Strength and sanity for your Christian Experience

Why religious belief isn't a delusion – in psychological terms, at least

---

God in His magnificent wisdom created the male and female anatomy with the capability of uniquely joining together in the context of a committed relationship of love, faithfulness, and devotion.

Learning My Purpose - Day 31

Sexual intimacy is meant to be pleasurable, to foster bonding between a husband and wife, and a means through which new life can come forth. Sexual activity within marriage, experienced as God has designed it, reveals Him as the giver of good gifts for the delight of His children. God has given this gift as a way for husbands and wives to express the heart of Christ who came not to be served, but to serve; Mark Sex is meant to be intensely relational and is thus limited to the marriage relationship as an expression of committed love, a man and woman forsaking all others to be devoted to one: Implications for singles are to follow.

Like a fire inside a fireplace, it provides light and warmth, but outside the right context sex can destroy, like an un-extinguished cigarette can burn down a huge forest. Our Creator is for our flourishing in every way, and so are His boundaries.

This is one of the reasons why God lovingly commands for it to be contained within a lifelong, committed relationship. The fact is, as you read the Bible, you will never find God approving or delighting in any type of sexual expression that is outside of His design: Nor do you find God calling it praiseworthy when sex between a married couple is selfish, demeaning, or manipulative. Why is the Cosmic Killjoy so prudish when it comes to sex?

Negatively, that means choosing not to engage in sexually arousing behaviors or feeding sexually arousing thoughts and images through books, entertainment, or conversations. Positively, it means that by not choosing those behaviors that ultimately become enslaving, we are increasingly free to love others selflessly and with greater self-giving impact.

Along with those who are married, we too are called to obey Hebrews Godly, unmarried sexuality is a battle, but it is not impossible! Through saying no to physical and emotional desires, we learn to love people rather than using them for sexual and emotional purposes.

Sexual Sanity for Women in a World Gone Mad By Ellen Dykas

And you know what? For them, masturbation was easier than trusting their husband and learning to work at knowing each other sexually. Many women have shared with me that emotional and sexual entanglements experienced with female friends had such an intoxicating influence on them that growing into oneness with their husbands has been painfully difficult. The Bible promises many things, some that hit the center of our heart with sweetness while others are sobering.

Jesus Christ is the One who brings sanity and wholeness to each woman who seeks His truth, mercy, and love. Sexual sanity means living wisely, responsibly, and with a radical commitment to love Christ and love others. He still does today even as the world still calls His design for life and sexuality foolishness.

I hope others will too! She provides individual and small group discipleship for women affected by these issues and also serves as a conference and retreat speaker to equip others. Hank is the author of more than twenty books, which have cumulatively sold millions of copies. Bible Answer Man Hank Hanegraaff. Listen Archives Podcast Watch on Lightsource.

Viewing pornography and reading written porn sensual stories and erotica fiction. These sexual activities fill our thoughts with images that clearly violate what God has intended. Pornography serves selfish desires and fuels lustful thoughts. These desires and thoughts will powerfully intrude on oneness with a husband present or future.

It is radically focused on self and misses the signpost reality in every way for holy sex. Within the marriage relationship, the communication of desire and longing is God-blessed. These expressions are, however, always to reflect the loving and selfless relationship between Christ and His Bride, the church. Sexualized friendships and homosexual relationships. Many Christian women develop idolatrous emotional entanglements with one another, often in the context of ministry-based relationships.

The emotional affection then escalated over time and became physical and sexual. Other Bible passages to consider are Genesis 1—2; Psalm New Growth Press, , Does that not seem … inconsistent? But variations of this comment have been made many times over the years.

What Is Your Experience with God?

Psychosis is defined as a loss of contact with reality, and can manifest in numerous ways. These delusions tend to be very resistant to argument, no matter how blatant the evidence to the contrary: But then, that begs the question, why do religious beliefs get a free pass?

more on this story

People are very resistant to those being challenged too. The brain essentially maintains a mental model of how the world is meant to work, and what things are meant to happen and when. Beliefs, experiences, expectations, assumptions, calculations; all are combined into a constantly-updated general understanding of how things happen, so we know what to expect and how to react without having to figure everything out from scratch each time.

Luckily, the brain is usually quite good at filtering out irrelevant information and occurrences that would otherwise challenge this model of how the world works. Delusions are what happens when, due to illness or other disruption, this delicate system fails, and things we perceive that would usually be dismissed as innocuous or irrelevant end up being processed as far more significant, and our belief system alters to accommodate it, however wrongly. This mental model of the world is built up over time, from life experiences and other learning.

Need Prayer?

• Dueling Partners
• BDSM Erotica: Honeys First Gangbang (Honeys Review)
• Bright and Bold, Light and Lovely: Bird Colors.
• Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life
• The Road Home