Watch this with your Children! Part 1

You can watch Parts 2, 3, and 4 HERE

You go, Victoria!

Sports Illustrated Continues to Degrade Women!

Two years ago, I blogged about the fact that Sam's Club was displaying the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, featuring a topless woman, in full view of families. You can read the post HERE.

Unfortunately, Sports Illustrated is still about the business of degrading women, harming families, and disgracing society. This year on the cover another topless model is featured. The American Decency Association has this to say about the 2010 issue:

Starting with the topless woman on the cover, SI gets to the real purpose of the issue – the pornographic exhibition of women for the pleasure of men. Page after page reveals erotically posed young women sometimes topless, sometimes – at the most – in barely there bikinis. Each lust-producing display reinforces the message to ogling men and boys that women are nothing more than sexual objects to be used. And wives and young girls, whose husbands or fathers bring home this issue, are given the message that to be loved they must degrade themselves and that their worth is dependent upon their body and bust size.

As young girls starve themselves; as women undergo all sorts of painful surgeries to compete with the "new normal;" and as the decency of our culture erodes into moral debauchery; companies like Sports Illustrated cash in on the humiliation and exploitation of women.

And it gets worse. The sexual exploitation of children continues to increase in our society. Instead of petticoats and playgrounds, our little girls are taught to "flaunt their stuff" in mini dresses and black fish net stockings. Read Childhood Innocence under Fire.

It is crucial that we wake up and take action! It will continue to get worse until the church gets active. Glorifying God has a little to do with saying He is great, and a lot to do with proving that He is. Pray, speak out, write letters, write blog posts, spread the word on Facebook; grab these companies by their perverted pocketbooks and say, "No! We will not stand by while you strip our daughters of their dignity!"

Don't be fooled into thinking this will not affect you. If we are silent, it is to the shame and detriment of us and our children.

Check back later to find out how else you can help.

Here is the SAMPLE LETTER you can send to your local grocery stores, Sam's Clubs, Walmarts etc. Please take the time to write and demand that these stores stop helping Sports Illustrated degrade us and our daughters!

I Haven't Met You Yet...But I've Kept Busy with Lots of Others...

I was having a conversation this morning with my daughters (and our friend, Melinda) over the lyrics to the song, Haven’t Met You Yet by Michael Buble. I listened to the song and noticed how the happy-go-lucky melody would attract young people.

But I’d like to challenge my children (and yours) to think critically before accidentally absorbing the philosophies of the world. Imagine if someone from the dregs of society approached you and said, “Repeat after me.” What would you do? Would you blindly repeat whatever they said; or would you analyze the words first, making sure you agree with the message before you ever repeated it?

[By the way, I'm not suggesting that Michael Buble is the dregs of society. In fact, I had never heard of him before today. But, often, the music industry that literally indoctrinates many of our children represents a side life we wouldn't normally want to imitate.]

Exactly what we are "repeating" is something we need to consider when choosing music. Let’s examine just a few of the lines from this song:

I'm Not Surprised Not Everything Lasts I've Broken My Heart So Many Times, I Stop Keeping Track.

Is that the way it has to be? Is that the way it should be? It sounds to me like the philosophy of the world - the dating culture we've chosen to walk away from. Here's a guy who believes that "not everything lasts." He's stopped keeping track of the numerous failed relationships he's had – and he’s “not surprised” because this is what he’s grown to expect. He has spent his time practicing for divorce, so it's very likely that this is what he'll be good at.

And I wonder, once he finally meets the imaginary girl he's singing to, what will she think of the fact that he's been with so many girls that he's lost count? And does he imagine that while he sings these words of bizarre affection to her, she is going through just as many guys? Ewwww...

And I Know Someday That It'll All Turn Out You'll Make Me Work So We Can Work To Work It Out

This seems to always be the pie-in-the-sky mantra of pop music. “My life is full of broken dreams, broken relationships, and meaningless days, but when I meet that ‘someone special’ everything will go from black and white to color – he/she will make everything all right! The flowers will bloom, morning will break, and my life will finally have meaning. Not only that, but I will be changed from a selfish person into a giving person…”

And I Promise You Kid That I'll Give So Much More Than I Get I Just Haven't Met You Yet…

“But, for now, since I ‘haven’t met you yet,’ I’ll go right on being selfish because…”

Baby Your Love Is Gonna Change Me

Sadly, most people don’t enter marriage seeking to give; they go into it looking for what they’re going to get. How is that other person going to make me feel good? How are they going to please me? How are they going to make everything all right?

