By The Book
A collection of faith columns, sermons notes and speeches
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Christians do it best It’s been argued that Eve was made to bear children as a punishment for original sin, but that’s not true. God always intended for Adam and Eve to have lots of children, and for their children to have lots of children. And that doesn’t happen by playing Scrabble. The Bible talks about sex from cover to cover – sometimes explicitly. Read Proverbs chapters 5 and 6. When it says “let her breasts satisfy thee,” it’s not a metaphor for kindness. Solomon is talking about your wife’s breasts. The Bible makes it clear that marriage provides the boundaries that God established for healthy, safe, righteous, godly sex. I believe some of the societal problems we have regarding sex stem from church leaders not teaching our congregations and from Christians not teaching our children about those boundaries. I also believe there would be fewer problems in marriages if husbands and wives had a godly understanding of their sexual responsibilities toward one another. Ask my wife about my favorite chapter in the Bible, and she’ll tell you that it’s 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Allow me to quote verse 3: “Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.” I never hesitate to remind my wife that “due benevolence” means plenty lovin’ and that it works both ways. Verse 4 gives the wife power over the husband’s body and gives husband power over the wife’s body. She doesn’t get to tell him when he’s in the mood, and he doesn’t get to tell her when she’s in the mood. Verse 5 warns not to defraud one another. In other words, don’t hold out on each other. Don’t use sex as a tool to hurt your spouse. Use sex as a way to make your spouse stronger because they feel loved and feel like they completely satisfy you and that your desire is to completely satisfy them. (See why this is my favorite chapter?) There’s never a reason to cheat, but it’s possible to create an atmosphere that encourages cheating. The instructions Paul gives in 1 Corinthians are to help husbands and wives “avoid fornication” (1 Cor. 7:2). I’ve heard fruitless conversations about what’s allowed in bed and what’s not. I don’t go down that road. If you want to know what’s allowed, ask your spouse, not your pastor. The main thing is that you enjoy each other. Husbands, don’t just love your wives. Love on ’em.
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About the Book
From suicide to sex to rearing children to homosexuality to abortion to sports to manhood to near-death experiences to marriage, this book is a collection of faith columns that addresses life's questions from a biblical perspective.
About the Author
Anthony Cook graduated from Auburn University in 1993 with a degree in journalism. He then began working at the Anniston Star, a small community newspaper in Anniston, Alabama. He and his wife, Salena, were married a year later.
He grew up in church, but he grew away from those religious roots as a young adult. It was his wife who influenced him to get back into the church. They began attending his home church where he grew up in Munford, Alabama. There, he heard the gospel for the first time. This is not to say that he never heard it preached before, but this new pastor was a teacher; Anthony heard the gospel speak to him personally. In 2000, he surrendered to God’s call on his life and received Christ as his Lord and Savior. Two years later, he acknowledged the call to preach; in 2004, he was named the pastor at Christian Fellowship Bible Church in Anniston. In 2006, he was asked to write a faith column for the Anniston Star about the Christmas movie, The Nativity. It turned into a weekly faith column applying biblical principles to current events. This book is a collection of those columns, some sermon notes, and speeches that he has written over the years.
His prayer is that all Christians will be encouraged by these nuggets of insight and that any nonbelievers who happen to read this book will be drawn to Christ.