Have you stopped to consider what we as humans allow into our bodies? Think about it, processed food, high in fat and sodium, candy, chips, all manner of junk food. If you ever wondered how much waste is in a particular food, simply head on over to Calorie King to find out. Not only will you find out what is in the food, you can also see how long it will take with a particular exercise to eliminate those calories. In order to burn off one sugared or glazed chocolate cake-type donut, one would need to choose from the following:
Matthew 15:10-1310 After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. 11 It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” 12 Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” 13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Jesus answers a previous accusation from the Pharisees, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” Unclean hands before eating was a act thought to defile a practicing Jew. Jesus responds first by calling out the Pharisees on various other offenses. Then He turns to their question and explicitly states that it is not what you put into your mouth, that defiles a person but what comes out of the mouth. Jesus then goes on to provide a more detailed answer explaining why it is what comes out of us that defiles. Matthew 15:15-20 15 Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? 17 Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? 18 But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.” In His explanation Jesus presupposes the natural corruption of the heart because of sin. We find much support for this in scripture. Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? Our heart is desperately wicked and although “follow your heart” is the spirit of the age; Jesus reminds us that following our heart will only lead to evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication or sexual immorality, theft, lying, slandering and much more. Jesus Christ is the only one who can change our hearts. God says in Ezekiel 11:19-20 19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.” When God changes our heart, we will still struggle with sin. One of my professors once said, “in the heart of a lost person, sin reigns, but in the heart of a saved person sin remains!” How true is that. What does this have to do with media intake? Well, quite frankly, everything! The external is an overflow of the heart. It is already desperately wicked and so it follows that whatever we continue to fill it with will overflow into our lives. We are driven by our heart and there is no way around that. When we consume media that displays and encourages sin, we exercise our heart in the wrong direction. For example, if your heart struggles with lust, it should follow that consuming media which glorifies sexual promiscuity is a willful plunge into temptation that is almost certain to manifest into sin. This is not to say that one cannot engage in any type of media outside the rated G title; however, it is important to know how visual content affects us. While “each man should be convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5) may I submit to you that we should not be “conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our mind” (Romans 12:2). Renewing our mind should include daily devotions, prayer, and study; while not excluding media it is important to keep clear of things that turn our heart and mind to temptation. We see God specifically tell the nation of Israel to do the same. In various places in the Old Testament God continually warns Israel that they must not engage in the activities of the people around them; for they practice detestable things. These ranged from taking advantage of others to child sacrifice. Once Israel entertained the idea (temptation) it always manifested into sin. I would say that families that include kids should be even more careful about what type of media they consume. Children constantly learn what to do, how to act, what to say and watch directly from their parents example. As parents, we should heed God’s command in Deuteronomy 11:18-20 18 “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, If we continually allow for dark things to come into our home, we should not be surprised when it affects our families. We must also consider the amount of time that children spend in the world; taught and guided by principles and morals that, in most cases go against the word of God. The home should be a place of peace, a sanctuary where they can feel safe. Our home should be a place of light and not darkness. Hollywood spends millions of dollars peddling trash into the homes across the nation and world for one reason; they have understood all too well the old adage: “the eyes are the window to the soul.” While scripture itself does not directly make this claim it does say that the “eyes are the lamp to the body;” which could suggest the same. If our eyes are the lamp unto our body, this suggests that they feed our body light; however, if all they consume is darkness, well than the body is can no longer see. Let’s consider Psalm 1. Psalm 1:1-21 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. This Psalm compares the righteous with the wicked; however, the first two verses are what we should consider. Here a man is considered blessed (or happy) who does not walk, nor stand, nor sit in the counsel of wicked people. Consider the downward depression. First the man is walking with the wicked, then he is idly standing with sinners, and finally sitting with scoffers. Bottom line if a person continues to do things that bear darkness rather than light they to shall eventually take a seat with scoffers, sinners, and wicked people. This is not to say we should avoid the lost, rather the contrary as we are called to evangelize the lost; however, what it does mean is one who continues in the darkness will eventually become an idle patron in the seat at the table of darkness. If Jesus says our heart is full of evil and Jeremiah says it is desperately wicked, we begin with a heart of darkness. We should seek out the light and fill our heart and mind with such. When it comes to media consumption we use two different sites to check the movies/show/games we allow in our home. One is secular based and one is Christian based. If we find a movie that is questionable we will preview it first before allowing our children to watch it. Site one is Common Sense Media, and is the secular site. It has reviews of movies, books, games, and television shows. It is very comprehensive and explanatory in the reviews which are provided by both adults and children. Site two is Plugged In is Christian based and provides reviews of movies, books, games, music and more. It is vitally important to guard our eyes as they are the lamp unto our body. The darker it is, the more we stumble. God continually warned Israel about this and warns us all the same. Christ is the light of the world and men hate the light for they do evil deeds in the dark and the light exposes their wickedness. I must reiterate that what one consumes ultimately comes down to Romans 14 where “everyone must be convinced in his own mind” but may I submit to you, the eyes when filled with darkness see no light.
