Due to the interest in my recent Sex-versations posts (see here and here), I’ve decided to create an ongoing post series called Saturday Sex-versations.  These posts will provide similar links to current conversations about sexuality and relationships as well as issues related to the other three categories of holistic body theology: community, cultural discernment, and service.  The purpose is to help us stay informed about what the world and the Church are saying about these issues so we can discuss the issues, discern healthy, holistic body theology, and discover God’s truth in the midst of many opinions. I’ll post Saturday Sex-versations on Saturday mornings.

Here’s this week’s installment.  Don’t be shy.  Share your thoughts in the comment section, or join the original conversations via the links provided.

1) Paul, Women, and New Creation In my experience, the number one reason people have issues with Paul is because of the passages regarding women’s roles in his letters…As some read Paul…he seems to be denying the very humanity and dignity of women – something that Jesus never did. (Be sure to read Julie’s eloquent response to JR Daniel Kirk’s comment on Jan 16th at the bottom of her post.)

2) Miss-Representation: How the Media Harms Both Women and Men In short, Newsom argues, it’s up to us – men and women alike – to take a stand…We need to find healthy ways for boys and men to express their emotions in ways that aren’t physically or psychologically harmful.

3) Body image concerns more men than women, research finds More men worry about their body shape and appearance – beer bellies, “man boobs” or going bald – than women do about how they look, according to research.

4) Peace is a Garden …[W]e, the sowers of peace, must continue to cultivate and grow peace in each of our homes, in our neighborhoods, in each of our souls, in each of our marriages, and families and all the relationships we attend to. It sounds small, but that’s just the way it is.

5) What Effect Is Social Media Having on Your Relationships? So what effect does all of this communication, without the sense of community, have on us? One could argue that it has resulted in a loss of authentic relationships and a loss of community.

6) Driscoll & Brierley on Women in Leadership Driscoll seems to think he’s got a real zinger. If a woman is pastor, who’s going to do all that important sex counseling that Driscoll seems so obsessed with? Faced with the rather obvious explanation that it’s the same in Brierley’s church as in his own (men counsel men and women counsel women) Driscoll insists that it’s still not as good because the men aren’t “in charge”.

7) Overcoming the Porn Problem The film’s most moving comments come, not surprisingly, from Lubben, but this one was perhaps the most powerful: “When people view porn, they are really watching mentally ill and physically diseased people having sex.” Puts quite a perspective on it.

8) The Sex Challenge Evangelicals Never Give (But Scripture Does) When was the last time you heard a pastor challenge a zealous young couple deeply passionate in their intimacy that they might mutually agree to take some time off for a season of prayer together? It makes me wonder: in our zeal to recover Biblical sexuality have we lost the balance of Scripture? What if prayer can do more for your marriage?

9) Resolve to Be Green in 2012 But, if we are going to treat this world, God’s good world, in a way that reflects the intentions of the Creator, then we ought to be willing to make small gestures of this sort.  Small acts can  become a drastic movement for change.

10) The Church Doesn’t Know How to Have Sex So, in reality, what occurs is that Sex has become God for the Church. It now defines ethics, defines relationships (i.e., men can’t be with men, no sex outside of marriage, and etc.). Just because its not spoken doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Sex has become the forgotten whore that the Church does not know how to love.

11) The Gospel in an Abortionist Culture What we often forget is the second casualty of an abortion culture: the consciences of countless men and women.

12) The Best Christian Marriage Book You’ve Never Heard Of Instead of hard-and-fast statements about the One Best Biblical Way to Do Relationships, the Petersons offer a gentle, reasoned approach that allows room for Christian singles and couples to discover, within the context of faith, what works best in their own unique relationships.

13) From Woman in Ministry to Woman Who Ministers The truth is, the women who ministered to my own wanting soul weren’t “women in ministry” at all. They were good neighbors and generous friends.