As parents of a son, we are responsible to him and to God to help him prepare to avoid and repel temptations in every arena, and his temptations are and will be different than those our daughters experience. This great book from Great Waters Press which I just received to review, Love, Honor, and Virtue: Gaining or Regaining a Biblical Attitude Toward Sexuality is written by parents of eight children (!!) including six sons, and they are familiar with the temptations which young men of today encounter. They have written a book for young men to help them understand and withstand sin in the sexual or sexually-related sphere.
The husband/wife team of authors begin the book by explaining that the methods of war usually reflect the methods and tactics and equipment used in the last war, which don't necessarily fit the current scenario. They have written this book to give teen boys "all the help you can get" -- understanding that even the previous generation's experience is not necessarily all-encompassing. They have written this book as a tool for young men to read and become more informed and prepared for maintaining purity in their own life.
The authors jump right in with chapter one, "Sex was God's Idea" -- discussing gender, purposes of sex, passion, marriage, and more. Want to hear a good quote? Here's one from the summary of chapter 1: "Our sexuality is part of our purpose in life, and God blesses it to carry out His plans for individuals and all of mankind." Nice! The chapter uses Biblical references, not only Adam and Eve and God's command to fill the earth, but also Paul's New Testament statements about purposes of marriage.
Chapter 2, "It's All Connected" is basically a sex-education chapter, though they differentiate and expand it to a "marriage education" which is realy cool--even including a section on baby, breastfeeding, and beyond. It's not just a clinical talk about the reproductive processes, but expands it to marriage, procreation, and more.
Chapter 3 is entitled "The Enemy Perverts God's Design" and includes discussions about sin, hook-ups, gender-bending, and porn. I really appreciated the lengthy discussions about why porn actually is wrong, not simply from a Biblical standpoint, but also what kinds of physical changes it can cause in your body and brain which will negatively affect you in the future. It is written in a very straightforward way, easy to understand as well as to read through without embarrasment.
Chapter 4, "How Can a Young Man Keep His Way Pure?" gives tools and techniques for withstanding temptation. These are concrete, practical things which a young man can practice and understand. Chapter 5, "Recovering From a Fall" gives hope to those who may find themselves already in sexual sin or addicted to pornography and shows them how to set their way back to God's way. It's not hopeless!
Chapter 6, "Guys and Girls" discusses friendships, dating, families, intentions, purity, and more. Once again, it is written in an easy to read and easy to implement way. I really like how the authors discussed this topic, not really extreme, very real-life. Want another good quote? "There is no definitive pattern in Scripture for how we find our mates--which means we give each other grace about the patterns we choose."
So how did we use this book? I read it -- and handed it to my teenage son with the instruction that I want him to read it. Now. He is currently reading it and says it's not too bad :) It's a short-ish book, not really intimidating-looking-- and I think that it will certainly be helpful to him and reinforce other talks and etc that we have had.
I definitely recommend this book for any family with young men (it's good for older men as well!)
To read some review by other readers, please click on the links below:
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