The online gaming store Steam, owned by Valve, distributes thousands of video games for Windows, Mac, and Linux. A combination of faster distribution to consumers, a versatile suite of tools for game development, and more relaxed content and licensing restrictions makes Steam very popular with independent developers in particular. However, these benefits for indie game developers also mean that many Steam games contain nudity and sexual content. Some even give their players the ability to rape, sexually coerce, and commercially exploit women. Because of the sexually exploitative content this platform hosts, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) named Steam on … Continue reading →
When was the last conversation, sermon, or radio program you heard or participated in that celebrated celibacy as a virtue? A choice to be lifted up, praised, and promoted? What if celibacy was viewed as a cherished goal instead of a cross to bear? What if we took a new approach to the conversation about sex? Now is the perfect time. The Link Between Anger and Lust Shortly after the shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas on May 18, 2018, the mother of one of the victims spoke up. Over a period of several months, she said, the … Continue reading →
Let me start with something that is fundamental to addressing sexual purity: churches have to talk about porn. I went to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night growing up and we never talked about porn. Not in the Sunday service and not in youth group. Not once. Meanwhile at home I went deeper and deeper into the spiral of my secret porn addiction, wishing someone would talk about it, so that I had someone to talk to about it. If your church isn’t talking about porn, you are playing right into Satan’s hand. Related: Porn in the Church–5 … Continue reading →
Americans are becoming more and more educated on how pornography negatively impacts society. We are beginning to realize that it impacts real people. A driving force behind human trafficking is the belief that it’s okay to use people, and specifically to use people for sex. Pornography reinforces this belief. The state of Minnesota has passed a groundbreaking bill recognizing pornography as a contributing factor in human trafficking. State legislators have affirmed that pornography, like sex trafficking, is a commodification of the human person and should be studied as a cause on both the supply and demand side of the problem. … Continue reading →
How many times have you asked someone to hold you accountable, only for them to do a lousy job? They might have thought that was what they wanted to do but had no clue how to do it. Plus, if it includes holding you accountable for your sexual purity, there are two primary problems: 1) They do not know how to do it, and 2) You do not want to tell the truth. For an accountability group to be effective, it must think long term. Being set free from sexual brokenness does not happen in a ten-week class with ten … Continue reading →