It would be many religious parents’ nightmare. Their sweet innocent child goes off into the world, only to get caught in a confusing tangle of debauchery and abuse. Did they not protect her? No. The problem is that the church was over protective. They thought she would be protected by simple ideals. But this left
Category: Gender, Relationships, and Sexuality
No More Christian Nice Guy Book Review
“No More Christian Nice Guy: When Being Nice—Instead of Good—Hurts Men, Women, and Children” is a book written by Paul Coughlin. I had never heard of Coughlin before, but he apparently has (or had) a radio program as well as being a public speaker. He also started an anti-bullying organization. From what I have gathered,
Sex Education
What comes to mind when you hear “sex ed”? I’m guessing that for many of us, it brings up a “birds and the bees” conversation and/or an awkward day or two in a junior high/middle school health class taught by a gym teacher. I do remember the latter but I don’t recall ever having the
God Kills Kittens—Sex and Christianity
Hello and welcome to the first of what I’m calling, “Choose Your Own Sermon”. This is a series where you get to choose what I speak about. For this episode, I received a question about a phrase I’ve used, “The evangelical fear of sex”. I’ve been requested to expound upon this. I didn’t plan for
Sex, God & the Conservative Church – Book Review
“Sex, God & the Conservative Church – Erasing Shame from Sexual Intimacy” is a book authored by therapist Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers. The first thing to know about this book is that it was written to therapists. This affects some sections of the book more than others, yet in either case, non-professionals can learn a
Sex in Conservative Evangelical Christianity
Here’s a deep thought to ponder: Jesus said there will not be marriage at the resurrection, but the Bible never says there won’t be sex in “heaven”. I imagine this thought may tweak a lot of evangelical minds. In evangelical thought, sex is so tied to marriage that I expect many might struggle to consider
Book Review: Courtship in Crisis
I believe Thomas Umstattd Jr. has written an important book in “Courtship in Crisis“. Umstattd effectively answers the concerns which Joshua Harris brought up in the infamous book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye”. Similar to that book, “Courtship in Crisis” has two main parts: a problem and a proposed solution. The main problem Umstattd addresses, and
Questions of Interacting With Differing Beliefs
This post is part of the July 2015 synchroblog which invited bloggers to write about “Gay Marriage”. Due to the “hot topic” nature of this subject, I’ve written quite a few times about homosexuality already. In this post, I want to try briefly and (hopefully) clearly state some of what is important to me in
How Understanding the Gospel Affects One’s View of Homosexuality
I began to respond to a comment my cousin Jeremy made in response to my recent blog “The Surprising Reason I’m Not Celebrating Homosexual Marriage“. He says: Doug, I really like your approach, but it’s hard to draw a line between what the Bible teaches, and what we think it teaches (i.e. our interpretation). You
The Surprising Reason I’m Not Celebrating Homosexual Marriage
Friday the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. Many people I know are celebrating. However, I don’t feel like I can join in. I feel that to do so would be to rub in the face of many other people I know. I want be cautious not to become whom I