Americans Are Cheating More, Are Less Keen on Monogamy – Survey Results – This is One Result of Christians Not Advancing and Defending Sexual Purity – The Slow, Steady Decline of U.S. Christians Defending Celibacy, Virginity, etc

Americans Are Cheating More, Are Less Keen on Monogamy – Survey Results – This is One Result of Christians Not Advancing and Defending Sexual Purity – The Slow, Steady Decline of U.S. Christians Defending Celibacy, Virginity, etc

I don’t know about this – the report says that more America adults are not as into monogamy and so on. This must be a smaller percentage of people.

In the years I’ve run this blog, I’ve seen studies, reports, etc in the last few years that more adults are staying single, and that singles are having less sex, so that ones who are married or coupled up must amount to a small number.

I’ve also seen more and more people, even self proclaimed feminists and liberals, start to write more essays and books in the last few years about how the “sexual revolution” did a lot of harm to people (especially women), how younger women now reject “sex positivity” feminism, and how young men would rather stay at home on Friday nights playing video games than date women or have sex with women.

As to any single, hetero sexual adults who are having sex outside of marriage, if this new report is accurate and true:

I’ve been warning on this blog the last ten or so years that American Christians have dropped the ball on teaching about biblical sexuality.

What I saw as the progression of events concerning this subject are as follows (the first step below seems to have started around 2005 or there abouts):

• (Step 1) Pastors, churches, and Christian authors, bloggers, online influencers and personalities at first stopped preaching on the importance of staying a virgin until marriage and stopped openly, regularly condemning pre-martial sex (they just went silent on the topic),
  while, during or around this time, idiot sex-obsessed pastors (such as Ed Young,  Mark Driscoll, and others) started giving more frequent, inappropriate, salacious, “How to Have Great, Steamy Sex With Your Spouse” type sermons, to,
• (Step 2)… they assumed (wrongly) that because all single adults are fornicating horn dogs, might as well start giving sermons about how God will forgive you of your sexual sins, since, the assumption goes, all adults are fornicating now (no mention of condemning fornication and encouraging and honoring those adults who are chaste to keep on hanging in there and remain chaste), to,
• (Step 3)… when the liberal and progressive Christians, some of whom are self professing feminists, began complaining about 1980s and 1990s era “Purity Culture,”
  the pastors and Christian bloggers and influencers decided to chuck sexual purity out the window altogether as even a possible option,
  all to soothe and placate the offended feelings of (mostly) women who had fornicated,
  and they further disgraced biblical sexual morality standards by disturbingly beginning to fall all over themselves to blog and tweet vomit-worthy, groveling apologies to all the hurt fee-fee’s of any Christian woman who had felt stung or offended by 1980s or 1990s purity culture messages, to,
• (Step 4 – we are now here in this depressing journey)… this gross attitude of, “Let’s re-define sexual purity and virginity in such a way to make purity abstract, to make purity all about loving Jesus and “purity of the heart,” so that for all the adults who have LITERALLY engaged in actual physical sexual activity, they won’t feel so icky, shamed, and guilty about their sexual sins”

So, the church opted to cave in to in-church and out-church (secular society) views and trends on sex.

(Edit and disclaimer: in so far as old school Christian Purity Culture contained things like sexist double standards, no, I do not support all of “Purity Culture,” but I also don’t agree with Christian feminists or other anti-Purity Culture Christians who insist that “virginity is nothing but a patriarchal construct,” that virginity (for men and women) just does not matter, that fornication is a-okay, and that sexual purity is merely an abstract, of being “pure in heart” with regards to Jesus. -Actual, physical virginity, literal sexual purity, is of import as well, not just “purity in Jesus.”)

I am not surprised, therefore, that the culture at large (at least the small percentage that is still dating and marrying) is practicing all sorts of weird, deviant, distasteful, and sinful sexual and relationship behaviors these days.

There is no longer any American Christian voices out there regularly speaking up on behalf of remaining a virgin until marriage, speaking against fornication, and repeating the Bible’s message that self control in all areas, including sexual ones, is possible.

Hey, moderate to conservative Christians, including preachers: the following result is what happens once you give up and cave in and/or neglect to uphold sexual purity messages! You get a nation that drifts more and more off course and into living gross sexual lifestyles and seeing nothing wrong with it.

