cf. brake

Prov 18:1 “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;    he breaks out against all sound judgment” I have lived most of my life as a lone-wolf Christian. I attended church, went to small group, met up with an accountability partner. I even played the guitar sometimes for the campus ministry. I went on mission trips all over the world. I read the Bible with others and prayed with them. But I never allowed any of them to ever know me. Nor did I think that I needed them to. I figured I was smart enough to think things through on my own. That I could handle whatever came my way. Besides, I didn't want people to know who I was. I didn't want them to know that I was a sinner. And I didn't trust anyone to know me. I thought they just wouldn't get it, or they would expose me, or they would laugh at me, or they would try to change me. I though that they wouldn't love me. So, I put up a smoke screen and took a mask - giving just enough to make it look li...

Is porn really a big deal? Let's listen in on what Pastor John Piper has to say to a young woman considering marriage to a man struggling with pornography.   So, how does porn affect us? Consider the four elements Piper puts forth. - It is unloving. - It is adulterous. - Destructive to a man's capacities to love a woman purely for herself. - Destructive to a man's soul; his capacity to see God in the purity and greatness of His glory is shriveled. How does this play out: Porn says reality is not good enough. Pornography is a conglomeration of photoshopped images and tantalizing scenarios. None of which exist in the real world. Today on the internet there are infinite amounts just clicks away. Every click brings a new experience and new stimulation. You can fast-forward and rewind. Nothing in the real world comes close to the expansive nature of sexual images and videos. Porn tells a woman she is not good enough. Nothing...