Dr Paul Allen

Dear Husband, You may think I am ill-suited to counsel a young man on how to be faithful to his wife, because, in almost fifty years with my wife, I have never felt enticed to be romantic or to have sex with another woman . However, it might be worth probing whether this (perhaps unusual) fact has causes which are transferrable to you. Let me clarify. It’s not as good as it sounds. My eyes are as magnetized toward excessive female skin as most men’s. I am not designed for beach evangelism. I find airports to be problematic enough. I have zero tolerance for nudity in films — or even suggestiveness (which rules out almost all of them). One reason (among many) is that any sexually charged image lodges itself in my mind, with regrettable effects. One more clarification: I have enjoyed a life of sexual intimacy with my wife, that is, I think, as intense as any can reasonably hope for. In other words, I don’t think my disinterest in sex with other women is owing to deficient ho...

THE work to which the servant of Christ is called is many-sided. Not only is he to preach the Gospel to the unsaved, to feed God’s people with knowledge and understanding (Jer. 3:15), and to take up the stumbling stone out of their way (Is. 57:14), but he is also charged to “cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression” (Is. 58:1 and cf. 1 Tim. 4:2). Yet another important part of his commission is stated thus: “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God” (Is. 40:1). What an honorable title, “My people!” What an assuring relationship, “your God!” What a pleasant task, “You comfort My people!” A threefold reason may be suggested for the duplicating of the charge. First, believers sometimes refuse to be comforted (Ps. 77:2) and the consolation needs to be repeated. A second reason is to impress more emphatically on the preacher’s heart that he need not be sparing in administering cheer. A third reason is to assure us how hearti...

Image by notashamed via Flickr From: Challies.com   Mark Driscoll will be all over the news in the new year. Not only is he set to be a participant at the controversial Elephant Room conference on January 25, but January 3 will also mark the release of his newest book—the one that is bound to become his most controversial yet:  Real Marriage : The Truth About Sex, Friendship & Life Together . Co-authored with his wife Grace, the book is being marketed as a down-to-earth and no-holds-barred look at marriage and sex. Especially sex. Though  Real Marriage  weighs in at over 200 pages and 11 chapters, there is one chapter that is going to generate the vast majority of the buzz. I plan to write a review of the whole book closer to the release date. For now, though, I want to reflect on that one chapter. Before I go any farther I need to warn you that the contents of this blog post and any that follow are going to deal with topics that are uncom...