Instead you idiot preachers either ignored the topic altogether, or else gave “how to have sizzling sex with your spouse” sermons, or, you apologized for churches that actually did the right thing (but carried it out wrongly) of the 1980s and 1990s of preaching that sex before marriage was sin.

In the meantime, virtually nobody in Christendom was speaking up in favor of virginity- until- marriage and its benefits, and pointing out that the Bible condemns pre-marital sex.

(Link): Americans Are Cheating More, Are Less Keen on Monogamy – Survey Results

by James Reinl
February 23, 2023

Americans are increasingly cheating on partners, are more open to multiple lovers, and less keen on monogamy, a new survey on changing attitudes to sex and love has revealed.

YouGov polling this month shows that while most Americans still want a wholly monogamous marriage, the numbers are slipping as people increasingly accept some degree of dallying.

Meanwhile, polygamy — the custom of having more than one spouse at the same time — remains mostly taboo, but nearly a fifth of US adults say it will be legal within 50 years.

For many, the trend is not surprising, echoed in the celebrity cheating scandal involving stars Meghan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly and the open marriage between Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.

But for others, including conservative DailyMail.com columnist David Marcus, the trajectory is a worrying progression from the collapse of traditional norms about family life.

‘Polygamy will be legal in parts of the US within a decade,’ Marcus posted on social media.

‘There is no logical basis to oppose it once you accept gay marriage.’

An Assessment of the Article “Why the Religion of Self-Care is Really Sanctified Selfishness” – Christian Author is Indirectly Promoting Codependency, Which is Harmful

An Assessment of the Article “Why the Religion of Self-Care is Really Sanctified Selfishness” – Christian Author is Indirectly Promoting Codependency, Which is Harmful

A link to this article, from a site and Twitter account called “Truth Over Tribe,” came through my Twitter feed today.

I don’t think I am following these guys; this was a suggestion by Twitter that appeared in my timeline. The “Truth Over Tribe” site says on their site that they are “too liberal for conservatives and too conservative for liberals.”

Okay… I’m somewhat in the same place. I’m a conservative who occasionally disagrees with other conservatives, but I sure don’t agree with many positions of progressives.

After having skimmed over some articles on this site – the site owner and author seems to be a Patrick Miller – he seems to lean left of center.

I can tell he’s left of center from some of the commentary and language he’s used – for one, in the article below, he puts his Intersectional Feminism (a left wing concept) on full display by talking about how “self care” was really started by black people, white women love it, and these days, only white woman can (financially) afford it. (Though I didn’t quote those portions of his article below, but they are over on his site.)

(Does Miller realize that left wing darling BLM (Black Lives Matter) is misleading people financially or that they spend more on transgenderism than on race related issues?)

At any rate, let’s get on to the article on this site that alarmed me, and I will provide a few excerpts, and then I will comment on them to explain why I feel this piece goes horribly wrong:

(Link):  Why the Religion of Self-Care is Really Sanctified Selfishness

Excerpts:

by Patrick Miller

“To be happy, you need to leave toxic people behind.” The preaching Peloton instructor continued, “I’m talking about people who take more than they give. People who don’t care about your dreams. People whose selfishness impedes your ability to do what you want to do.”

 Oh crap. She just described my two-year-old. I guess it’s time to cut him off.

This is the gospel of self-care. The notion that the most important person in my life is me, and anyone who impedes my happiness is an existential threat to my emotional and physical well-being. …

… What’s the Religion of Self Care?

Atheist Video About Being a Virgin or Sexually Abstinent – My Critique of the Atheist’s Critique

Atheist Video About Being a Virgin of Sexually Abstinent – My Critique of the Atheist’s Critique

When I am on You Tube, I seldom seek out videos about marriage, sex, dating, or singleness.

When I do visit You Tube, I normally seek out subject matter such as movie reviews and cute animal videos, but this video by “Paulogia” was bumped to the top of my ‘suggested videos to watch’ list by You Tube, so I decided to take a look.

I actually do not enjoy reading or watching content by people who are critical of ‘virginity- until- marriage,’  or who pick apart and criticize Christian teachings about sex. I find these types of things tedious, insulting, and annoying, depending on their take.

