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To Restore Hope in the Hurting Home, We Must Understand The Meaning of Sex
Dear Friends,
I’m so excited to share with you that after three years of praying, planning, writing, and editing, the Institute for Healthy Families was blessed to have my first full-length book published: The Meaning of Sex: A New Christian Ethos! I have to admit, however, that not everyone was crazy about the title. “Ethos…what is that?” Quite a few colleagues, and even my publisher, were hesitant to endorse a book with such an obtuse word.
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| e·thos
noun: ethos
The characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.
What do we mean by “sex”, and how can we communicate what we don’t understand? In The Meaning of Sex, I discuss one aspect of our culture that is troubling: We do not understand sex. Today, the word sex is used primarily as a verb. Often, we speak of having sex, but not about sex as a noun, which distinguishes who we are as male or female. The meaning we apply to sex comes from the culture that tells us we find meaning in what we do, not in what or who we are. The ethic of our culture robs sex of its meaning. Further confusion comes about from misunderstanding what love is.
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| | "The meaning we apply to sex comes from the culture that tells us we find meaning in what we do, not in what or who we are." |
| | | But the Bible tells us a different story. We believe and know that we are children of a loving God and that who we are, as male or female, gives meaning to what we do. The culture tells us that having sex is merely a physical experience, or that sex means love. Their ethic tells us the tragic lie that sex and love are both about bringing us pleasure and happiness. There is a lot of hope, however, that when we apply the true meaning of words, we can learn how to express our sexual nature in a healthy and effective manner.
In my therapeutic work, I see clients every day who have been deeply wounded, in part, by the confusion about what sex really is. Sadly, many of their families suffer from a misunderstanding of how to demonstrate love, and this leads the teenager or adult child seeking love in all the wrong places. This is why we need your help! The Hope of Healing. IHF works to restore hope in the hurting home by providing tangible, real solutions about how to manifest God’s love within the family. We honor the fact that families looking for help have very real needs that can be satisfied by a renewed vision of the practice of love and emotional wholeness in the home and, eventually, in the extended family as well. Part of our work at resisting the wrong ethic of sex is to work with clients and their families to understand and express love in a healthy and effective manner, to instill a new ethos, and change the culture of their family! We achieve this by healing one mom, one dad, and one family at a time.
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| | "Part of our work at resisting the wrong ethic of sex is to work with clients and their families to understand and express love in a healthy and effective manner, to instill a new ethos, and change the culture of their family!"
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| | Parent Weekends and Family Healing Sessions. Many parents call us seeking an answer to the struggles presented by their children. Part of our work is to help these families understand that the family is a system, and like any system, when one part is not functioning well, it affects the other parts too – sometimes in surprising ways! Each autumn we hold a healing retreat for mothers in September and fathers in November. In these weekends, we help moms and dads heal the wounds they never recovered from and understand how this may be manifested in their lesbian, gay, or transgendered-identified child. Family Healing Sessions go one step further by helping families go deep into unresolved issues and unmet love needs between mother and daughter, father and son, while teaching a new way to communicate and experience intimacy. Both these weekends restore a sense of hope that families can find healing, and help them learn effective techniques to use in their daily lives.
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| | Break-Free Your Inner Child Healing Retreat. Every summer, men from all over the world travel to Washington, D.C. for IHF’s Break-Free Your Inner Child healing retreat. Matthew 18:3 tells us that our Lord wants us to become like little children, but we are unable to respond to that invitation when memories of our childhood are filled with negativity and resentment. As difficult as it is to admit, some of the anger and resentment that our inner child is feeling has come about for a good reason! At this powerful retreat, men get in touch with deep-rooted wounds from their unconscious by drawing pictures of their “angry, playful, and spiritual child” with their non-dominant hand to discover and heal the original, beautiful boy that God created him to be. The healing work helps bring our clients into a greater understanding of the joy and freedom that God invites them to, so that they can become like little children in spirit and in truth.
You can help change the culture! With your financial support, the Institute for Healthy Families can influence our culture by our work: Restoring Hope in the Hurting Home! Your donation will assist us in providing scholarships for clients, and their families, who want the healing we provide but are unable to afford it. Please help us with your gift!
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| | | | There is also a lot more we can accomplish together! In 2018-2019, we have plans for two additional books, as well as a training manual and video that will help other therapists restore hope and healing to families around the world! Please consider making a generous, tax-deductible donation that we will use to change the culture by helping men, women, and families understand the true meaning of sex and develop a new ethos in their home, family, and community! |
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May God bless you and your family! |
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