June 2016

Volume 13

Issue 6

To reach London with the distinctive, Christ-centered, Seventh-day Adventist message of Hope and Wholeness.

London, Ontario

NEWSLETTER
In This Issue
Why are so many Christians addicted to
porn?.......................................................1
15 Reasons to Stop Eating Meat1
Destructive Conflict: Recognize It. Stop
It................................4
A.C.E.S corner...5
London District schedule of speakers,
April.........................................................6

By Luke Gilkerson

15 Reasons to Stop Eating

Meat.
By Royce Carlson

ccording to a recent survey by the Barna Group, 21% of Christian men say they have thought they were addicted to porn or
said they werent sure. This is more than two times what nonChristian men said (10%). Interestingly, 64% of Christian men say
they view porn at least once a month, but a higher percentage (71%) of non-Christian report doing this.
Why are Christian men more likely to feel the term porn addiction applies to them?
Another recent study from Case Western Reserve University confirms this.
Researchers concluded that there is a strong relationship between strong
moral and religious convictions against porn and the perception that personal
porn use is an addiction.

Global meat consumption has increased

from under 50 million tons annually to
over 200 million tons in the last 50
years. The amount of animal manure
produced in the U.S. is 130 times greater than the amount of human waste.
This is causing more environmental and
health problems than ever seen before.
Here are 15 good reasons to stop eating
meat.
Continue on page 3

Continue on page 2
London Seventh Day Adventist Church, 805 Shelborne Street, London, Ontario N5Z 5C6 Canada, 519.680.1965

Continued from page 1.

Definitions of Addiction
In my opinion, the chief sources of the discrepancy are the
conflicting definitions of addiction. What does it mean to
use porn compulsively or regularly? For some folks,
addictive use of porn might be once a month, once a week,
once a day, or many hours in a day. Others would measure
addictive use by how much it disturbs their lives: has it cost
them money or significant relationships? For the most part,
surveys are not standardized around specific definitions or
descriptions.
For instance, take the survey results published in the Porn
University survey:

42% of men (7,065) said that they regularly visit sexually explicit websites or chat rooms, read sexually explicit magazines, or romance novels.
Yet 64% of men (10,622) said that they spend at least
some time each week online for sexual purposes. About one
in five of these said they spend 5 or more hours every week.
Furthermore, 19% of men (3,187) said they feel
controlled by their sexual desires or fantasies of romance.
Clearly, what is considered regular use of pornography, or
being controlled by it, are not the same across the board.
So what makes someone feel out of control? One contributing factor that psychologists give is religion. Pioneering sex therapist Michael Quadland has studied
those who feel out of control with their sexual behavior. He
found the patients and therapists beliefs about what is sexually normal the biggest controlling factor in whether the
behavior is deemed compulsive or destructive.
So if a Christians value system leads him or her to believe
that any sexual gratification outside of marital intimacy is
wrong, then any amount of compulsion to look at porn could
be deemed out of control.

Christians and Addiction Language

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders doesnt use the word addiction for anythingnot
drugs, alcohol, nor any behavior. The language of addiction
is largely shaped by culturenot medicine. Christian counselor Ed Welch explains:
In popular use, addiction has become a very elastic and
ambiguous category that contains everything from the frivolous (added to the six oclock news) to the grave (addicted to
alcohol). It also includes the unequally yoked categories of
disease and sin. Given its ambiguities, there is a growing
sentiment that we need a different word (Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave, p.11).

Living the Christian Life

On top of these cultural ambiguities, addiction language in

Christian community is also shaped by sin language. A
year ago I heard Ed Welch give a talk at a conference in Philadelphia entitled, Addiction, Temptation, & Voluntary Slavery. He spoke about how so often the Big Book used by AA
members seems so much more alive to them than the words
of the Bible. Why? One reason is the Big Book uses
addiction language. The Bible does not.
The recovering alcoholic needs to understand the language
of the Bible. The Bible doesnt talk of addiction, but rather
slavery to sin. The Bible doesnt speak of the root of habitual sin as merely a disease, but as idolatry. Once these
categories are understood, many portions of Scripture can
and do come to life for the struggling addict.
Biblical language levels the playing field between the socalled addict and the non-addict. The Bible speaks of a slavery to sin that has affected the whole human race. For the
addict, this slavery has impacted his or her life in a particular,
more demonstrative way; in fact, the conference in Philadelphia was called The Addict in Us All, to highlight this very
point: we are all addicted to self, addicted to sin, and as
Christians we are all being redeemed from that life of sinslavery.

