[NB: 'Spotlight' here refers to a segment we run at church, and has nothing to do with a certain Apple search technology.]

At church recently we’ve been hearing from Jesus (from his Sermon on the Mount) about all manner of human behaviour. In relation to lust, he says this:

You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

So what do we do with this? In regard to internet pornography (which as I’m sure you’re aware, is everywhere), how can we ensure we are pure in what we look at? Should I cut off my internet connection (or my eye/hand)?

I want to suggest 2 things that can help out with those who have problems with pornography, even addictions.

The first is an online book written by Mark Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church. It’s called Porn-Again Christian, and is currently a work in progress – most of the chapters are posted at this point in time, but the rest will be up soon. When it’s complete, you’ll be able to download the whole thing as a pdf document.

This is written for the blokes. Girls, by all means read it, but it’s a (very) frank discussion, and may be something that isn’t all that helpful for you. You can make that assessment though. Guys, go read it. Seriously.

He deals with all the relevant things relating to pornography, masturbation, marriage, and prostitution. Go read.

The other thing is software called Covenant Eyes. The name comes from Job 31:1,

“I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl.“

The way it works is that you sign up for an account (it costs money, but it’s worth it), and get the software. Once installed on your system it tracks all your internet activity. I mean all – web searches, downloads, ftp, everything.

You nominate one or more ‘accountability partners’, who once a week will get an email listing your internet activity, highlighting anything that it thinks might be a bit suspect. The idea is that these people will then sit down and talk through with you what you’ve been doing online. It essentially makes your private browsing activity (somewhat) public, creating some sort of barrier when you’re feeling weak.

It helps. I’ve got it on my machine. It works for both PC and Mac.

We need to get serious with sin. Internet pornography is a serious thing, a real addiction for many people. Let’s get it out in the open, talk about it, and deal with it properly, so we can be free.

I’ve had a post pretty much like this rattling around in my head since the Engage conference, but Bathgate beat me to it:

Accusations of Heresy

Perhaps the fact that I’ve finished my essay, and he’s procrastinating from his, had something to do with it. Regardless, he said pretty much what I’ve been thinking, and said it well. Have a read.

I spotted a sign wrapped around a telephone pole on the way home the other day, advertising a rally on the 19th of July [pdf link]. The organisation is called the “NoToPope Coalition”, and apparently stand against the Catholic Church on a number of things, including the right to (at Saturday’s rally):

• Defend the right to protest
• Say “No!” to homophobia
• “No!” to anti-condom policies
• Defend reproductive rights

The last one is a little curious. I assume that what they mean by that is ‘the right to choose not to reproduce’, but it’s certainly a strange way of putting it. I’ve never before heard of anyone charging the Roman Catholic Church with denying their reproductive freedom. There’s a reason, after all, for all those large Catholic families.

Despite sounding like a sub-division of NASA, the Global Anglican Futures Conference has released their closing statement [pdf link].

In terms of world-wide Anglicanism, it’s got some strong words to say. Those words are, however, excellent. There’s a real focus on proclaiming the gospel to the world, staying faithful to our Lord Jesus, and defending the truth from heterodoxy (i.e. divergent beliefs). Awesome stuff.

In terms of the ‘Anglican communion’ that formally exists around the world… well, it now seems as there might be a communion within the communion, a fellowship of confessing Anglicans.

Perhaps the acknowledged, already-present split will become more formal.

It will be fascinating to see what kind of fallout there is after this.

[UPDATE: Insightful commentary by Tony Payne on what this statement means for Anglicans both here and abroad.]

There are some (many?) newspaper articles that play out exactly like you thought they were going to. Stereotypes are imported wholesale. Straw men are hastily erected, and attacked mercilessly. Certain phrases capture the thought of the piece so concisely and completely, that reading the remainder of the article is just killing time.

Sort of like watching Titanic.

Two articles from the Herald grabbed my attention for this reason over the weekend. One was a tech article, on the opening of the new Apple store in Sydney. The straw men, in this case, are the ‘mac faithful’:

For the cult who worship the Mac, the company co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs has become the high priest and the Apple Store his temple. It is a place to go to worship and give thanks for having an alternative to Microsoft, PCs and Windows.

Hmm. That’s right. Mac users are zealots, sort of, you know… different… to normal people.

The other was an astounding juxtaposition of ideas, in a short piece on the Anglican church:

Archbishop Jensen is one of the leaders of 1000 conservative churchmen from 17 Anglican provinces who will gather at the Jerusalem Global Anglican Futures Conference this month. Mainly from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, they are united on one principal issue: hostility to homosexuality.

But Archbishop Jensen argues: “This dispute is not really about homosexuality. It’s really about authority and who runs the church. And fairly clearly, to most of the rest of us, God runs the church through the Bible.”

(h/t David Ould)

Not a great example of listening skills, it seems.

Fascinating.

Keep talking. It’s a great thing. However:

• God gives ‘gifts’, not ‘giftings’,
• Thank God for ‘giving gifts to …’, not ‘gifting …’
• Whilst you can talk of someone being gifted something, e.g. ‘Joe has been gifted with a remarkable ability with people’, try to avoid it. People in our culture rarely speak like this.

That is all.