Blog Archives - IRONSTRIKES

Don't have too much fun

4/10/2015

One of the accusations made by the religious leaders of Jesus' day was that he partied with undesirables. It was unacceptable in their minds to associate in any way with undesirables. That would make you 'unclean'. But it was particularly unacceptable to party with undesirables. Then, as now, religion was thought to be very serious business, much too serious for the kind of celebrations that Jesus enjoyed. Religion was supposed to be about intellectual abstractions and theological detail - not about going to dinner parties with unsavory characters.

In his teachings Jesus draws extensively on the Old Testament themes of the Sabbath, the Jubilee and the messianic feast to make a point. Jesus told many stories about God's love for celebration. When the lost is found, the finder throws a feast. When the prodigal returns, the father has a party. When a single person repents, the angels rejoice. And on and on. Jesus, the man of sorrows, was also a man of celebration and joy. Jesus' first miracle was at a joyous occasion, a wedding in Cana.

Like the religious leaders of Jesus' day, we may sometimes find ourselves resistant to joy. We may resist joy because we fear disappointment. Or we may resist joy because it doesn't seen congruent with being a serious minded person of faith. We may resist joy because we have been shamed or even punished for being overly enthusiastic as a child.

It is a risk to make room for joy in our lives. Joy requires that we be open to the possibility of experiencing conflicting emotions. If we wait to experience joy until our anger, grief and self-condemnation are completely gone, then we will wait a long time. But it is possible to experience joy without denying or avoiding other more painful emotions. We can follow Jesus' example of joy today. When joy comes, we can receive it. It is a good gift from God. www.nacronline.com

University professor says pedophilia is "natural & normal"

4/9/2015

"Paedophilic interest is natural and normal for human males,” said the presentation. “At least a sizeable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children … Normal males are aroused by children.”

Some yellowing tract from the Seventies or early Eighties, era of abusive celebrities and the infamous PIE, the Paedophile Information Exchange? No. Anonymous commenters on some underground website? No again.

The statement that paedophilia is “natural and normal” was made not three decades ago but last July. It was made not in private but as one of the central claims of an academic presentation delivered, at the invitation of the organisers, to many of the key experts in the field at a conference held by the University of Cambridge.

Other presentations included “Liberating the paedophile: a discursive analysis,” and “Danger and difference: the stakes of hebephilia.”

Hebephilia is the sexual preference for children in early puberty, typically 11 to 14-year-olds.

If you want to continue to hear more about what is happening to try and make pedophilia normal in England and Japan and attempts to do so in the United States, go to this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/10948796/Paedophilia-is-natural-and-normal-for-males.html

Are you watching porn...or is porn watching you?

4/8/2015

The premise of this post is simple: If you are watching/viewing porn online in 2015, even in Incognito mode, you should expect that at some point your porn viewing history will be publicly released and attached to your name.

How is this possible? This is an uncomfortable topic to talk/write about, which perhaps contributes to how we've arrived at the current state. So, to understand the threat, start with some technical considerations:

Browser footprints: Web browsers leave an essentially unique footprint every time you visit a web page, even in Incognito mode (and even without supercookies). This is well established; many web tools such as Panopticlick will confirm that you give a website lots of information about your computer every time you visit.
Global identifiers: Linking your browser footprint on one website to your footprint on another website - or to a previous footprint on the same website - is straightforward. You should think of your browser footprint as a persistent global identifier, and this is particularly true if you don't take any measures to hide your IP address (eg. a VPN). The EFF has an excellent technical overviewof how this works.
User tracking: Tracking web users is super valuable, so almost every traditional website that you visit saves enough data to link your user account to your browser fingerprint, either directly or via third parties. The Economist ran an overview of user tracking in September. (Though, interestingly, there is no mention of adult websites.)
Hacking is ubiquitous: We hear about data breaches that involve tangible harm - Target, Anthem, TurboTax - but not the (likely great majority) of cases when hackers don’t want additional exposure. Or, paraphrasing the FBI director: There are two types of companies...those that know they've been hacked...and those that don't know they've been hacked.

How might this happen? If a malicious party obtained identifiable access logs for just one of the websites that know your name, and view logs for just one of the adult websites you’ve visited, it could infer with very high probability - beyond plausible deniability - a list of porn you've viewed. At any time, somebody could post a website that allows you to search anybody by email or facebook username and view their porn browsing history. All that's needed are two nominal data breaches and an enterprising teenager that wants to create havoc.

In 2014 a set of celebrities had naked photos released to the public, a deeply disturbing event that was fantastically labeled “the fappening”. Many people brushed off the episode - oh well, I'm not a celebrity. But I think the next big internet privacy crisis could expose the private and potentially embarrassing personal data of regular people to their neighbors - perhaps as described here, perhaps in a different form. I worry about the policy measures that could be hastily enacted in response to such an event - yet another reason that the tech community should take a more proactive approach ensuring data privacy.

