Q&A on Teens and Chastity
QUESTION: My two children are approaching their teen years. I want to talk with them about chastity, but I made some mistakes when I was their age. Am I being hypocritical if I tell them to wait until marriage to…
Q&A on Abstinence/Teaching Teens about Birth Control
QUESTION: I’ve heard that teen pregnancy rates have increased. Is it time to teach our kids about birth control? ANSWER: The teen birth rate has been on a steep decline since the early 1990s. Yet, teaching about birth control is…
Tell the Truth
By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director of Christian Life Resources Why Are We Here? Christian Life Resources (CLR) was never a ministry about convincing pro-life people to be pro-life. Though we serve all people, we are doctrinally aligned with the…
Defending Traditional Marriage Is an Act of Love
Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources [The following is an adaptation of a bulletin insert created by Christian Life Resources for use by congregations everywhere. The insert can be downloaded here.] I offer the following arguments in defense…
Gay Marriage Commentary
Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources Gay marriage is the moral issue “flavor of the month.” We have had a few: abortion, assisted suicide (euthanasia), promiscuity, divorce, embryo destruction, cloning, gay rights, drug abuse, etc. For the most…
Reserving Sex for Marriage
Pastor Fredric Piepenbrink God’s precious gift of sex is only for those who publicly promise faithfulness to one another for life. Since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the idea of reserving sexual relations for married couples has become utterly…
Decent Sex [5-Part Series]
Part 1: Man’s Word on Sex The words people use to describe sex and sexual activity already betray much about the way they feel. On the one hand are words that reveal ignorance, confusion and hurt. We hear words like…
Saved Sex Is the Only Safe Sex
Ryan MacPherson As a teenager, I hear the media telling my peers and me about sex more than any other topic. I have to ask myself two questions: What are they telling us? And, are we listening? Overwhelmingly, they are…
Human Sexuality
Rev. Wayne Mueller What do the words crime, innuendo, molestation, bias, misconduct, discrimination, overtones, violence, and perversion have in common? They all follow the adjective “sexual” in today’s news reports. There is something especially repulsive about sexual sins. St. Paul…
Saying ‘Yes’ to Sex
Pastor Rolfe Westendorf Society has always had trouble with the subject of sex. Some societies like the Victorian have hidden the topic in a closet as if it did not exist. Sex went on as usual, including its rankest forms…
Sharing the Facts of Life
Pastor James A. Aderman I trusted him when he told me, “I love you.” He trusted me when I said the same. We trusted our emotions when they said, “It’s OK. Show each other how much you care.” When our…
Gay Marriage and the Christian Response
Pastor Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources Homosexual Practices Condemned Within the Jewish and Christian teachings, there have been strong judgments against homosexual activity. In the Old Testament, we have the account of Sodom and Gomorrah. Of pertinence to…
What Should I Do?
By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources As life and family issues continue to expand, it’s often difficult to sort them out. Even church bodies differ on a particular issue though they claim to have the same Bible….
Q&A on Witnessing
QUESTION: I have a friend who is a member of a WELS church, but is pretty liberal on the subject of transgender and other subjects. I would like to speak to her but I don’t want to start an argument….
Transformed
By Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources “I sure miss kindergarten.” I know you have heard or read these words from me before. The older I get the more I miss the simplicity of life that I enjoyed…
Shepherding Your Teens to Adulthood
Mark Clifford Brunner Teen dating? Perhaps, it’s time to assign these words to the dustbin of outmoded phrases. At least, if most 15 year-olds had their way, they would be happy never to hear these words again. We “get together”…
Would You Like to Go to a Movie?
Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources Solomon Wrote (Ecclesiastes 1:9): “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” I think of this passage often as…
Marriage and Family Under God
Pastor Lyle J. Lindloff Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21). Which key unlocks the door? To find the key that unlocks the door of Ephesians 5:21 we must go to the beginning of the chapter….
When Someone Says, I’m Homosexual
Rev. Thomas H. Trapp To witness to the truth, we must love unconditionally while we share God’s Word. How do you respond to a close friend or family member who is struggling with homosexuality? Or how do you answer a…
Sodom: Inhospitality?
Rev. Thomas H. Trapp Many mainline Christian churches are defending the homosexual lifestyle, but God’s Word clearly calls homosexuality a sin. Never in the history of the Christian Church have avowed Christian congregations affirmed homosexuality as a God-pleasing lifestyle –…
Homosexuality: Sin or Orientation?
Pastor Thomas H. Trapp Our lifestyle is not judged on the basis of some genetic connection, but we are judged on the basis of God’s commandments. In Letters to the Editor of a large university student newspaper, a man wrote,…
Homosexuality
Rev. Wayne D. Mueller It was a painful silence. Judy and her parents sat motionless, speechless. How could this happen in their family? Judy and her brother had gone to church together, attended Sunday school and taught vacation Bible school….
Born This Way!
Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources Are deviant sexual interests products of the will or organically programmed into people? In other words, are some “born that way”? I have read my share of medical papers to believe that…
Q&A on Homosexuality
QUESTION: What is God’s view of homosexuality? Hasn’t research shown that homosexuality is a genetic predisposition and that as people cannot choose to be a certain race or gender, so also they cannot choose their sexual predisposition? ANSWER: God’s view…
Boys, Girls, and Everything In-Between
Rev. Robert Fleischmann, National Director, Christian Life Resources It can be dangerous to express an opinion on the state of sexuality in today’s world. Once it is known, such expression on this contentious subject can result in dissension among loved…
Youth Corner: Dating
Cindy Ewings Dating. The words and images rush through everyone’s heads. The first date. The movie that you saw, and the restaurant that you went to together. The jokes that you shared and the special moments that you spent together….
The Truth About Sex Before Marriage
What Is the Purpose of a Sexual Relationship? Companionship Genesis 2:18 – ”The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ ” Children Genesis 1:28 – “God…
Talking to Your Kids About Chastity
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you…
Take the Pledge: Study Says Virginity Pledges Work
Programs like “True Love Waits” – in which teens pledge to abstain from sex until marriage – have long been touted by pro-family groups as effective countermeasures to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teen pregnancy. But critics have long argued…
Sex Is Like Eating Popcorn
I Am Caught! Did you ever notice that a bowl of popcorn rarely sits half empty? Once you start eating it you don’t stop until it’s gone. Someone once said that having sex is like eating popcorn. Once you have…
Premarital Relationships
Rev. Wayne Mueller In a bygone era, when people were still ashamed to talk about it (Ephesians 5:12), it was called cohabitation. Today’s terms are more unashamedly descriptive: living together, shacking up, living in. Still, these more picturesque terms are…
Chastity’s Contagious
Rev. Thomas H. Trapp Chastity’s contagious. Think of two people on a date. One insists on chastity; the other’s going to practice it too. It’s contagious! It’s also 100 percent safe (as well as God-pleasing). But not everyone practices chastity….