It’s classic idolatry. Of course they are disappointed, because the only satisfier of our souls is Jesus. The only thing that will change us is Grace. If you weren’t a giver before marriage, you won’t magically become one after marriage. If life was full of discontent and dissatisfaction before marriage, just wait until after you've "become one" with another sinner!

Do we, as Christians, want to perpetuate a false message that having multiple (failed) relationships while dreaming of Mr. or Mrs. Right is part of who we are or how we live? Or do we want to communicate and inspire the beauty of purity; a heart that is guarded; satisfaction in Jesus alone; and patience as we wait for God’s perfect choice for us?

"Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good..." (3 John 11)

Let's change the message to "I haven't met you yet, but I'm guarding my heart and my purity until God brings us together." Let the world "repeat after us" what is good and holy, rather than us "repeat after them" what sounds good and has a fun beat. I'm just sayin'.

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God ..." (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5)

"I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases." (Song of Solomon 2:7 )

Childhood Innocence Under Fire

"A line of children's clothing called Ooh! La La Couture promoted by a young Disney star has come under fire for being too adult, and has even been likened to adult lingerie by some critics.

The Emily Grace Collection is named after 8-year-old "Hannah Montana" star Emily Grace Reaves, who helps design the line.

Her friend Noah Cyrus, 9, has also helped promote the collection in photos and online videos. Noah is Disney superstar Miley Cyrus' younger sister."

And it gets worse. Click HERE for proof that childhood innocence is under fire in our culture. The Youtube video on this page features fourth grade Noah dancing around slapping her rear end, and singing Akon's “Smack That." In another video, the little girl lip-synchs to a racy song containing lines like “I’m talking about everybody getting crunk, crunk/ Boys tryin’ to touch my junk, junk..."

Another photo shows little girls posed in red and black, trashy Ooh! La La! Couture mini dresses, wearing lace stockings and boots for "more of a rock and roll look.”

Fox News has more HERE.

Join me LIVE today at 11:00 am Central time with Adam McManus, as he guest hosts for G. Gordon Liddy on the Liddy Show to discuss this important topic.

Closed, Conceited, or Conquering

Yesterday, my husband preached a powerful sermon that brought to life for me an important truth of the dominion mandate.

I'm one that likes what is familiar. I resist change. The older I've gotten, the more this has become true. Once I find something I am happy with, I can't imagine why I should introduce something new. Last year, when I learned how to use an iphone, it shocked my whole family! Especially, since I had yet to learn how to use our regular cell phone!

We like what we know. Why try a new kind of coffee when I am perfectly content with what I'm drinking now? I am irritated with the make up company who discontinued my lipstick color. I argue with the hairdresser who wants me to update my hairstyle and grow out my bangs (the nerve!). I like what I know. I like what I'm comfortable with.

These things may not be a big deal when you're talking about hairstyles or lipstick; but, when it comes to the relationships in our lives, it is a very big deal. Having moved from the suburbs of Southeast Texas to country living in Central Illinois, our family discovered we had comfort zones we didn't even know know we had.

There were certain elements of the culture here in the Midwest that were somewhat foreign to us - food, weather, clothing, dialect. Even though we speak the same language, we often attach different meanings to the words we use. It gave us only a small taste of what missionaries must experience as they attempt to communicate in a foreign culture.

Even the general personalities seemed to differ. Where I'm from, it is common to talk to strangers in the grocery store. "Can you believe the price of these avocados?" "Have you ever used this in your gumbo?" or "How many pounds of shrimp do you think I'll need to feed 25 people?"

I remember once, an older black lady stopping me in the grocery store when William (who was an absolute chunk) was about 6 months old. She stopped her cart, looked William up and down, and said in a charming southern drawl, "MMMMM....mmmmm! That is one juicy baby!" We all laughed together and agreed that was a good description of him. Strangers talked to each other - going to the grocery store was a social experience.

But, we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. One of my first visits to an Illinois grocery store proved this. When I made a comment about the canned goods to the stranger shopping across the aisle, the startled woman stared at me for a moment; and then looked around to see who I might be talking to. When she realized I was indeed talking to her, she began to walk away as if I was some sort of lunatic. I learned fast that people here don't generally carry on conversations with complete strangers in the grocery store.

I realize I'm being a little broad; and there are no doubt some midwesterners who would be happy to chat with me in the grocery store. I'm only using this example to describe our immediate impressions of the general culture here.

Family cultures, regions, and people groups are all different, though the individuals in them are all one people. I grew up in the very diverse suburbs of Houston, Texas. The area where I lived was the melting pot of the south. Growing up, the color of someone's skin meant absolutely nothing to me. We probably had a representative of every nation in the world in my graduating class. I knew about racism, but it was always something that happened "somewhere else."