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Now before any of those that are reading this shame me for misogynistic tendencies, I want to make very clear that the opposite of that title is unequivocally true. Let me explain what I mean. To do that I want to start with a question. How does the abortion industry, the sexual revolution, pornography, and human trafficking exemplify the worthlessness of women?
We will answer this question in separate parts, addressing each industry’s horrid contribution to the degradation of the worth of the woman. Then we will address each industry from an absolute moral authority. Russian novelist, journalist, essayist, and philosopher Fyodor Dostoevsky said, ” If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” Hold that thought as we make our way through each despicable industry. The Industry of Infanticide – Abortion In 1973 the SCOTUS determined the fate of millions of unborn children. The majority agreed that it was henceforth a woman’s right to kill her child. Perhaps in the latter part of the 20th century we did not have the technological advancements we do today that very clearly and coherently detail the personhood of an unborn child. However, if that was the plumb line of measuring our moral compass, would NY have passed a bill legalizing the murder of babies up to the day they are expected to be born? No! Nevertheless, once a dire decision is made the subsequent consequences are irreversible. As a result, abortion was the leading cause of death over and above cancer, malaria, HIV/AIDS, smoking, alcohol, and traffic accidents combined in 2018. Since it became legal for an unborn baby to be disposed of, there is no longer repercussions, temporary consequences, nor immediate ramifications to the two who engaged in sexual promiscuity. Both the abortion industry and sexual revolution are essentially two sides of the same coin and consistently feed each other. Abortion is the willful, taking of a human life through the process known as murder. For more information on the sad reality that is abortion, and how to help combat this modern day evil visit the site below. https://endabortionnow.com/ The Industry of Sexual Promiscuity – Sexual Revolution The sexual revolution told women that it was their right and even compelled them to use their bodies however they wished. This primarily meant giving themselves away to any whom they chose without reserve or remorse. This further exacerbated the demise of modesty, self-worth, and respect. The result of the sexual revolution is men and women who, without reserve practice sexual promiscuity and as a result marriage and family suffer. Fatherless homes, broken and truncated families, and loneliness have all taken a sharp upward turn since the sexual revolution made its debut some 5 decades ago. The Industry of Sexual Degradation & Perversion – Pornography According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “In the 19th century the inventions of photography and later of motion pictures were quickly put to use in the production of pornography. Pornographic films were widely available no later than the 1920s, and in the 1960s their popularity enjoyed a massive upsurge. The development of videocassettes in the 1980s and digital videodiscs (DVDs) in the 1990s enabled the wide distribution of pornographic films and further encouraged their use because they could be viewed in private. Pornographic images and films became even more widely available with the emergence of the Internet in the 1990s.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/pornography The widespread distribution and consumption of pornographic material has fed a continuing detrimental decline in familial structure and marriages. Below is a very short list of the effects of pornography has on the human brain.
