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Spirit Reign Communication - A. O'Rourke J.

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107 pages

English

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We are swiftly becoming a people whose relational tastes are as varied as cereal brands in the grocery store. The LGBT movement lobbies for marriage equality; Fundamentalist Mormons have Polygamy; We have the "moral" majority of conservative Evangelicals promoting traditional family values; The pornography industry runs rampant; Swingers, Polyamorous relationships have been added to the mix; Friends-with-benefits, and on and on-the list is endless. What was once viewed as the norm is now simply one option among many. Sexual intimacy has been turned into recreational sex and genital entertainment. Marital commitment is entered into based on sentimental "love" at best. Gender has become an emotional preference.To make matters worse, sexual intimacy is seen as a necessary evil-solely intended for procreation. Marital commitment is discardable at will, and gender inequality is more than a myth. Patriarchal/paternal dominance is so palpable globally that it goes unnoticed. Is this what God designed, intended, or wills? Or did God have something greater planned for humanity when He created us?Welcome to Sex-U-ology: an exploration and examination of the image of God.

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Publié par	Spirit Reign Communication
Date de parution	01 juillet 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781940002606
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0374€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

J. A. O’ROURKE

SEX-U-OLOGY
Origins: God, Gender, Marriage, and Intimacy.
Copyright © 2014 J.A. O’Rourke.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Cover Design: David Anderson
Interior Page design & layout: Ornan Anthony of OA.Blueprints, LLC
Editor: Springhawk Publications, LLC
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 978-1-940002-58-3 (PB)
ISBN: 978-1-940002-59-0 (ePDF)
ISBN: 978-1-940002-60-6 (ePUB)
Contents
Dedication & Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter 1: Why
a. “ In the Beginning God Created &”
b. A Little Reflection from Genesis
Chapter 2: Design
a. “ In the Beginning ”
i. Trinity by Analogy
ii. Image and Likeness
b. A Holistic Life Creation
i. Step 1: Identity
ii. Step 2: Home..
iii. Step 3: Job/Purpose
iv. Step 4: Boundaries
v. Step 5: Service
vi. Step 6: Here comes the Bride
1. “ It Is Not Good ”
2. The Help-Meet
3. Of Wounds and Oneness
c. “ She Shall Be Called Woman …”
Chapter 3: Meaning
a. The Reasoning
b. The “ Why ” of Our Existence
c. On God as Male
Chapter 4: Fall
a. The Fall and Its Consequences
b. The Deeper Lie
c. “ Be Wise as Serpents …”
d. On Leaving and Cleaving
e. The Fall and Adam’s Mind
f. The Fall and Human Reasoning
g. The Fall and Human Response
Chapter 5: Salvation
a. Salvation: God Searching for Man
b. It’s Not My Fault
c. Salvation: The Serpent Falls
d. Reconsidering the Curse: Woman
e. Reconsidering the Curse: Man
f. Salvation: Hopefully Ever After
g. Salvation: God covers Man
h. Salvation: God covers God
i. Salvation: Exiled in Hope
j. Salvation: God Waits at the Eastern Gate
Chapter 6: Sabbath: God Celebrating
Conclusion
Works Cited
Dedication & Acknowledgements
In Loving Memory of Theresa Veronica Prescott-Brown
To my loving wife, Melissa, whose love and patience makes sobriety a thing worth having, and whose tears have led me closer to Jesus. I love you.
To my daughter, Abrielle, Daddy loves you.
To my father, Bill, for his undying support, prayers, and gentle patience.
To my mother, Tosca, for her love and honesty, as well as pushing me when I wanted to settle.
To my brother, Phillip, for his constant support, honesty, and his willingness to be open and vulnerable with me.
To my stepfather, Kenneth, for accepting and treating me like his son, as well as his quiet strength.
To the entire Battle family, Big Greg, Momma Jackie, Gregory, James, T.C., and Caroline for their kindness toward me, and their family’s unique relationship with God. You have reignited my faith.
Preface
What is ‘Sex-U-ology’? Clearly it is not a word. What does it mean to this author? It is my study, prayer, and meditation with God as to the meaning of gender, sexuality and marriage, theologically. In the language of theology, we have all kinds of “ -ologies ”. We have Theology (the study of God), Ecclesiology (the study of the church), Soteriology (the study of salvation), Pneumatology (the study of the Spirit), Christology (the study of Jesus Christ), and Eschatology (the study of final events) just to name a few. We have the non-theological realm: Sociology (the study of man and society), Anthropology (the study of man), Biology (the study of life), Archeology (the study of ancient things), and Psychology (the study of the mind). The list could continue. The church will even use these various disciplines in order to better understand or interpret biblical themes. It is astonishing then, to discover that the church does not have an adequate “ -ology ” when dealing with sexual intimacy, gender specificity, and marital unity as they relate to God. This is unacceptable. Maybe it is time to address such topics in a more theologically reflective way.