We enjoyed, appreciated, experienced, and valued the differences in various family cultures; and, while we may have preferred our own family culture, we never devalued the (non-sinful) traditions and characteristics of others. It wasn't until moving here that I realized "the south" had a stereotypical reputation for racism. This seemed incredible, since it was such a foreign concept to me. But I soon came to realize it's often those who have seldom been around other cultures, who focus the most on their differences.

While I realize true racism exists (regardless of skin color), to me, a sanctimonious, hyper focus on "race" is a lot more "racist" than simply openly recognizing that we are different, and appreciating and valuing those differences (even when we have the same color skin!). I think it's important to realize that our differences rarely have anything to do with our skin color and everything to do with the culture we grew up in and hold dear.

Sin comes when we think too highly of our people; when the color of someone's skin hinders, in any way, our efforts toward friendship; and when our discomfort with a culture we are unfamiliar with keeps us from having honest, real, close relationships.

I've come to realize that bigotry has less to do with "race" and more to do with arrogant comfort zones - we like what we know. We like what resembles us. We like our circle of friends because they think like us, they look like us, they know what we mean when we say it, and well, they're comfortable. It takes more work to get to know someone who is different than us, and often we simply don't want to expend the effort.

We love the people here in the Midwest and have made many dear friends. We have also grown to appreciate their unique culture. We've learned (some of) the dialect, and we even kind of like the snow (minus the icy roads). And in an effort to be kind to our friends, we've toned down our spicy foods. Our family has adopted some of their customs and they've learned some of ours. The differences decrease (or seem to) when relationship increases.

As you listen to this sermon, consider the fact that we are not only to bear children for God's glory, but we are to go out and make disciples of all the nations. We want the whole "earth to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord (Hab. 2:14)!" We are all "one race." When we were scattered, God gave us diversity to keep us from cloistering together like we love to do so much.

But as the Gospel is spread, and the nations are converted, over time, some of our differences may diminish. And that's ok. God is sovereign. He scattered; He can bring together again. And at that point, the unique differences that remain between us will so reflect the "culture of Heaven" that it will finally not matter to us, other than to stand as a testimony of God's creativity and providence.

Every nation, every tribe, every people, every tongue (Rev. 7:9). This is the promise of the Gospel. This is the promise of the dominion mandate. The division that happened in Genesis with the Tower of Babel will eventually be overcome by the power of the Gospel. It’s part of the redeeming work of Christ—it’s part of our restoration. Sin separated us—Grace unites us (Gal. 3:28). - James McDonald

You can listen to the sermon HERE

and download the application guide HERE

Or, for more on the topic of race and our unity in Christ, click HERE

"Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Television, Movies, and Men

BE SURE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE POLL IN THE RIGHT HAND SIDEBAR

Failing to guard the eyes by watching movies that are specifically designed to stir up lust, or that focus on the sensuality of the (many times airbrushed) actress (not your wife) or the physical passion of the actor (not your husband) are likely to violate the purity and oneness of marriage that should be fiercely guarded.

Not surprisingly, most of the more questionable movies seem to be viewed by Christian men, rather than women. Most of the women I know wish, to some degree, that their husbands were more conservative with their movie choices. I am convinced that to the degree that a man is committed to guarding his eyes and heart, and honoring Proverbs 5:18-19, his wife will respond with willing affection and intimacy.

Before I go too far with this, I'd like to get your feedback. Please be sure to vote on the poll in the right hand sidebar.

The following quote is taken from Matthew Henry’s commentary on Job 31:1, and should be a challenge to us all as we seek to honor the Lord, and the marriage bed:

Those that would keep their hearts pure must guard their eyes, which are both the outlets and inlets of uncleanness. Hence we read of wanton eyes (Isa. 3:16) and eyes full of adultery (2 Pet. 2:14). The first sin began in the eye, (Gen. 3:6). What we must not meddle with, we must not lust after; and what we must not lust after, we must not look at…Mat. 5:28.

Those are not chaste that are not so in spirit as well as body, 1 Co. 7:34. See how Christ’s exposition of the seventh commandment agrees with the ancient sense of it, and how much better Job understood it than the Pharisees…” –Matthew Henry

Poll Results:

My husband has very high standards and I am perfectly content. 335 (59%)

I wish he would guard his eyes a bit more, but he avoids graphic nudity. 153 (27%)

I am very uncomfortable with what he watches, but I've never told him so. 15 (2%)

I am very uncomfortable with what my husband is willing to watch, but when I try to talk to him he becomes defensive and tells me I am overreacting. 43 (7%)

My husband's movie and television habits are damaging our marriage and seriously affecting my desire for intimacy.
20 (3%)