“Right behavior in and of itself does not assure love, honor, or grace.”

When you want to do something out of your typical sexual pattern, do you ever worry God won’t approve? If yes, you may be hearing voices of thousands of years of “Christian purity code.” This week, we’re talking about rules and stigmas in the Church far earlier than “True Love Waits” or conservative courtship regulations (check out this week’s MyFaithHurdle on infidelity and Josh Duggar).

Dr. Sellers reminds us of how the fruit of the Spirit builds sex lives free from fear. We don’t have to experiment always looking over our shoulder afraid that we’re shocking God. For more on this, see Jesus’ Sexual Ethic.

If reading via email, click here to watch.

Don’t forget to visit our new store. We’ve spent this summer stocking up to keep you thinking and loving well. Single readers might like to hear Dale and I talk about dating for egalitarians. If you want to go from dis-enchantment to re-enchantment with your spouse, listen to our couples retreat, “Get a Room.” Your purchases keep our doors open as we operate on a tiny budget (with less than 15 monthly donors of $100 or more)!

We have only four weeks left of our summer of sexuality. Stay tuned next week for “Facing the Risk of Eroticism,” where Dr. Sellers says, “When loving gets hard, we are invited to learn something more about loving.”

Click here for being mismatched in lovemaking.

Click here for abuse recovery.

Click here for purity kids and sexual disfunction.

Click here for honeymoons for the formerly-abstinent.

Click here for duty sex.

Click here for male and female sex drives.

Click here for Jesus’ sexual ethic.

Click here for shutting down shame in marriage.

Click here for how shame gets in the way of pleasure.

Click here for why sexual and spiritual abuse go together.

Click here for why your sex-drive is changing.

Click here for when women initiate sex.

Click here for what’s allowed in Christian bedrooms.

Click here for sex with the lights on as a spiritual discipline.

Click here for the therapy solution for sexual shame.

What’s this summer series all about?

This summer, I’ll be sharing short videos taken from my two hour Emerald City interview on “Shame, Intimacy and Sex Ed” with Christian sex therapist, Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers. You’ve already seen her at RubySlippers’ posts and interviews. See part one.

Because of Dr. Sellers practical concern that Christians understand that God created erotic desires, Tina is one of the best sources I’ve found in helping me navigate the pillow talk between me and my husband.

Dr. Sellers is a wife, mother, professor, founder of ThankGodForSex.org, certified sex therapist, and licensed family and marriage therapist. Those last two are a dynamic duo of credentials that are rarely seen together. And the lack of professionals who practice both family/marriage and sex therapies is a big problem for those of us who want thriving marriages and thriving sex lives. Thank God for Tina!  I particularly love the way she lives a sexual intimacy that she teaches (My Love List for My Husband . . . And Why Gratefulness is Good for the Heart). Follow her blog and thoughts @TinaSSellers.