In this video, the atheist, Paul of “Paulogia” on You Tube, has a woman co-host in the video with him (I suppose she is an atheist too), Liz, where they are critiquing the video of some guy, Joe Kirby (who is a Christian), who is advocating for sexual abstinence until marriage (which is not a bad thing to advocate for, despite Liz’s seemingly sounding disdain for this).

I’ve never heard of Joe Kirby before. His You Tube page is (Link): here, “Off the Kirb Ministries”. I’ve never watched any of his videos before. All I’ve seen are the clips of the one Kirby video in the Paulogia video.

Okay, yes, as I watched more of the video, Paul says that Liz is an ex-Christian who gives sex advice on her You Tube channel (more about this below).

Off to the side, you can see a screen capture I made from part of the video where a cartoon Liz, with a cartoon Paul, are watching Kirby’s (who doesn’t appear as a cartoon) video.  Watching cartoon talking heads discuss sexual mores was strange

Here is the video in question to which I refer:

(Link, You Tube, 13.30 long video): If You’re Still a Virgin – You MUST See This! feat. Liz LaPoint) (Off the Kirb response)

This video will also be placed within this post at or near the bottom of this post

As I’ve said before on this blog, in earlier blog posts going back years, while conservative Christians and secular social conservatives have, on occasion, erred in regards to their beliefs and teachings about sex, dating, and marriage (I’ve done many critiques about their views, see the section below under “Related Posts on this Blog” for a few samples) your Non-Christians (including atheists, progressive feminists, and so on), are also in error on different points.

Sometimes obnoxiously so.

Acceptance (vs. Denial, Anger, or Should-ing) – Helps in Healing and Getting Through Painful Events and Dealing With Things You Cannot Change

Acceptance (vs. Denial, Anger, or Should-ing) – Helps in Healing and Getting Through Painful Events and Dealing With Things You Cannot Change

Disclaimer: All names have been changed in the post below to keep people’s identities anonymous.

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One of the things I’ve noticed in the last few years is that when I’ve accepted a situation, whether something current or something from years ago that once bothered me a lot, is that it speeds up the recovery process.

I used to hold on tightly to people or dreams or hopes. In the last few years, I’ve gotten better at Letting Go.

(I’ve not arrived at perfection at this, but I have improved a lot in the last couple of years.)

Instead of constantly regretting, feeling sad or angry about a past incident, or that my life is not where I want it to be now, I’ve learned to accept my past and present, and that has definitely been good for my mental health – and I’m more able to enjoy each day as it is, instead of sitting around angry or upset that things aren’t how I had hoped or planned.

I don’t get as upset by set backs as I once did.

Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris Meets With Female Activist Who Ranted “‘F*ck The White’ Women”

Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris Meets With Female Activist Who Ranted “‘F*ck The White’ Women”

There is no purpose or context in which this is appropriate – the constant shaming, of progressives, of white people and of white women in particular.

I dislike Islam, sexism, and biological men (“transwomen”) being in women’s only spaces (I also dislike the misogyny some of these transwomen utter), but I do recognize that not all Muslims, all men, or all transgender persons are evil rapists, jerks, sexists, and what have you.

I don’t always spell those caveats (of “not all of persons of Group X are terrible”) out in every post I make, where I rant or fume about the latest news item where a complementarian man has done or said something sexist (again), or the latest news story where a transwoman has molested a little girl and so on, but I hope this is understood.

I’ve been really tired of seeing how the left steps on white people in general but how they scapegoat white women in particular.

This scapegoating and demonizing of white women has been going on for years now, and I first began noticing that the left puts white women (or all biological women initially) on the lowest rung of their favorite pet groups.

It took me awhile later to learn about progressive concepts in more detail, like “intersectionalism,” where it was confirmed for me that, yes, the left has a stacking order of Victimhood, where they deem whomever, which ever group, is the most victimized as being at a higher priority of care and concern, than those they deem lowest.

This began, several years ago, with the left demonizing white men quite a bit.

Then a couple or so years later, it jumped to the left vilifying white women. And there they remain. I think (biological, heterosexual) white women now remain the most demonized group, even more so than white men.

At the same time, these same white (hetero, etc) women continue to suffer the slings and arrows of regular, every day sexism from biological, hetero men.

Now white women (now including ones who identity as lesbian) also have to deal with harassment and demonization by transwomen.