Do Christians and Pornography Mix? Are Christians More Prone to Porn Addiction?
Definitional differences aside, could it be that Christians actually have a more difficult time battling addictions? I am not
aware of any studies or surveys that suggest this, but there
are at least two theological factors at work in Christian communities that might serve to escalate addiction:
1. Teaching higher standards makes rebellion more appealing (i.e. the hot stove principle).
Being raised in Christian community, I know that teaching a
high moral standard didnt make me want to sin less: rather, I
wanted to sin more. The apostle Paul wrote, [I]f it had not
been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not
have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You
shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the
commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness (Romans 7:7-8).
This is the hot stove principle: Tell a child not to touch the hot
stove, and the forbidden act suddenly seems all the more
attractive; the biblical motto of the harlot reiterates this conceit: Stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is
pleasant (Proverbs 9:17).
In a real sense, those who embrace Christian values can find
pornography all the more appealing merely because it is demonstrably forbidden by their commitment to God.

1. Read the Bible Daily.

Continued on page 3
2. Pray with God Daily.

Continued from page 2.

1. Teaching higher standards should point people towards

their need for a new heart.

Pornography trains men and

women to be consumers,
not lovers; to treat sex as a
commodity; to think about sex as
something on-tap and
made-to-order.

2. Failing at higher standards makes sin all the more novel

and intoxicating.
We are wired to love noveltyit is an essential part of our
development. When we encounter a new experience, our
bodies release an extra dose of pleasure-producing chemicals, a mechanism which encourages us to experience
and explore new things.
For me, the draw of pornography was largely a draw to
novelty. Pornography, especially Internet pornography,
keeps us coming back for more because it promises a veritably endless source of sexual novelty. Each new picture
or video clip promises a new sensation. This is why pornaddicted men dont simply log on, quickly find one appealing image, and gratify themselves. We keep searching. We
can spend hours online. Why? Because its not about the
climax; its about the search, the options, and each one is
a novel sexual escapade. This desire for novelty is also
the reason why we move from less graphic to more graphic pornography over time: the downward spiral is fed by a
desire for novelty.
For the Christian who engages in pornography, typically
there are added dimensions of guilt and paranoia. These
have a way of compounding the novelty of each experience. This leaves a deeper emotional rut in the mind, as it
were. Over time, guilt can become chroniceven a way of
life. The guilt can become an essential ingredient to the
addiction. There came a time in my life when feeling guilty
was the only way I could feel normal.

The goal of teaching Christian sexual ethics is not encouraging people to try harder. Merely highlighting the hotness of the stove is not the point. To know better is not
necessarily to do better. Instead, recognizing our inward
pull towards rebellion, we are to be driven to a place of
utter neediness: I cannot change myself.
When I was entrenched in addiction, I knew that acknowledging my depravity was par for the Christian course, but
something in me always wanted to graduate from that
place of utter neediness. I sincerely believed that spiritual
growth meant moving from spiritual poverty to selfsufficiency. I never would have said it that way, but that
was my attitude.

But the great promise of Scripture is not that our flesh will
get better, but that God can bring about great internal
change despite our rebellious nature. He does so, not by
enforcing an external code of conduct, but by implanting a
new internal drive in His people, what the Bible calls a
new heart.
Just as sure as pornography stirs up lustful cravings in us,
the Holy Spirit is a source of new, holy cravings. Romans 8
tells us all true Christians have the Spirit of Christ within them (v.9). Galatians 5 says we are given the desires of
the Spirit (v.17), and when we keep in step with these desires (v.16) the lusts of the flesh (leading to sexual immorality, impurity, and sensuality) will not have their way in
us.
This is what the old Scottish minister Thomas Chalmers
called the expulsive power of a new affection. Laws,
rules, and regulations can only tell us what is bad
and why it is bad, but they do not change our desire for
sinful things. These sinful longings can only be conquered
by implanting new affections, new cravings, that counter
our sinful cravings. This is what the Spirit does in us: He
shares His own desires with us, changing us from the inside out. (Your Brain on Porn)

So, What is the Answer?

