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Virginia E. Fisher  Other Articles by Virginia E. FisherPrinter Friendly Version   Where Have All the Christian Men Gone? My Conversation with John Eldredge September 3, 2007 Many men balk at the idea of going to church. Some resist the tendency in Christian circles to "feminize" God. Others object to how Christian men tend to be so tame and passive — more like women — and very bored. And so, it is perhaps not surprising that John Eldredge's books, especially Wild at Heart, have been wildly successful. Seeking to discover the secret of a man's soul, Catholic and Protestant...

Recently, two friends of mine opened up to me about their virginity. "Roger," a writer, confessed that at 31 he's still waiting for the perfect girl to give it up to, while Lianne Stokes, a comedian, divulged that she only just popped her cherry at the ripe age of 30. Roger insisted on using a pseudonym, worried about the potential social damage revealing his virginal status might bring. "You'll never be considered normal; it's a label you don't want," he says. For these "hidden" virgins, who are fearful of being treated like freaks, watching sex from afar can be lonely...

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Is church too much of a girl thing? That's the fear of some Christians around the country. They say American congregations need a dose of testosterone. So they've launched an effort to make church more of a guy thing. An Essex County, N.J., congregation recently staged a special football service, with church women playing cheerleaders, the choir and pastor dressed in numbered jerseys and a banner proclaiming, "Christ: He gave his all for the team." A Lincoln Park, N.J., church has invited men to occasional paintball competitions - in which players shoot gelatin pellets at each other...

MAJOR retailers and publishers have reacted furiously to a new report that claims they are engaged in "corporate pedophilia" by using suggestive photographs of children in their advertising. The report, by the Australia Institute's Emma Rush, argues that department stores Myer and David Jones are contributing to the "sexualisation of Australia's children" by stocking items such as bra tops for pre-pubescent girls, lip gloss for toddlers and skimpy underwear designed to be worn by children. "It's part of a plan to sexualise Australian children, especially girls," said Dr Rush. "For the sake of corporate profits, children are being posed like...

Debate over Muslim women wearing the full-face veil has been raging. So is it important for communication to see more than someone's eyes? The eyes are the window to the soul, so the proverb goes. But do we need to see more? Jack Straw's comments about asking Muslim women in his surgery to remove the face veil - and the tribunal case over a Muslim classroom assistant wearing the niqab - have sparked much debate. But does it really obstruct communication if we can only see the eyes? In one-on-one contact, in the same physical place, the eyes are the...

by Mark P. Shea Bible Study and Truth Tracts Author Other Articles by Mark P. SheaContact this Author Teaching the Theology of the Body 5/10/2006 George Weigel, the biographer of Pope John Paul II, has remarked that one of the most exciting "ticking bombs" of Catholic thought (set to go off sometime in the 21st century) is John Paul's teaching on the Theology of the Body. In This Article...What Is the Theology of the Body?Teaching KidsTeaching Teens What Is the Theology of the Body? In a nutshell, John Paul draws on the most basic message of the entire Christian tradition —...

RELIGION: In God's name? The misuse of sex is one of the great curses of our age. The abuse of women is like a byword for our modern times. But it has absolutely no place in the church or the world. God has no part with it. There is never any excuse for violence toward one's mate- certainly not in the name of God. `Husbands, loves your wives; dwell with them according to knowledge' (Ephesians 5:25 and 1 Peter 3:7, Paraphrased). This advice is the way married people ought to relate to each other. With deep love and understanding. How...

(PRWEB) - Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 21, 2006 -- The author of a newly published book on sexual ethics has gone beyond criticizing the “puritanical moralists” of the religious right. He wants to challenge them to face-to-face debates on college campuses and radio programs. ADVERTISEMENT Desmond Ravenstone wrote “The Principled Libertine: Erotic Ethics for Everyone” (published by Lulu Press) as a response to the viewpoint of social conservatives who want to promote a “traditional” morality on sexual matters. “When I read their writings or hear one of them speak,” Ravenstone says, “it doesn’t sound at all like an ethical discourse....

ROME, MARCH 24, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of a commentary by Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa on next Sunday's liturgical readings. He is the preacher to the Pontifical Household. * * * Fourth Sunday of Lent (B) (2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21) God So Loved the World! In this Sunday's Gospel we find one of the most beautiful and consoling phrases of the Bible: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." To speak to us of love, God has made use...