The transwomen demonize white (lesbian) women for not wanting to date biological men (ie., transwomen), and many progressive black women and their “allies” like to scream and yell at white women for “centering” themselves, for not doing enough, and love to mock “white women’s tears” and toss the term “white fragility” around.

Democrats overall love to demonize white women if a Republican wins, because they will look at the stats or polling and see that white women, as a voting bloc, tended to vote for one politician or another.

This demonization of white people generally (not just white women particularly) and the shaming of white people (including children!) has, unfortunately, gotten very prevalent in the last few years.

It’s not necessary or acceptable to insult white people as a group to address racism against black people, any more than it’s necessary or acceptable for Baptists and others speaking out against declining marriage rates by insulting all single adults or singleness.

If you want to tell me that you believe that racism (against persons of color by white people) is still an issue today, that is all well and good, but if you’re going to address this racism by constantly using racial putdowns against whites or shaming whites for being white, then I do not agree with that.

(This gets into the weeds, though, when one considers that today’s leftists understand terms differently than most of us. To them, a “white supremacist” can include a dark-skinned individual who votes Republican, doesn’t agree with CRT, or who is a conservative. Most of us understand the term to mean something like a white guy in a white robe burning crosses at night.)

I may have more to say about the following excerpts in another, separate blog post pertaining to these subjects.

This references Kamala Harris, who is currently the Democratic Vice President of the United States:

(Link – this page has an auto-play video with audio):
 VP Harris meets with activist who said ‘f—‘ ‘White women’

Barry also said that her group has “gotta get real serious” about getting Harris in the Oval Office.

by Houston Keene, December 8, 2021

Vice President Harris on Monday met with several Black female activists for a private meeting in her ceremonial office, including an activist who directed an expletive towards “White women” in a public Zoom call just last year.
— end excerpts —

(Link): VP Harris meets with black feminist activist who said ‘f*** the white women’ and accused Trump supporters ‘wearing a white sheet’: Discussed civil rights and voting issues

(Link): Harris Meets With Female Activist Who Ranted ‘F*** The White’ Women

By  Hank Berrien
Dec 8, 2021

On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris held a meeting with a black feminist activist who had stated publicly, “F*** white women.”

Harris met with Cora Masters Barry and other members of the Black Women Leaders and Allies on Monday.

Barry, the wife of the late Washington, D.C., Mayor Marian Barry, was participating on a Zoom call last November with Rolling Out CEO Munson Steed and fellow activist Melanie Campbell as they discussed white women voting more for Republican candidates, The Daily Mail reported.

Barry ranted, “F*** the white — excuse me — forget the white women. They’re going to do what the white men tell them to do. … They be smiling in [your face]; they want to stay in charge. … I don’t care nothing about them, we gotta do what we gotta do.”

How to Recognize and Respond to Energy Vampires at Home, Work, and More by K. Holland

How to Recognize and Respond to Energy Vampires at Home, Work, and More

(Link): How to Recognize and Respond to Energy Vampires at Home, Work, and More

Excerpts:

by K. Holland

What is an energy vampire?
Energy vampires are people who — sometimes intentionally — drain your emotional energy. They feed on your willingness to listen and care for them, leaving you exhausted and overwhelmed.

Energy vampires can be anywhere and anyone. They can be your spouse or your best friend. They can be your cubicle mate or your neighbor.

Learning how to identify and respond to this toxic behavior can help you preserve your energy and protect yourself from a great deal of emotional — and physical — distress.

Read on to learn more about how an energy vampire acts and what you can do next.

They don’t take accountability
Energy vampires are often charismatic. They may slink out of trouble when problems arise because of this charm.

Anti-Porn Activist: ‘Ethically Sourced’ Porn ‘Sounds Like an Oxymoron’

Anti-Porn Activist: ‘Ethically Sourced’ Porn ‘Sounds Like an Oxymoron’

The following is a response to this article (Link): Lutheran Pastor Defends ‘Ethically Sourced Porn,’ Wants to Remove ‘Shame’ From Industry

I have a comment or two to make below these excerpts….

(Link): Anti-Porn Activist: ‘Ethically Sourced’ Porn ‘Sounds Like an Oxymoron’

By Michael Gryboski , Christian Post Reporter | Nov 13, 2018 7:42 AM

An anti-pornography activist has taken issue with an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor’s support for “ethically sourced porn” and the removal of shame from the sex entertainment industry.