At first glance it would seem the conservative standards
are the problem: get rid of the rigid moral code and the rest
goes away, right? But when we seek to rid ourselves of
Christian morals for the sake of keeping addiction at bay,
we are playing fast and lose with theology. Christian morality is not merely an idea about how to live; it is based on
real historythe belief that the Creator of heaven and
earth has actually revealed Himself in human history. We
desire to follow biblical morals because we are convinced
that Jesus is the Christ, the revelation of God.
No. Instead of discarding our morals, we need to embrace
the One who gave them:

Living the Christian Life

I cannot change myself, but Jesus can.

3. Depend on the Holy Spirit.

Continued on page 4
4. Attend Church Regularly.

Continued from page 3.

2. Failing at higher standards should drive us

to the cross.
The addict often finds himself in a cycle of abstinence, temptation, sin, guilt, penance, and back to abstinence. How do
we break the cycle?
As we have seen, guilt is a big part of the addiction cycle.
Guilt is that feeling of self-reproach, the feeling that one is
culpable for some offense. When we feel guilt we desire absolution and reconciliation. Out of this longing, just like the
pagan religions of old, we invent modes of penance that
sooth our consciences: rituals that we hope will make us feel
right with the powers of the universe again. We try to get
clean by doing something good, to make up for the moral
lapse. For some Christians, it is renewing a commitment to
more prayer, more activity in the church, or donating more
time or money to some worthy cause. For others, it is merely
time: an extended track record of victory. For me, it was the
emotion of worthlessnessa sort of mental flagellation; long
hours of beating my heart to a bloody pulp. These are
modes of penance that we hope will fuel greater obedience
in the future.
This is where a proper understanding of the cross is critical. Yes, my sin means I deserve the lowest hell. But (in
love) Christ experienced my hell on the cross. He experienced the agony of God-forsakenness, the curse of my sin.
The Father channeled His just wrath for my sin into His Son.
The cross is Gods altar to fully extinguish His anger, and,
as a result, I am fully pardoned.
Furthermore, to prove Christs sacrifice was not in vain, God
raised Jesus from the dead three days later. Weeks after
this, His disciples saw Him ascend into the heavens, and
there, we are told, He entered the holiest place of heaven.
He poured out His Spirit on His people, and by His Spirit He
can purify our conscience from dead works to serve the
living God (Hebrews 9:14).
Knowing this, we should denounce all systems of penance
as shallow cross-replacements. Knowing that my condemnation has been taken away, this grace from God breaks the
cycle. Instead of guilt moving me to penance, guilt can, rather, move me to confession and praise. Instead of penance
moving me to hollow abstinence, I am, rather, moved by real
worship to experience a higher pleasure of Gods friendship.
Source: http://www.covenanteyes.com/

