A great sermon by Dr. John Barnett on love. He does talk about premillennialism a little bit, but thats okay. The main address of this sermon is for “younger women” but I think it has something in it for everyone.
The first time I heard of “emotional porn” was from Pastor Dave. I remember him talking about it at youth group. Pastor Dave called it “female porn”
Relevant has an post on this topic in it they say…
We (rightly) worry and fight against visual pornography. But what about the dangers of pornography of the mind and heart?…
…As a result, we’re taught to crave the moment of romantic ecstasy or to live for the wedding day. We’re raised to think these are the real stories of love and relationship, and we’re confused when they are so few and far between that we aren’t sustained. So we turn back to that which led us to believe in this fantasy all along. And we’re left with an old woman sitting alone, in her love seat, in front of the television watching her “stories.”
Linky : http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/relationship/features/21488-emotional-pornography
I wonder how I should protect Nyssa and Marci from this type of thing? Normal pron is kinda easy, don’t look at naked people. But this is different, first just because something is a “love story” does not make it bad. But I don’t want Marci to grow up with a unrealistic view of what life and married life should be.
On a related note, this is one of the things that I really loved about the movie Up. The first part of the movie tells the story of true love. Of a man and a woman who have troubles, but stay together and grow old together. Not because of an emotional high but because of a commitment made to each other. I pray that my marriage to Nyssa will be like that.
So Focus on the Family has a contest to win tickets to fly out to attend their upcoming conference on marriage. To enter the contest all you have to do is write a love letter (up to 300 words) to your spouse on the topic “Why I want to grow old with you”. Anyways, I did not enter (how do you keep it under 300 words???) but I liked the idea of the letter so I wanted to do just that. So below is a love letter to my wife, Nyssa.
When I think about the future there are many things that I am unsure about. But only a few things that I know for sure. One of them is that as long as God continues to give breath to you and to me, I know that I will always be your husband and that I will love you. Now the question is, how can I be so sure of that? What is it about you that makes me say that “Yes, I want with all my heart to grow old with you!”
Maybe it’s your personality. Your love for others. The way you feel the pain and joy of other people. It is true that you rejoice when others are rejoicing yet morn with those who morn. Compassion is a huge part of your personality, and I love that about you. I love the way it spills over into all of your life. From wanting to adopt children to being the best nurse that you can be.
Or maybe it’s your dedication. Your dedication to me as your husband and to Marci. Your dedication to building relationships with my family and friends. Your dedication to the Lord. I do love that you are dedicated in the large and even the small things. From your job to keeping the house clean you are very dedicated in the things that you do.
But maybe it’s because of the air about you. It is truly amazing how a room can brighten when ever you enter. Or maybe it’s that you put up with all of my goofyness and yet still love me. Or just how strong you are, I will never forget the strength you showed during the birth of our daughter. Even the nurses and doctor were amazed at your strength. Or maybe it’s because you have agreed to do the Ramsey “No Debt” plan without complaining about it! Or the way you smile, or that you let me go on my camping trips with Allen, or…
No, none of these are the reason why I want to grow old with you. They are all true and I love them about you. But they are to small for me to say with assurance that as long as we both shall live, I will love you.
The reason I can say that is because of God. Because He has given you to me and has given me to you. He has made us one flesh, and nothing other then God calling one of us home will ever change that. It’s because of Jesus and what He has done for us. Because He sent His Spirit to live within us and we are held in His hands. I can say with full assurance that, Nyssa, I desire and always will desire to grow old with you.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
1st Amendment
The U.S. Constitution
The first thing that I would like to say is that America is a Republic not a Democracy. This means that we are governed by the law not by the desire of the people. The highest law that we have in America is the constitution and so all other laws, rules, and regulations must be in harmony with the constitution.
How the argument for homosexual marriage should go
Marriage is a religious observation. The 1st Amendment to the constitution clearly establishes the freedom of religion. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. And so I would say that the government does not have the right to choose who can and can not be married.
Why this argument will not work
The “left” (who are the people generally for homosexual marriage) have been telling us for years that the 1st amendment does not mean what it clearly says but rather means that religion can not interfere with any government activity (ie. Schools). So for the left to use this argument would be for them to confess that they have been misusing the 1st amendment to keep religion out of the government for the past few decades. And I don’t think that they are going to do that.
Why this is bad for the church
Now I have been thinking about this and I think that no matter how the homosexual marriage thing turns out it will be bad for the church. Think about this, Christians are leading the way for laws that would give the government power to withhold people from a religious ceremony. And do we really think it’s a big step that once we give the government the right to define religious ceremonies, that they will not say who can and can not be baptized or circumcised or ordained as a priest/minister of God’s Word? I am afraid that by giving the government the rights over one religious ceremony we are giving them the rights to all of them.
Nyssa and my self finally got to watch Fireproof. We both liked it. Sure the acting was not that great but it had a great story and to be honest I would rather have a great story with crapy acting then a crapy story with great acting. So if you have not seen fireproof yet we would recomend it :)
And speaking of a good story with crapy acting Jurassic Park comes to mind. It was on TV a month or two ago and I watched some of it. I was 13 when it came out and I guess I was to young to notice how bad the acting was. I just remember how awesome all the dinos were! Raptors rocked!
Oh and for a movie with a bad story. Don’t watch Open Season 2.. Ok, it’s entertaining enough to watch once. Had some funny parts, but over all was just too bland. For most of the movie I was just wishing it would hurry up and be over.
And a bad move with bad acting there is First Spaceship on Venus. Nyssa let me get some MST3K and it’s one of the movies they are making fun of. It’s great!
Hmm, I’m trying to think of what other movies we have watched that I can put the trailer up for… We did see “A Good Year” a it was a good movie. Would have been better if the morals were not so bad in it. But we enjoyed it over all
And now this post is going under ramble b/c thats all I have been doing..
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