“What she is saying about shame sounds to me like a condemnation of shame in general, that there is nothing good about it,” Peggy Cairns, Education chairperson with the Maryland Coalition Against Pornography, told The Christian Post. “I would contend that there is a place for shame in life, it’s part of how our consciences work, and we need more of it rather than less in today’s compass-less world.”

Lutheran pastor and author Nadia Bolz-Weber recently argued that there should be no shame in consuming pornography, especially if it is “ethically sourced.”

“‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’ [Book] Told Me to Stay Pure Until Marriage. I Still Have a Stain on My Heart” – Regarding: Dating Book by Author Josh Harris (with other related links about the IKDG book) and Criticizing “Purity Culture”

“‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’ [Book] Told Me to Stay Pure Until Marriage. I Still Have a Stain on My Heart” – Regarding: Dating Book by Author Josh Harris (with other related links about the IKDG book) and Criticizing “Purity Culture”

August 24, 2016 update: I added a new link at the bottom of this post: people continue to attack the idea of sexual purity by publicizing backlash against the Harris IKDG book.

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I myself have never read the IKDB book, which was written by Harris. I have read about the book on other sites in the past, and it is my understanding the book discussed how to date, and other such topics, and is not strictly about sex or virginity.

The author uses this review of the IKDG book to bash “purity culture,” and in so doing, touches on the topic or staying chaste until marriage.

I am in the middle of this debate. I cannot completely agree with all the critics of “purity culture,” depending on what they are criticizing about it and why.

I believe that the Bible teaches both male and females are to sexually abstain until marriage, so I don’t believe in tossing out this teaching all because some young women feel they have been hurt or oppressed by it.

On the other hand, how some Christians have taught about sexual purity has been lop-sided – males are typically not addressed, only females – and Christians could do a better, or more sensitive job, in how they present the concept of remaining a virgin until marriage.

With that introduction, here is the link, with some excerpts (and note, I am not in complete agreement with all views in this piece; however, I’m not a supporter of a lot of Christian dating advice. Christian dating advice tends to act as an obstacle to singles who want to someday marry):

(Link): “‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’ told me to stay pure until marriage. I still have a stain on my heart“

Excerpts:

By Liz Lenz

July 27, 2016

In 1997, Joshua Harris published “I Kissed Dating Goodbye,” a book that was in part a warning about the harm that relationships before marriage could cause. Harris evoked images of men at the altar bringing all their past partners with them into the marriage to reinforce the point that love and sex before marriage took pieces of your heart and made you less.

At the time, Harris was just 21, but he was already a rising star.

…He [Harris] was what we, as young evangelicals, wanted to be. And so we strove passionately to attain the ideal of premarital purity he laid out for us. Now, almost 20 years later, even Harris appears to be questioning whether his advice did more harm than good.

…But Harris’s book was hugely influential.

…On the surface, I am a purity-culture success story: I am a heterosexual woman, a virgin until marriage, now with two small children and a husband I deeply love. We attend church. We believe in God. And yet, for me, the legacy of purity culture is not one of freedom but one of fear.

Purity culture taught me that I ought to be passed down from father to husband, more an inheritance than a human.

 I was taught that men are my cover and my shield, when for the most part they have been the ones causing damage through molestation, rape and abuse.

I was taught that my holy calling was to open my legs for one and only one and bear him children. Barring that, I was to keep them closed and never express desire or lust or fear or longing.

So many women in my life cracked under the untenable pressure, often giving up on God all together. Others were forced into marriages with men who hit them and hid their abuse behind another message of the church borne from purity culture, that God hates divorce.

Viral Virgin Brelyn Bowman Talks Purity Backlash From Christians, New Book ‘No Ring, No Ting’ (Interview)

Viral Virgin Brelyn Bowman Talks Purity Backlash From Christians, New Book ‘No Ring, No Ting’ (Interview) 

I agree that those Christians (or ex Christians) who are opposed to sexual purity (virginity) lifestyles or teachings have gone overboard with it – as have some secular liberals.

Women (or men) who, of their own freewill, choose to abstain sexually are mocked or ridiculed for abstaining. (I have links with examples to this under the “Related Posts” section at the end of this post).