So what is ‘Sex-U-ology’? It is not solely the study of sex. In all actuality it is an attempt to holistically, exegetically, culturally, and historically meditate on the origins, demise, and restoration of God’s image. It is meditating on sexual intimacy, gender specificity, and marital union from a Christian perspective, in an attempt to define, explain and, hopefully, reform the hearts, minds, and practices of Christ-centered Bible believers based on what God had in mind when He said, “ …Let us make man in our image …” It is the seeking of a more God-centered approach to these topics centering on a few key questions. Specifically, the following: 1) Why is the image of God male and female? 2) Why is it that Satan has tempted every known civilization in these areas, regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender, etc.? 3) How does salvation through Jesus Christ rectify our failures in these areas, allowing us to be free and remain free in Him? 4) In light of what it was that God was doing when He made humanity, and in light of the salvation offered by Jesus Christ, how is the New Testament Christian to deal with the Pauline statements on marriage, celibacy, male-female church relationships, etc.? 5) What role do Bible study, meditation, and prayer play in breaking addictions? 6) If a male-female sexually intimate and married couple are the image of God, then will there be marriage in heaven or the earth made new? 7) What role does the Sabbath fill as a day of restfully celebrating God’s creation of His Image?
Why am I writing this book series? A few years ago, after having served eight years of active duty military time, I came to the realization that my view of women was in the toilet. I was molested when I was six years old, and that negative incident had a profound effect on my life, although I didn’t know it until many years later. I was molested by a man, and when this happens, a young man has only two options: 1) Believe that he is guilty; that something about himself is feminine, and follow that into homosexuality, or 2) Fight it with all his might, becoming the stereotypical testosterone driven, macho man who seeks to validate his manhood by becoming promiscuous. I chose the second option. I didn’t even know why I was doing it, but I found myself addicted to porn at a very young age. By the time I was in the military, I had done my share of sleeping with multiple women, while still maintaining my porn habit. By the time I was twenty-seven, I had succumbed to the notion that women were merely objects, and nothing more. During all these relationships I still had a promiscuity and pornography addiction. It was when God began to reveal to me the utter depravity of my mind that I asked Him to give me a better definition of women because I could not see them as anything but sex objects. Out of that question was born this work. It has since grown to include my understanding of marriage, sexual intimacy, gender, Jesus and salvation.
I am now, by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, a recovering sex and pornography addict. I say “recovering” in the present tense because I realize that this will be a war I must wage for the rest of my life. However, God has been merciful to me. He has graced me with my wonderful wife, Melissa, whose love and honesty continue to inspire me, and my beautiful daughter, Abrielle. This book, while started many years ago with the support of others (Tiffany Maycock, the entire Battle family, Tanya Loveday, Ndbuisi Nwade, Thomas and Jasmine Rhem, and Rafford Smith to name a few), would never have been finished without Melissa, and is my personal handbook for living healthy.
My goal is to share with others some of the light that God has given to me; things I wish someone had shared with me many years ago. I have attempted to be as expositional and exegetically correct as possible, while maintaining and preserving Biblical truths to the best of my ability. However, I am no linguist. Anyone who reads this work will immediately notice the theological and philosophical tenor. The reason for this is I believe that without a proper understanding of God, His relationship to me, and His design for me, I am unable to relate appropriately to myself and the world around me. I pray these meditations bless, strengthen and transform you as they have me.
I feel it is my responsibility to state a few things up front. I acknowledge the edginess of this book, and understand the fear and alarm that some may have when they read it. I must state up front that I am a devout believer in the sovereignty of God, that grace through faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only way by which we may be saved, and that grace (Christ in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit) recreates us to live as God desires.
This is not intended to be scholarly, but rather meditational and reflective. There are other individuals who have produced much more scholarly work on this subject: First among equals is Dr. Richard Davidson; his book, The Flame of Yahweh: Sexuality in the Old Testament is the seminal work on sexuality in the OT. I have yet to read it in its entirely. The importance of his work on this topic cannot be understated: his Bibliography alone is 140 pages! I am grateful to him for his encouragement.
Having said that, this work is not going to be an easy read either. The concepts and understanding in this work will take some prayerful thought, study, and meditation. These are my meditations with God, and this work is more like a journey or maybe even a conversation. Also, I would not anticipate everyone being able to read straight through this. While that is the best way, there may be things that one may skip over in order to come to a topic more to one’s curiosities and concerns. I do not discourage this fragmentary reading, yet I do encourage reading it from front to back as there is a general flow; each new section attempting to bui