What Happened To Purity Culture?
Really, the question should be what happened to the image of purity? What happened to the image of chastity? What happened to the image of virginity? Who took it upon themselves to change the meaning...
View ArticleCelibacy – Are Vows Necessary?
Take a close look at how celibacy is being discussed today and the terminology used to ridicule it. Mandatory celibacy, vows, solemn oaths, compulsory celibacy, homosexuality, same sex marriage,...
View ArticleRape Culture
If someone had told me this was going to happen 20 years, I would have gotten a good laugh. But we have actually come to the point in our society where all men are considered rapist. Yes, until proven...
View ArticleCan Virginity Be Defined Outside The Context Of Sex?
The Annunciation by Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo (1617 – 1682) One thing that has become more obvious as I’ve gotten older is that I do not like my identity as a person to be dependent on whether or not...
View ArticleMarriage And Celibacy – The Tragedy Of Hypocrisy
What I’m about to say may make preachers uncomfortable. And in a way, I hope it does. I think much of the problem is that you’re too comfortable with your wives, two kids, parsonages, SUV’s, tax...
View ArticleSingle Vs. Concencrated Life
Ask anybody in church today what the opposite of marriage is and you’ll probably here one answer. “It’s not getting married and staying single.” Not pursuing marriage implies no commitment and staying...
View ArticleSeeing Is Believing
I recently posted something on Facebook that sparked a very interesting conversation. The other person has a name, but on the quote below I changed it to what he is, a preacher: Me: If you believe in...
View ArticleCelibate Sexuality
The title of this post may sound contradictory. After all, how can a person be celibate and still sexual? The problem is that we have simplified human sexuality to mean one thing – intercourse. We...
View ArticleBut As God Has Distributed To Every Man
Many people think celibate life is what single people do when they can’t find someone to marry. After a certain age, it becomes a consolation prize, God’s second best, a life of irresponsibility and...
View ArticleThe Procreation Of Eunuchs
Trumpet Creeper seed pod by John Morgan Do you remember the game Chinese Whispers? This is the one where a group of people sit in a circle and a message is whispered to one person, who must whisper it...
View ArticleMarriage – Asking The Wrong Questions
Autumn Colors by Autumn de Forest Who has God picked out for me? When will I meet him? What should I do to prepare for my wedding? Should I save sex for marriage? Should I get married in church? There...
View ArticleReview Of “The Dating Manifesto” By Lisa Anderson
The Dating Manifesto – A Drama Free Plan For Pursuing Marriage With Purpose. There’s been a lot written lately on the “marriage mandate” and this title suggests more of the same. You may be asking,...
View ArticleMisconceptions About The Spiritual Gift Of Celibacy
“They’re Gay, They’re Christian And They’re Celibate!” the headline screams. I think I’ll write an article and title it, “They’re Horses, They’re Flying And They Have Four Legs!” There are so many...
View ArticleThe Sacredness Of Celibacy
No responsibility, no commitment, extended adolescence, wasting time. You can’t trust them. I know what the world – and the church – says about singleness. To understand the sacredness of celibacy, we...
View ArticleEunuchs For The Kingdom Define Marriage For The World
Feast Of The Tabernacle by Yvette Co After the Pharisees had asked Jesus about divorce and remarriage and after he reinforced the permanency of marriage in Matthew 19, note who was the most dismayed....
View ArticlePaul’s Present Distress
” I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.” 1 Corinthians 7:26. Paul’s “present distress” has been used to discount this section of...
View ArticleCelibacy And Visual Ethics
I’ve always wondered what people mean when they say men are more visual than women. Do they mean men can read an eye chart better than women, that men can see the figure of women from a greater...
View ArticleTo Burn Or Not To Burn
When I was a boy, Paul’s use of the word “burn” for sexual desire in 1 Corinthians 7 probably did more to educate me about sex than my parents or anything I learned in school. During the Dog Days of...
View ArticleThe Tragedy Of Birth Control
Sulawesi Hand Stencils The world would probably look much different if we had kept God’s original design of human sexuality in place, monogamous sexual relationships in marriage and faithful chastity...
View ArticleChastity Education
Sex education in high schools has been an ongoing discussion in this country for a long time. It’s actually disheartening to think that parents would relinquish that responsibility to schools. But...
View ArticleEunuchs Through The Ages
Mural painting from Sucevita monastery located in Bucovina (Northern Romania) I think there are many people still confused about Christ’s words when he spoke of “eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s...
View ArticleDear 32 Year Old Virgin . . .
There’s a recent article on Boundless titled “An Older Virgin in a Sex-Crazed World.” In it, a young lady complains about an “interrogation” she endured while undergoing x-rays to treat a ruptured...
View ArticleIf I Had A Son Or Daughter
At the peach water tower in Clanton, AL I live in an area where there are a lot of peach farms. Imagine that a peach growers seminar came to town, sponsored by our county cooperative extension office....
View ArticleThe Shadow Of Death
Code in Ambulance by Daniel Sundahl When I woke up, I didn’t know where I was. Actually, I didn’t know who I was. I felt dizzy. Nauseated. Everything was spinning. Where was I? It was a big room with...
View ArticleThe Unholy Marriage License
In Justice Kennedy’s majority ruling legalizing same sex marriage, he stated that, “The homosexuals’ hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest...