I think it’s very hypocritical for people to champion all sexual behaviors or choices of women EXCEPT FOR staying a virgin until marriage. Celebrity women can yak all day long about their sexual conquests on Twitter or in interviews, and nobody raises a fuss – but the moment a woman makes public that she’s waiting until marriage (or a serious relationship) to have sex, she will be faced with a lot of ridicule and criticism. Even by so-called feminists, who claim to respect all sexual choices of women.

I have blogged about this woman previously (Link): here.

(Link): Viral Virgin Brelyn Bowman Talks Purity Backlash From Christians, New Book ‘No Ring, No Ting’ (Interview) by C. Thomasos – March 8, 2016

• Brelyn Bowman says she wasn’t surprised that people in the secular world disapproved of her posting a gynecologist’s purity certificate on social media after her wedding day last year. But she was shocked by the backlash that came from Christians.
• The 23-year-old wife of gospel singer Tim Bowman Jr. says she made the decision to honor God by abstaining from sex until her wedding day. Soon after she proudly announced to the world on Instagram that she had remained a virgin until her wedding day by showing the certificate she presented to her father, a number of Christians responded in anger.
• Bowman told The Christian Post that she was mostly surprised that many of those who left negative comments about her decision to show her father the results of her gynocological exam that revealed she was still a virgin before her wedding day identified as Christians.
• “That’s what I couldn’t understand. So it was kind of like, why do we, as Christians, bash one another instead of protect one another and spread the message of God to those who may not understand?” she questioned.
• “It’s OK for a girl who gets pregnant out of wedlock to say ‘OK, I’m pregnant’ and we celebrate the baby. But it’s not OK to say ‘Hey, I’m a virgin.'” she asserted. “Maybe the certificate wasn’t right, but neither was her getting pregnant. We still celebrate the baby.”

Salon Author Amanda Marcotte Thinks Media Shouldn’t Judge Women’s Sexuality But She Has Mocked Women Over Their Sexual Choices Before (To Remain Virgins)

Salon Author Amanda Marcotte Thinks Media Shouldn’t Judge Women’s Sexuality But She Has Mocked Women Over Their Sexual Choices Before (To Remain Virgins)

My memory is a bit rusty here, but in a previous, older editorial on Salon, either Marcotte ridiculed women who choose to remain virgins until marriage, or, when she was mocking the concept of virgin- until- marriage, it escaped her notice that some women, of their own volition, choose to abstain until marriage.

I blogged about this before here, on my blog:

• (Link):  Marcotte on Anyone Choosing To Be a Virgin Until Marriage: “It’s a Silly Idea” – What Progressive Christians, Conservative Christians, Non Christians, and Salon’s Amanda Marcotte Gets Wrong About Christian Views on Virginity

Either way it went, Marcotte ended up ridiculing the choice of some women to stay virgins until marriage – and some women do in fact choose to remain virgins until marriage, like this lady, who was in the media about a month ago:

• (Link): Bride Presents Father With ‘Certificate of Purity’ on Wedding Day – My Thoughts On the Matter 

This recent editorial at Salon, by Marcotte, is my reason for writing this blog post today:

(Link):  Now we’re leering at suicide bombers: The grotesque objectification of Hasna Ait Boulahcen by Amanda Marcotte

Here are a few excerpts from that page, about a woman terrorist who was blown up in Paris, France (I have some more comments below these excerpts):

by Amanda Marcotte

November 20, 2105

…But Boulahcen [woman terrorist] was female, and so the forces of sexual objectification are kicking in, creating a grotesque display.

…Both articles obsessively comb over every detail of Boulahcen’s pre-conversion life: Her partying, her drinking, the amount of sex they suspect she had, her clothes and even her “heavy makeup”, which both articles take pains to point out. It’s the same kind of thing you see these right wing rags doing day in and out, simultaneously inviting their audiences to leer at and sit in judgment of young women for their clothes, their sexual choices…

Pastors avoid ‘controversy’ to keep tithes up, author says – Confirms What I’ve Been Saying All Along, Re: Churches: Contrary to Progressive Christians, Churches / Christians Do Not Support or Idolize Sexual Purity, Virginity, or Celibacy – they attack these concepts when not ignoring them

