Q & A: Bad Habits. Changing My World. Pre-Marital Sex.
While in Detroit this week we recorded our podcast of a Q & R session with students and leaders. I love to learn from teenagers. Every time I am in a session with teens I come out of it learning more about myself, teenagers, and their world. It really is a university of learning.
We had all kinds of questions ranging from the Will of God, Family Dysfunction, Outreach to Friends, and Mental Health!
Let’s take a look at the first question. Maybe you have wondered about bad habits and how to get rid of them.
A bad habit is really a bad pattern. And if bad patterns can be started, bad patterns can be stopped. We simply must recognize the bad habit and identify what behavior patterns we must stop! Once you have identified a bad habit, then you can do a few things.
Reverse the bad habit by starting a ne habit that cancels the bad habit. Maybe you are stuck on looking at pornography and you cannot break the cycle. What you need to do is create wins.
A win is a moment that you did not look at porn and overcame the temptation. In that moment you should record that moment and add it to a “wins list”.
Let’s take a look at the second question from the students in Michigan. The question was about how to know if you are doing what is right and making an impact on the world.
Like the Millennial generation before them, Gen Z is a causal generation. Water wells, fighting human trafficking, and Child food poverty actually matters to them. I’ve watched teenagers for years ask how they can substantially change their world. You can see it on their t-shirts on their social channels and in the degrees they are choosing in college. The Humanitarian Leadership degree is one of the fastest growing degrees in university education.
Here’s what I’ve learned about how to change the world. You first have to change your own life. You cannot change the globe if you do not change your own life first.
There was a study done on synergy and the power of two versus one. The study involved horse-pulling.
It was found that one horse could pull about 7,100 pounds. But when they added another horse to the study, what happened was quite revealing. Two horses together did not pull double their capacity. They pulled 21,000 pounds - or, about triple their capacity. Something happen as they pulled together and worked off each other. In the same way, we must be working together to change our world.
Let’s take a look at the last question in our Q & R time with teenagers in Michigan. We’ve talked about the topic of dating often on the podcast, but, this question was more specific. It was on the topic of sex before marriage.
As we have said multiple times and in our latest book called GenSeXYZ, God has designed sexual relations to be within marriage between a man and a woman. Any sexual relationship outside of that paradigm is considered adultery or fornication or self-sex or homosexual or lesbian sex. And these forms of sexual relations are biblically prohibited.
Look at Genesis 1, 2, 3, and 5. Also look at the pattern in the Wisdom Literature of Solomon. You can also see multiple texts in the New Testament such as Jesus’ words in Matthew 5, 15, 19, and John 8. Also look at Paul and John’s words in Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6 and 7, Galatians 5, and Revelation 19–22. There are many more but this is a great start.
One of the ways that you can assure proper physical relations in premarital relationships, is to set practices that will protect your principles. Practices such as not being alone in the dark, parking in a car, letting your parents know where you are going and what time you will return from a date, and practicing group dating.
Finally
Hope this is been helpful this week. Join us next week and all of our socials where are you can watch the podcast on YouTube, this into the podcast on iTunes, or read the manuscript at her website at ythology.com.