MIRROR CAMPAIGN Sex ordeal still haunts Olga SADNESS in her eyes, Olga tries to explain. "With my life, it was hard to refuse," she says. "I didn't think anything could be worse." But it was. When Olga was just 20 she was stopped in the street near her home in Lithuania by a "kind" stranger who promised to help her find a better life. "I had no mother or father," she says. "My sisters were alcoholics. My life wasn't very good and nobody cared about me. I believed he would give me a new start." Olga was brought to the...

Note: The author, Ann Widdecombe is a longtime member of the English Parliament, 58, MP, single. A man's company is preferable. Men are vastly more relaxing. I find talking about all that emotional rubbish with women so incredibly wearing: I hate introspection. Men are far less screwed-up than women. They don't make emotional demands or talk endlessly about themselves; they talk about politics, the theatre, that sort of stuff. They like to be strong and like to be thought to be strong. I think that's perfectly normal.

In my next life I'm coming back as a man. I will have sex with my wife and knock her up, and then in the hospital I will watch while she figures out how to get the baby out of her. And after my daughter is born, I will play with her when I'm in the mood and stop when I'm not, and I won't get all psycho about it. I will throw her up in the air super high and get her wound up right before she's supposed to go to sleep, and then I will let my wife,...

More than 600 students from Dolores and Montezuma counties had a first-hand look at how the choices they make affect their lives during the Fifth Annual Teen Maze at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds on Thursday and Friday. The event began at 8 a.m. each morning, and students didn’t stop wandering through the maze until about 1 p.m. each afternoon. The purpose of the maze was to show youths that the decisions they make now have long-lasting, far-reaching effects on their lives and the lives of people around them, according to Ami Fair, Teen Maze coordinator. This is the second consecutive...

"Slippage." That was by far my favorite word in the letter Andover's West Middle School Principal Denise Holmes e-mailed to parents regarding their children's attire, or lack thereof, at school. Her note was prompted by the outfits a group of girls was wearing on Valentine's Day, with skirts so short that ... well, let Ms. Holmes explain. "This one girl had the cutest pink underwear on," she said. "I shouldn't have known that." Well, no. But she's not the problem. The problem is that all the boys knew it as well. So Holmes sent out a gentle reminder. Very gentle....

When Denise and Roger Friesen planned a Valentine's Day dinner for their Omaha, Neb., church, they immediately knew their theme: the Song of Solomon -- sometimes called the Song of Songs -- the sexiest book in the Bible. "O, that you would kiss me with the kisses of your mouth!" says a woman to her lover as the book begins. "For your love is better than wine." Later language compares male legs to alabaster columns and female bosoms to clusters of fruit on a tree. The Friesens, both 47, credit the little book in the Hebrew Bible with helping to...

Many times born again believers find themselves accepting the ways of society instead of the ways of God. The temptation to do this is tricky and in many cases has become the norm. You can simply pick up a magazine or turn on the TV, and instantly, you are exposed to compromising lifestyles. We must remember, however, that just because an idea, concept or way of life seems acceptable doesn't mean it is right in God's eyes. Popular shows display people living "cheerfully" in a manner that opposes God and his word. A prime example of this is the cohabitation...

Too bad Ginger White, a Bradenton figure artist and director of the Anna Maria Island Art League, found it necessary to go to Sarasota to exhibit her work. White experienced censorship at the Manatee County Public Library in Holmes Beach last year and had to relocate her work to the Digital 3 Gallery in Sarasota. Chalk drawings, which included bared breasts, were taken from view at the library because they were said to be too near the children's section. As if children haven't seen breasts since birth. As if children think of nudity in the same way adults do. Not...

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on Feb.11 during the Respect Life Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Alexandria. As we participate in this monthly Respect Life Mass, the Word of God, proclaimed in our hearing moments ago, contrasts two women: Eve and Mary. Eve said “no” to God’s command; she and Adam committed the first sin. Yet, even as the first sin was being committed, God in His mercy promised victory over sin and eternal death. On the other hand, Mary said “yes” to God’s command and through her the Victor came to...

When Sarah Johnson hears kids talk about having oral sex, she’s surprised when they claim to be virgins. In her mind, they lose that distinction once they engage in such intimate behavior. But Johnson, 15, admits her views aren’t the norm. ... Johnson’s peers in the Black Hills seem to reflect the views of kids nationwide. A recent study showed that teens are having oral sex in high numbers and view it very casually. More than half of the kids surveyed, age 15 to 19, had already had oral sex, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The...

