plays out in typical Kingdom living are hard to find, not cut and dry. I don’t think we can learn from each other, or from God, if we have it all figured out.
4. Don’t let old and worn out terms and ideas corner you, or make you give up on what God has called you to do. God seems to call us to do things that swim upstream, and go against convention or tradition. Make the love of God, and devotion to God your aim.
5. Find common ground. As others have wisely said in the comments sections that egalitarians, complementarians, and the rest of us, (usually) want to please God, live for him, respect the Bible, and enact grace. If we take time to find common ground, we will realize there is much more the same, especially in our intentions, than we first realized.
The Word of God encourages us to live in harmony with each other, and have unity in the bond of peace. This is far harder to dispute than any gender-related position! If you error, do it on the Love (not division) side of things.
Peace to you.
-Lisa
PS (To read the other 3 posts on this topic, start here or here.) Your contributions to the topic are quite welcome.