Destructive Conflict:
Recognize It. Stop It.
By Mary J. Yerkes
Part of the A Biblical Guide to Resolving Conflict Series
Danger. Pesticides. Keep people, especially children and
pets away from the area being treated, read the signs posted along the path. I swung wide to the left, being careful to
lead my dog away from the toxic environment as we continued our afternoon walk. For the remainder of the walk, I
found myself thinking, Wouldnt it be great if people came
with warning signs, too? Danger: Toxic Person. Warning:
Destructive Conflict Ahead.
In a sense, they do. Destructive conflict flows from unhealthy people and relationships. Where there is destructive
conflict, you will often find a pattern of cruelty, neglect, deception, control, indifference and even abuse in the relationship. What differentiates destructive conflict from healthy
disagreement is that it involves a pattern of unhealthy communication. Destructive conflict flows from individuals who
consistently fail to admit their weakness, lie, rationalize, deny, apologize instead of changing their behavior, blame others instead of owning their part of the problem and who are
defensive instead of open to feedback. Similar to ingesting
poison, a steady diet of destructively conflict can kill you
emotionally, spiritually and even physically.
Just ask David .
Destructive Conflict
He is still working to overcome the damage caused by destructive conflict. Raised in a home where conflict deteriorated into emotional, verbal and even physical abuse, he grew
up thinking the way he was treated was normal. While in
college I accepted Christ, says David. He helped me to
forgive my abusers and brought healthy relationships into
my life. Unfortunately, my abusers didnt change; and for
years I could not deal with the emotional fallout. To overcome the damage caused by years of unhealthy conflict,
David attended anger management classes at a local
church, worked with a mentor, and continues to see a Christian psychologist, who is helping him apply biblical truth to
his sense of self and his relationships. My abusive family
members havent changed, says David. I have.
How to Deal with Destructive Conflict
Leslie Vernick, licensed clinical social worker and author of
The Emotionally Destructive Relationship: Seeing It, Stopping It, Surviving It, works with individuals like David. She
identifies three steps, based on Matthew 18:15-17, we
should take when dealing with destructive conflict:
Speak up. "If your brother sins against you, go and show
him his fault, just between the two of you (Matt. 18:15 NIV).
God calls us to be peacemakers, not peacekeepers, points
out Vernick.

Continued on page 5.
Living the Christian Life

5. Be of Service to Others .

6. Conquer Your Doubts.

aiming high to fundraise for the new North American

Continued from page 4.

She says pursuing peace might mean risking conflict in order to bring about a genuine peace (Ps. 34:14; Heb. 12:14
NIV).
Speaking up is very different from venting, which can have
negative consequences. We should speak the truth to
someone in love after we have spent time praying and preparing for our time together. Approach that person in gentleness and with humility (Gal. 6:1 NIV).
Stand up. But if he will not listen, take one or two others
along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Matt. 18:16 NIV). God
calls us to stand against sin, evil, deception, abuse and
wickedness. When others are blind to their sin, God calls
us to enlist the help of others. With a supportive person or
church by your side, say, I will not continue to live in fear,
be lied to or be degraded.
Step back. If he refuses to listen even to the church,
treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector (Matt.
18:17 NIV), says Jesus. In biblical culture, Jews did not
have close, personal relationships with pagans and tax collectors. Vernick says when someone refuses to respond to
our concerns, the relationship changes. You cannot have
fellowship with someone who refuses to respect your feelings, doesnt care about you, wont respect you and who
isnt honest. When we step back from the relationship, it
helps minimize the damage and gives the other person
time to reflect on his behavior and the relationship. It sends
a message that a pattern of sinful, destructive behaviors is
unacceptable to us and to God.
She points out that even when we find it necessary to step
back from a situation, God calls us to love. The apostle
Paul says, We bless those who curse us. We are patient
with those who abuse us (1 Cor. 4:12 NIV). And in Romans 13:10, Love does no harm (NIV).
As we learn to identify destructive conflict and apply Gods
Word to our situations, we can minimize its damage in our
lives. Whats more, we move from victim to victor, honoring
God in even the most difficult of circumstances.
Source: http://www.focusonthefamily.com/

Division science curriculum BY DESIGN as well as some

much needed science resources!
The 4km walk with take place on Monday June 13th at Gibbons Park.
It is the schools biggest fundraiser and for a very important
cause, so if a little face comes and asks for sponsor with
their best million-dollar smile, please consider supporting
A.C.E.S with a pledge! Every dime ( as pennies dont exist
anymore J )counts! Every sponsor can be given a tax receipt for their donation if it is requested. Thank you in advance for your support and you are also welcome to come
join us for the walk!

Continued from page 1.

15 Reasons to Stop Eating

Meat.
Health Reasons:
1. Lower risk of cancer. The Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine has reported that vegetarians are
less likely to get cancer by 25 to 50 percent.
2. Lower risk of heart disease. Researchers Dr. Dean
Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have a program that includes a vegetarian diet and is currently one of the few programs that has been proven to reverse heart disease. A
vegetarian diet reduces cholesterol.
3. Lower risk of osteoporosis. Studies have shown that
too much protein in our diet causes loss of bone calcium.
Meat eaters generally get far more protein than they need
or can use.
4. Lower risk of kidney and gallstones. The calcium
leached from the bones by the body's efforts to neutralize
the acids produce by too much protein intake can end up
forming kidney stones and gall stones.