While one convention promoting sex wrapped up a weekend at the Colorado Convention Center on Sunday, another gathering that promoted abstinence drew some 4,000 people to the Denver Coliseum. The coincidence was not lost on Bob Lemming, the executive director of Pure By Choice, which organized the one-day event that featured hip-hop music, prayer and literature urging teens not to engage in pre-marital sex. Along Brighton Boulevard, within blocks of the Coliseum, a billboard advertised the "Sex and So Much More Show" at the Convention Center. "We're both talking about sex, but from a totally different perspective," said Lemming, who...

PRINCETON, New Jersey, FEB. 25, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Marriage's role as a public institution is increasingly under attack. In the midst of pressures for legalization of same-sex marriage, formal recognition of de facto couples, and the continuing problem of divorce, the traditional view of marriage is no longer clear to many people. But a volume of essays just-published collects an impressive array of evidence by leading scholars defending marriage and arguing that it serves the common good. "The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals" (Spence Publishing) is edited by Robert P. George and Jean Bethke Elshtain, professors at Princeton...

There is a body of water in Eastern Canada that has the improbable name of "Lake Despair". This sinister appellation is an accident of language. The French originally called it Lac d'espoir (Lake of Hope). English-speaking settlers in the region, accustomed to hearing only their own language, misperceived its name. And so it became known, culturally and cartographically, as Lake Despair. This type of metamorphosis occurs just as easily on a moral plane. Pornography takes human sexuality, with its hope of love, fidelity, family, and fulfillment, and turns it into an empty and lifeless husk. It does this as a...

'Roses Are Red, Viagra is Blue...' Pfizer Knows Better - Shame on You! Says AHF LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation, (AHF) the nation's largest AIDS group and a direct provider of HIV/AIDS medical care to tens of thousands of AIDS patients in the US, Africa, Central America and Asia, issued a warning today that it expects Pfizer, Inc., the world's largest pharmaceutical company, to run a Valentine's Day-themed ad for Viagra as part of its ongoing shameless holiday-themed advertising campaign for its blockbuster sex drug. For the past several months, Pfizer has been running a direct-to-consumer...

The people who are running from bed to bed creating disasters for themselves and everyone else don't seem to know what they are doing. They just don't get it. But why should they? There is a mythology about infidelity that shows up in the popular press and even in the mental health literature that is guaranteed to mislead people and make dangerous situations even worse. Some of these myths are: 1. Everybody is unfaithful; it is normal, expectable behavior. Mozart, in his comic opera Cosi Fan Tutti, insisted that women all do it, but a far more common belief is...

One Night Stranded Should Tell Woman Something DEAR SUSAN: I am 45 and soon to be divorced. I raised three children, who are now grown and married. My husband and I grew apart in the last years of the marriage, and I've been celibate for two years. Lately, though, I've been feeling very alive and sensual. Recently, I asked a wonderful single man I know if he'd consider a few hours of "pleasure," no strings attached. He said he would, but then he changed his mind. He didn't give a reason. How do I ask another man in a way...

“The Ten Worst Valentine’s Day Gifts” — I clicked on this MSN.com heading because Valentine’s Day is near and like most guys I'm ... well, the word is “clueless.” The article was, unfortunately, not encouraging. Roses (I assumed I had a perpetual winner here) and chocolate were deemed too predictable. OK. Next advice — “anything that looks like an appliance” should be avoided like the plague. Even a Norwegian knows that (to my personal dismay). Ditto for gift certificates — pragmatism, rationality, you see, are out. What's a guy to do? Here's the advice: be creative (right!), prove to her...

Teens fight for a chaste Valentine's ABSTINENCE: Some high school students suggest honoring Feb. 14 as a "Day of Purity. BY STEPHANIE SIMON LOS ANGELES TIMES High school sophomore Ally Hall plans to exchange valentine cards with her friends today. But her true tribute to the romance of the season was Monday, in the principal's office at Lebanon High School in the small town of Lebanon, Ohio. Hall wrote a brief script to be read over the public-address system. Her message: The most romantic way to celebrate Feb. 14 is to honor it as a "Day of Purity," by pledging...

SINCE it's Valentine's Day, let's dwell for a moment on the profoundly bizarre activity of kissing. Is there a more expressive gesture in the human repertoire? When parents kiss their children it means one thing, but when they kiss each other it means something entirely different. People will greet a total stranger with a kiss on the cheek, and then use an identical gesture to express their most intimate feelings to a lover. The mob kingpin gives the kiss of death, Catholics give the "kiss of peace," Jews kiss the Torah, nervous flyers kiss the ground, and the enraged sometimes...

