Welcome to the online home of Tim Challies, blogger, author, and book reviewer.
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It was a long time ago now that I wrote a book on pornography. And in a way it was a very different time. Back then the problem was just as pervasive as it is today, but that pervasiveness was still quite new and poorly understood. There were relatively few resources meant to help those who had fallen into troubling or even addictive patterns. Porn was still assumed to be solely a temptation for guys. Today, though, no one can …
There was a time, and it was not so very long ago, when the Christian world was tragically under-resourced when it came to books confronting pornography and the men who indulge in it. At that time just about any resource was better than nothing if only it would help men make headway against their addiction.* Today, though, we are extremely well-resourced when it comes to such works and a new book must have something unique to offer if it is …
The past couple of decades have seen an unprecedented rise in the use of pornography and an associated decline in the social stigma that accompanies it. Pornography has been downgraded from scandalous to humorous, from aberrant to mundane. Rare today is the young man (or young woman) who has not at least dabbled in it. For an increasing number of people, it has become ubiquitous, habitual, often the first and primary means through which they explore and express their sexuality. …
You don’t have to be the one who pulls the trigger to be charged with the murder. Rather, anyone involved in the commissioning, planning, or execution of a crime can suffer its penalties. The person who hires a hitman will face a murder charge as surely the hitman himself. The driver of the getaway car, even though he never enters the bank and never demands the money, is still held accountable as if he did. Aiding and abetting the commission …
The early chapters of Proverbs provide a vivid description of an encounter between a pathetic, foolish young man and a wily, adulterous woman. “At the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.” …
Porn existed before the digital era, though it was rarely spoken of and was relatively scarce. In these days it primarily took the form of images printed in magazines stashed in (and stolen from) the forbidden top rack in convenience stores. It seems quaint now, but in those days porn was something we only looked at. [Look: “Perceive with attention; direct one’s gaze towards.”] By the time we were in our twenties and thirties, porn had evolved. Liberated from print, …
It has long been claimed that pornography drives technology. This claim is over-stated, no doubt, but what’s clear is that pornography very quickly and cleverly takes advantage of new communication technologies. As one commentator says, “If we invent a machine, the first thing we are going to do—after making a profit—is use it to watch porn.” If you don’t believe me, just do a little research into VHS, DVD, internet, iPhone, and a host of other innovations that were created …
How can young men best cope with their struggles with lust? And is it wrong to pursue a wife before that sin has been conquered? Join me as I discuss this issue. Transcript What advice do you have for young men struggling with lust & porn? Like a lot of men, probably most young men struggle with sexual purity at various times and for many, it’s an ongoing struggle all the way through their lives. But for young men, in …
It was just a few years ago that the Christian world was blindsided as it learned about the size and scope of the modern-day porn problem. We learned that a vast percentage of young men, and an increasing percentage of young women, are immersed in porn and have been since their youngest days. We learned that many older men and women are into it as well. This led to a great number of books on the subject as well as …
God had promised his people a land. He had promised to lead them out of captivity and into a place of their own. And now he had delivered them from their bondage in Egypt, he had led them across the Red Sea, he had remained with them for forty years of wandering, he had taken them safely across the Jordan River. Now just one great barrier remained—the people who already inhabited that land. The first city they encountered was the …