A.C.E.S annual
WALK-A-THON
By Patricia Ferreira
is upon us once again and this year our growing school is

Living the Christian Life

5. Factory farmed animals carry disease. According to

the FDA poultry is the number one source of food-borne
illness. Despite the heavy use of pesticides and antibiotics,
up to 60% percent of chickens sold at the supermarket are
infected with live salmonella bacteria. Approximately 30%
of all pork products are contaminated with toxoplasmosis.

6. Factory-farmed animals contain toxic

chemicals. Meat
Continued on page 6.

7. Live One Day at a Time.

8. Learn How to Deal with Temptation.

London schedule of speakers, June 2016.

PRAYER MEETINGS

Pulpit Speakers at London Seventhday Adventist Churches

DATE
June

Community Outreach

London South Church

805 Shelborne Street

DATE
June

Theme Revival:
Our Greatest Need

London South Church

805 Shelborne Street
Theme Revival:
Our Greatest Need

Broadcast from the Southern Ontario Camp meeting

Sheldon Bailey

11

Cameron Munro

Pt. James Rooney

18

Pt. James Rooney

15

Pt. James Rooney

25

Broadcast from Celebration in Mississauga

22

Pt. James Rooney

29

Earl Biggs

Continued from page 5.

We are increasingly at risk from highly contagious diseases
like Mad Cow Disease and Foot and Mouth disease in sheep
and cattle.

spend their brief lives in crowded and ammonia-filled

conditions, many of them so cramped that they can't
even turn around or spread a wing.
13. Animals on factory farms are tortured. Within days
of birth, for example, chickens have their beaks seared
off with a hot blade. Animals are hung upside down and
their throats are sliced open, often while they're fully conscious.
14. Animals on factory farms are treated like machines. They are pumped up with drugs, fed their own
waste and forced to grow or produce as fast as possible.
They are subjected to 24-hour artificial lighting while being crammed into tiny cages one on top of the other to
make it easier to harvest.

Environmental Reasons:
7. Inefficient use of agriculture. 70% of U.S. grain production is used to feed farm animals. The grains and
soybeans fed to animals to produce the amount of meat
consumed by the average American in one year could
feed seven people for the same period.
8. Inefficient use of water. It takes 2640 gallons of water to produce one pound of edible beef. The water used
to raise animals for food is more than half the water used
in the United States.
9. Inefficient use of energy.Calories of fossil fuel
needed to produce 1 calorie of protein in beef:
28.Calories of fossil fuel needed to produce 1 calorie of
protein in soybeans: 2.
10. Environmental Pollution. Raising animals for food
is the biggest polluter of our water and topsoil. Factory
farm animal waste pollutes the ground and groundwater
horribly.
11. Destruction of natural habitat. It takes more land to
raise animals for food than it does to produce the equivalent nutritional value by raising edible plants. Rain forests
are being destroyed to make room for huge cattle ranches. Coyotes and other animals are poisoned and shot by
western cattle ranchers who consider federal land to be
their land for grazing.
Animal Rights Reasons:
12. Animals on factory farms are over-crowded. They

Living the Christian Life

15. We don't need to eat animals! Most of us in the

U.S. don't eat animals because we must in order to survive. We eat them because we want to. We are subjecting animals to torture, damaging the environment unnecessarily and subjecting ourselves to greater risk of disease just to satisfy a desire, not a need.
You can get a totally balanced diet without eating meat. All
vegetables contain protein and too much protein consumption is unhealthy. Grains, legumes and soybeans contain
plenty of protein. Vegetarian foods do not have to be boring.
Spice it up! For example, veggies and rice with some Teriyaki sauce is delicious and as filling as any meat dish you can
think of while being far more healthy for you and easier on
animals and the environment. Why not give a vegetarian diet
a try and give our environment a break. Your body will thank
you and so will the Earth.
Source: http://www.animalliberationfront.com/

9. Tell Others About Jesus

www.adventistlondon.ca

519.680.1965