View ArticleThe Christmas Gift Nobody Wants
The Southern Baptists’ David Platt recently posted a transcript of one of his sermons titled “The Gospel and Singleness.” See the link below to his radical.net web site. At first I thought it was a...
View ArticleThe Hypocrisy Of The Church
Many articles have been written about churches refusing to accept the resumes of qualified unmarried men when they look for a pastor. Not surprisingly, the reasons remain the same – They want a man...
View ArticleBe Fruitful And Multiply? An Alternative Message For High School Students
Re I’ve listened to many “be fruitful and multiply” sermons over the years and have always chalked them up to preachers who never found the New Testament in their Bibles. But I heard one recently that...
View ArticleBoaz Or Bozo?
This evening I was looking through the Facebook groups that had the words purity, waiting or virtue in their titles and couldn’t help but notice that at least 90% of their members are women. And if...
View ArticleUnholy Father’s Day
Since I have renounced marriage and all that it stands for in today’s world, it is my responsibility to make churches and all others who worship sex as uncomfortable as possible. I hope this photo and...
View ArticleWhat’s The Difference Between A Wife And A Virgin?
Many different “lifestyle choices” have been given credibility and affirmation these days. You can read to your heart’s content about the differences between transgender, pansexual, same sex...
View ArticleShould A Virgin Expect To Marry Another Virgin?
Fifty years ago such a question would have been unheard of because it was expected that everybody was a virgin when they married, men and women. That was back when self-control was valued as a...
View ArticleVirginity – Beyond The Sexual
I know my blog is about something very personal. Most of us wouldn’t discuss virginity in a Walmart checkout line or even in church. In this post, I want to talk about why it is not always about the...
View ArticleWhat Is Marriage?
What is the one thing that epitomizes sexual immorality, debauchery, greed, lust, unfaithfulness, broken homes, and selfishness? I think it’s marriage. What could be more hypocritical than lavish...
View ArticleThe Surprising Comfort Of Celibacy
If I live to be 100 years old, the one thing I will remember about the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage is their assumption that gays were “condemned to live in loneliness” without marriage....
View ArticleCelibacy – From Choice To No Choice
At the time of Christ and when Paul wrote his epistles, it was taken for granted that people could choose between one of two legitimate Christian lifestyles, either a life of marriage or a life of...
View ArticleWhat The Gift Of Celibacy Is Not
These points are from a Biblical perspective and not from the perspective of opinion polls, majority votes, church tradition, or doctrinal statements, etc. First of all, celibacy is not a choice you...
View ArticleHow High Do You Want To Fly? More On Discerning Celibacy
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual...
View ArticleAll In The Family
I recently wrote the pastor of a sizeable church in my area, asking him if he ever discussed the gift of celibacy during his sermons. And I asked him why his church, which is almost 200 years old, had...
View ArticleThe Twisted Marriage Idolatry Of Al Mohler And Southern Baptists
Just when I think the Southern Baptists can’t sink any deeper in sex worship, somebody comes along and does even better. In this case, it’s Al Mohler. You can read his latest article, “Marriage as a...
View ArticleCelibacy – Life Beyond Circumstances
I’ve always found it interesting that churches consider marriage a sacred commitment and “singleness” a state of selfish abandonment and uncontrolled desires, when in fact the Bible talks more about...
View ArticleDid You Hear Of Celibacy?
Recently, Nic Gibson, the pastor at a mega church in Madison, WI wrote a blog post titled, “Dear Single People, From Your Local Pastor,” in which he talked about how people with the gift of singleness...
View ArticleFaith In Celibacy
I think we would all agree that Christianity is built on faith, the belief in things we cannot see. We believe Christ is returning to earth to claim his virgin bride, the church. And we believe that...
View ArticleHow Single Are You?
How would you define single people? People who don’t wear wedding rings? People who don’t have a marriage license? People who haven’t had a wedding? People who are not cohabitating? People not married...
View ArticleMarriage – Turning The Tables
If I read one more article or hear one more sermon telling single people they need to get married, I’m going to be sick enough to require hospialization. So in the spirit of providing a balanced...
View ArticleDoes Jesus Need To Get Married?
“Love Power” Jesus mural in Minneapolis’ West Bank neighborhood. Photo by David Joles, Star Tribune. ” . . . the most fundamental social problem every community must solve is the unattached male. If...
View ArticleAdvent – More Than Waiting
The Annunciation by Godfried Schalcken (Dutch, 1643 – 1706) Have you ever wondered why it was necessary for Christ to be born of a virgin? Quite simply, Mary’s supernatural pregnancy interrupted...
View ArticleCelibacy, Discerning A Higher Love
I have written about discerning the call to the charism of virginity (celibacy) on my blog before. Here I will try to add some new things to consider. Even though I use the word celibacy, I am...
View ArticleCelibacy And Authenticity
Even for the few preachers who do mention anything about the gift of singleness from the pulpit, it all falls flat when you see them getting in their SUVs after church with wives and children in tow....
View ArticleMarriage And Family Idolatry
Sex worship. It can be traced all the way back to Adam and Eve. And in contemporary times we have to look no further than the Catholic Church making marriage a sacrament and Protestant churches...
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