Pastors avoid ‘controversy’ to keep tithes up, author says – Confirms What I’ve Been Saying All Along, Re: Churches: Contrary to Progressive Christians, Churches / Christians Do Not Support or Idolize Sexual Purity, Virginity, or Celibacy – they attack these concepts when not ignoring them

• (Link): Blogger Guy,  John H. Morgan, Who Accused Me Of Being Untrustworthy Apparently Finds My Blog Trustworthy Enough to Use As A Resource

Pastors avoid ‘controversy’ to keep tithes up, author says

(Link):  Pastors avoid Biblical positions on today’s issues to keep tithes up

(Link): Barna: Many pastors wary of raising ‘controversy’

(Link): Study: Pastors avoid controversy to keep tithes up

I linked to this same article in my previous post and discussed it from another angle,

• (Link): Why Christians Need To Divorce The Topic of Sex From “Family” and “Marriage”

This time, I am bringing this story up for another reason.

(Link):  Pastors avoid ‘controversy’ to keep tithes up, author says

I’m not surprised. Every time I see the progressive Christians, the ex Christians, and left wing secular feminists complain that Christians over value a woman’s virginity, I want to laugh. I see the total opposite.

Virginity for men and woman is being attacked by Christians, not upheld, defended, respected or esteemed.

(Usually, the entire subject is ignored FOR MEN. Men are not expected to be virgins by anyone on either side of the debate. Men get a pass, even from progressive Christians and secular feminists; ironic.)

Virginity, celibacy, and sexual purity are being written off even by most conservative Christians as being unrealistic, impossible standards for any man or woman to meet, so they have reversed course and say fornication is really not such a big deal.

Further, Christians have sanctioned phrases such as “born again virgin” or “secondary virginity” to console sexual sinners.

With the exception of a tiny minority of far, far out fringe kook groups, like the weirdos who want to see the USA governed by Old Testament laws and penalties, I am not seeing Christians who are demanding that people stay virgins until marriage, speaking out against pre-marital sex, or making sexual purity an idol that they insist Christian girls pursue.

Here are some excerpts from:

(Link):  Pastors avoid ‘controversy’ to keep tithes up, author says

• by Tom Fontaine
• Aug 24,  2014
• Few pastors preach about today’s most challenging political and social issues because they worry about losing members of their flocks and the money they donate, according to a researcher who focuses on issues of Christianity.
• “Controversy keeps people from being in the seats. Controversy keeps people from giving money, from attending programs,” California-based researcher George Barna said this month in an American Family Radio interview.

Theologian Says ‘Love’ Is the New Cultural Apologetic Affirming Immoral Activities – Theology of Hurt Feelings – Why Christians Are Reluctant To Call Out Sexual Sin

Theologian Says ‘Love’ Is the New Cultural Apologetic Affirming Immoral Activities – Theology of Hurt Feelings – Why Christians Are Reluctant To Call Out Sexual Sin

(Before I get to the link proper, here is a long introduction by me.)

I agree with this guy’s editorial (linked to farther below). I’ve written of this phenomenon before on my own blog, going back a year or maybe as long as three years ago (see links at the bottom of this post under the “Related Posts” section).

I do not like legalistic jerks. I don’t think Christians should be rude, mean, hateful jerks to other people, even when condemning certain behaviors as being sinful.

However. HOWEVER.

I can’t say as though I’m a whole-scale supporter of legalism’s opposite characteristics, either – which amounts to extreme leniency and “watering down of standards” in the name of Love and Tolerance.

I have seen some Christians so very afraid of hurting the feelings of Non-Christians (or even that of fellow Christians) who are in sin, or in confronting Christians who are openly supportive of behaviors the Bible condemns, they tip toe around the sin in question to an absurd degree – where they end up practically supporting, condoning, or excusing said sin (whatever it may be).

These Christians are hyper-sensitive to other people’s feelings, and it is a huge annoyance to me.

This tendency to treat other people’s feelings with kid gloves has gotten so bad in Christendom (particularly in regards to sexual sin), that some preachers have admitted they are afraid to speak out against sin in public, in their blogs, TV shows, books, or from the pulpit.

It’s also very common among Christian lay persons, or by ex-Christians or liberal Christians, who confuse God’s propensity to love and forgive with the notion that God (and Jesus Christ) are hunky-dory with behavior the Bible thoroughly condemns, such as hetero pre-marital sex or homosexual sex acts, for example.