Say goodbye to diaries — those small books with breakable locks that little brothers could easily get their hands on. Today’s women have computer programs that help them track their most cherished secrets. Women practicing Natural Family Planning (NFP) can throw away their paper charts and store that information in their palm pilot. And there is no worry about this sensitive information falling into the wrong hands — with the click of a button, the intimate details of a woman’s life can be protected by a password. Woman Calendar, a program by BEIKS LLC, is a simple program that any...

...Dr. (Mrs.) Imelda Wallace presented her keynote address on 'Law and the Family'. ... The family, she said, unites and it is something everybody has in common. In families, people are not accepted for what they have or for what they do but for what they are. Family, she said, is the most basic communion of persons and hence the first vital cell of society. Her presentation covered family as a communion of persons, the human person, the dignity of human person, marriage, sexuality, fatherhood and motherhood, education and the law. She insisted that if the family is healthy, invariably...

Arlin Robinson first saw his future bride from the back of the mule he rode when delivering the mail in Laurel County. "She go to the window and peek out, so I winked at her through the window," he said, grinning over at his wife of 73 years. The Robinsons will celebrate their 74th anniversary on March 3. "He was handsome," she said simply. "And I bought him then and there," she added, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him. The Robinsons' married when he was 19 and she was 18. They left Kentucky's mountains and moved to Owen...

School looks to expand single-gender classes MURRIETA ----- How do you get middle-school students ---- many of whom who are going through puberty and discovering the opposite sex ---- to pay attention to their classroom studies? One Murrieta principal thinks he has the answer, and it's a pretty simple one. Separate the boys from the girls. Thompson Middle School Principal Dale Velk is scheduled to go before the Murrieta Valley Unified School District board of trustees this week to talk about his plans to start a pilot program at his school next August in which a handful of classes would...

When two halves don't make a wholeA Christian Science perspective on daily lifeIt was going to be the perfect visit. My girlfriend and I curled up on either end of our living room sofa, each with a cup of tea, in anticipation of some needed girl talk. We'd both recently come through some difficult times. Intuitively we knew that the thread of love we felt for each other was perfect for mending some of our ragged edges. As we started talking, I was taken aback by a flood of tears, regrets, and fear of the future, which poured out of...

At the current pace, European women are not expected to reach parity with men in academic science positions until 2050. —Gerlind Wallon [1] Some have a dream that, one fine day, there will be equal numbers of men and women in all jobs, including those in scientific research. But I think this dream is Utopian; it assumes that if all doors were opened and all discrimination ended, the different sexes would be professionally indistinguishable. The dream is sustained by a cult of political correctness that ignores the facts of life—and thrives only because the human mind likes to bury experience...

Love should not be confused with lust, says PopeBy Hilary Clarke in Rome(Filed: 18/01/2006)Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical, expected in the next few days, warns believers not to confuse love with lust or degrade it "to mere sex".   It is Pope Benedict's first encyclical The encyclical, a papal letter to bishops that sets out Roman Catholic policy, discusses the relationship between "eros", or erotic love, and "agape", a Greek word referring to unconditional, spiritual and selfless love."It is not totally negative on eros," a Vatican source said. "It argues that eros under the right circumstances is OK."But the Pope...

Pope Benedict XVI may try to "save eros," in the first encyclical of his papacy, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George told the Chicago Sun-Times. George expects the new pope will try to explain that erotic love, eros, and unconditional love, agape, are both inherently good in God's eyes in his encyclical titled "Deus, Caritas Est," Latin for "God is Love." An encyclical is a pope's most authoritative document, a pastoral letter circulated to the universal church. Letter talks about Christ The cardinal has not yet seen Benedict XVI's encyclical, which is expected to be released by the Vatican within days, but...

The two infants I saw a couple of weeks ago could scarcely have been more different. One of them was a sturdy 2 year old struggling to get out of the double stroller, and calling angrily for his mother. The other was a pale shadow of his brother. Half normal size, he was propped in a special seat which compensated for his tiny stature, and which featured head supports to keep him upright as he was, as yet, unable to lift his head on his own, let alone speak. The second child, I was informed, was the “donor twin” in...

For most people in Britain, tomorrow is just another dog day. It's nice if the weather is good and you're on holiday, and if not, not. Despite the fact that ever larger numbers of us take ourselves off to southern Europe at this time, few know that, for most of the population in those countries, August 15 is celebrated with as much gusto as Christmas. The Palio of Siena is only the best known of these jollifications: there are thousands and thousands of them. And when the British learn the occasion for the celebrations, they are not much the wiser....