IT IS NOT HARMLESS, IT IS NOT FREEING TO WOMEN, IT IS NOT SAFEFor more information you can visit https://fightthenewdrug.org/ The Industry of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation – Human Trafficking Human trafficking is an epidemic of egregious proportions. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, they received over 14,000 calls through June 2018. 3,178 of the cases were for sex trafficking where the majority were adult women (age 18 and over) and young women (age 17 and under). The pornography industry accounted for 262 cases reported. The industry of human trafficking purports a message that humans are dispensable whos worth is determined by the highest paying customer. The worthlessness of the woman is a mantra in each of these industries. It treats women as tools to be used, abused, disrespected, and exploited. For more information on human trafficking and how to help stop the traffic visit the sites below. https://humantraffickinghotline.org/ https://polarisproject.org/resources We started with a question. How does the abortion industry, the sexual revolution, pornography, and human trafficking exemplify the worthlessness of women? We answered that question in small detail. We then said we would address each of these industries from an absolute moral authority, that is God. Remember our previously quoted philosophical friend Fyodor Dostoevsky said, ” If there is no God, then everything is permitted.” Because God sets the moral standard on right/wrong and what is good, without Him humans naturally feed a carnal desire prone to evil pervaded by a sinister wickedness explained only in the fall of mankind (sin). What then, does God say about all of this? We will address a) the sanctity of life, b) the fall, c) our creator as it pertains to our bodies, and d) how we can live a holy life before God. The Sanctity of Life Genesis 1:26-27 — 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. In the beginning God created everything. He created by His word and everything He created was deemed good. It was not until God created mankind that He used very different phrase to create. He made us in His image. Therefore, we have value directly from God our Creator. Genesis 9:6 — “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.” Furthermore, we can see the importance God places on mankind in Genesis 9:6. Murder is an assault on the image of God. Leviticus 18:21 — You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD. Molech was a pagan deity and the people of that time sacrificed their children to this idol. They would either burn them or murder them before this false god. God clearly demands that child sacrifice be eradicated and not practiced by His people. Jeremiah 1:5 — “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you God knows every single human even before they are formed in the womb. There is huge implications in this verse in support for the sanctity of life. Luke 1:41 — When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; Babies are capable of joy, laughter, feeling, emotion, and every other personhood characteristic both inside and outside the womb. The industries of infanticide, sexual promiscuity, sexual degradation and perversion, and sexual abuse and exploitation are antithetical to the very clear revelation in scripture regarding the Sanctity of human life. The Fall Genesis 2:16-17 — 16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” Romans 3:23 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23a — For the wages of sin is death You see it was and is our choice to either freely and loving worship our Creator or deny His existence. Without God there is no moral authority, there is no absolute truth and so mankind is free to do what it wills irrespective the level of depravity. We belong to God 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 — 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. We cannot glorify God with our bodies if we abuse them with drugs, alcohol, or abuse them for sexual promiscuity. The industries of infanticide, sexual promiscuity, sexual degradation and perversion, and sexual abuse and exploitation do not glorify God through the body, they glorify the god of this world (Satan) through the abuse and exploitation of the body. Living Holy Lives Before God Leviticus 19:2 — “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. Holy means to be set apart or “other” from the world. If we look, act, talk, and live like the world we are not set apart from it. The worthlessness of the woman is a societal belief pervaded by the industries of infanticide, sexual promiscuity, sexual degradation and perversion, and sexual abuse and exploitation. Everywhere in scripture, we can see the high worth God places upon women. The problem is that in our day and time we do not seem to understand it. 2000 years ago God sought to fix the problem of our sin. He loving created us and gave us one rule (obey); not because He was tyrannical, because he loved us enough to protect us from ourselves. God’s rule and reign is much like the guard rails on the side of the cliff; you could care less about them until your car spins out and they keep you from going over the cliff. God’s rules and commandments are to keep us from going over the cliff. As we saw in Adam and Eve, we climbed the rail and without reserve jumped over plunging to our death. God went to the bottom of the valley where we lay dead and in the God-man Jesus brought us back to life. Jesus, who like us was tempted in every way yet without sin lived the life we could not, He stayed within God’s safety rails and obeyed without fail. He then sacrificed His life on a blood stained cross trading in His life for ours; so that the wrath of God was satisfied, thus freeing us from condemnation. On the third day He arose from the grave (because sin is what keeps us in the grave), and granted eternal life to all who would confess with their mouth Christ as LORD and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead. Christ is your only hope in a world that uses, abuses, and exploits. Christ died for you and He is faithful. He does not use, He does not abuse, He does not exploit, He loves, cherishes and cares so deeply for you that He payed the ultimate price in your place. Glorify God in your body and serve Him only. |
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