(Transgenderism is a sexual state which has become the new liberal Christian, moderate Christian, Theology of Hurt Feelings Christian, ex-Christian, and left wing secular Sacred Cow that you may not criticize at all.)

It’s also intriguing to me that on the spiritual abuse blogs I have visited, whose owners and members champion the downtrodden (i.e., adults who have been mistreated by churches, or victims of sexual abuse whose abuse was swept under the rug by their fellow church members),
have forum or blog participants, who will, on one hand, quite understandably call for the heads of such abusive church members on a platter,
rightly call out Christians as being naive fools about abuse in churches, but – many of these same people are also very dismissive of, or blind to, abuses by Muslim militants and homosexual militants.

They are very naive of abuses by Muslims and homosexuals. They seem to have a huge blind spot in those areas.

How they can so easily spot and repudiate Christian and church bungling of spiritual and child sexual abuse, or of preachers who exploit their church members,
but fail to recognize the dangers of Muslim and homosexual militancy in American society and other regions of the world, I will never understand.

The blindness and naive nature by folks on those sorts of forums and blogs also extends to Roman Catholicism.

I have had a few Roman Catholic friends in the past, and they are fine people, but their church? No.

The Roman Catholic Church used to burn people at the stake, but one Roman Catholic individual recently thanked a (Protestant) blogger for bringing to everyone’s attention the anti-Roman Catholic commentary expressed by yet another blog (a Protestant one which was critical of perceived sinful RC behavior).

I mean, really? Some Protestant writing a critical comment about Roman Catholic behavior in general on a blog is thought somehow worse than the Roman Catholic Church in years past doing things such as:

-Covering up priest sexual abuse of children, or….

-Burning people to death for refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism, or for (Link to Wiki page): translating the Bible into English, or….

-The same Roman Catholic Church that historically has held the position that the Gospel (which includes sola fide) is anathema (to be damned)?

Off site link for more on that:
Roman Catholic Church condemns the Gospel itself

Seriously?

But you can’t easily point these issues of the Roman Catholic Church out at some forums or blogs – the ones who are into The Theology of Hurt Feelings – as it might offend a Roman Catholic somewhere.

The Roman Catholic Church historically persecuted a lot of people (see again: burning people to death at the stake for things like not converting to Catholicism), but criticism on the internet of their church is considered by some of them to be the height of persecution against Roman Catholics.

At any rate, I agree with the gentlemen quoted below.

There is most certainly a Theology of Hurt Feelings, where-in some Christians are so incredibly concerned with not offending various classes of sinners (e.g., hetero fornicators or active homosexuals), they think Christians speaking out publicly (on blogs, radio shows, in church services, etc) is “unloving” and therefore Christ would object to it.

The mind boggles at this. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for hetero fornication and homosexual sex acts, among other sins of humanity.

But these “lovey dovey” types want other Christians to pipe down about all this and act as though God is totaly fine with, and accepting of, all manner of sin.

The Bible presents a God who is not only loving, forgiving, and gracious, but also one who is Holy, just, and who does not tolerate sin, he does not like sin, and he won’t put up with sin indefinitely. God is not fine and dandy with sin.
And the Bible does in fact call out hetero pre-marital sex, and all homosexual sex acts, as sin.

I suspect that this well-meaning, yet wrong-headed, tendency to want to be Very Loving, Very Accepting,
and To Spare People’s Feelings, is partially responsible for what gave rise several years ago to the ridiculous,
non-sensical, un-Biblical habit of referring to fornicators as “Born Again Virgins,” “Spiritual Virgins,” and similar monikers (see links below, this post, for more about that).

(Link): Theologian Says ‘Love’ Is the New Cultural Apologetic Affirming Immoral Activities

Excerpts.

• BY ALEX MURASHKO , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER

July 25, 2014|8:33 am

Advocates for behavior considered immoral by Christians who believe the Bible is God’s inerrant word, have successfully used the idea of “love” to affirm homoerotic behavior, to redefine marriage and family, to justify pedophilia, and as theologian and pastor James Emery White recently pointed out, to justify assisted suicide.

The problem, White writes in his blog, Church & Culture, is that the “love” described to normalize these behaviors is “not the biblical idea of love.”