Copyrighted by Brett Thomas. To go to Brett's blog, click here: http://brettpthomas.com/online-porn-could-be-the-next-big-privacy-scandal.html

Sexual Addiction Screening Test - Revised

4/7/2015

To complete the test, answer each question by answering yes/no. The more you score yes, the more likely it is you have a sexual addiction. For more info, go to: http://foundryclinicalgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/SAST-R.pdf

1. Were you sexually abused as a child or adolescent?

2. Did your parents have trouble with sexual behavior?

3. Do you often find yourself preoccupied with sexual thoughts?

4. Do you feel that your sexual behavior is not normal?

5. Do you ever feel bad about your sexual behavior?

6. Has your sexual behavior ever created problems for you in your family?

7. Have you ever sought help for your sexual behavior you did not like?

8. Has anyone been hurt emotionally because of your sexual behavior?

9. Are any of your sexual activities against the law?

10. Have you made efforts to quit a type of sexual activity and failed?

11. Do you hide some of your sexual behaviors from others?

12. Have you attempted to stop some parts of your sexual activity?

13. Have you felt degraded by your sexual behaviors?

14. When you have sex, do you feel depressed afterwards?

15. Do you feel controlled by your sexual desire?

16. Have important parts of your life (such as job, family, friends, leisure activities) been neglected because you were spending too much time on sex?

17. Do you ever think your sexual desire is stronger than you are?

18. Is sex almost all you think about?

19. Has sex (or romantic fantasies) been a way for you to escape your problems?

20. Has sex become the most important thing in your life?28. Are you in crisis over sexualmatters?

21. Are you in crisis over sexual matters?

22. Has the internet created sexual problems for you?

23. Do you spend too much time online for sexual purposes?

24. Have you purchased services online for erotic purposes (sites for dating, pornography, fantasy and friend finder)?

25. Have you used the internet to make romantic or erotic connections with people online

26. Have people in your life been upset about your sexual activities online?

27. Have you attempted to stop your sexual online sexual behaviors?

28. Have you subscribed to or regularly purchased or rented sexually explicit materials (magazines, videos, books, or online pornography)?

29. Have you been sexual with minors?

30. Have you spent considerable time and money on strip clubs, adult bookstores and movies houses?

31. Have you engaged prostitutes and escorts to satisfy your sexual needs?

32. Have you spent considerable time surfing pornography online?

33. Have you used magazines, videos or online pornography even when there was considerable risk of being caught by family members who would be upset by my behavior?

34. Have you regularly purchased romantic novels or sexually explicit magazines?

35. Have you stayed in romantic relationships after they became emotionally abusive?

36. Have you traded sex for money or gifts?

37. Have you maintained multiple romantic or sexual relationships at the same time?

38. After sexually acting out, do you sometimes refrain from all sex for a significant time?

39. Have you regularly engaged in sadomasochistic behavior?

40. Do you visit sexual bath-houses, sex clubs or video/bookstores as part of your regular sexual activity?

41. Have you engaged in unsafe or “risky” sex even though you knew it could cause you harm?

42. Have you cruised public restrooms, rest areas or parks looking for sex with strangers?

43. Do you believe casual or anonymous sex has kept you from having more long-term intimate relationships?

44. Has your sexual behavior put you at risk for arrest for lewd conduct or public indecency?

45. Have you been paid for sex?

Stopping porn in your church

4/6/2015

This new series made for men comes highly recommended by Ironstrikes. Go to this web page for more information: http://www.conquerseries.com

The death of Death

4/5/2015

Waiting...

4/4/2015

Last night, we had an intimate meal together. He was crucified and now He is dead. Is there hope? Will Jesus really arise as He said? Is He really the Son of God?

I'm so depressed. I can't do anything but sing this psalm, the last psalm that we sang just before His betrayal...

1Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

2Let all Israel repeat:

“His faithful love endures forever.”

3Let Aaron’s descendants, the priests, repeat:

“His faithful love endures forever.”

4Let all who fear the LORD repeat:

“His faithful love endures forever.”

5In my distress I prayed to the LORD,

and the LORD answered me and set me free.

6The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear.

What can mere people do to me?

7Yes, the LORD is for me; he will help me.

I will look in triumph at those who hate me.

8It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in people.

9It is better to take refuge in the LORD

than to trust in princes.

10Though hostile nations surrounded me,

I destroyed them all with the authority of the LORD.

11Yes, they surrounded and attacked me,

but I destroyed them all with the authority of the LORD.

12They swarmed around me like bees;

they blazed against me like a crackling fire.

But I destroyed them all with the authority of the LORD.

13My enemies did their best to kill me,

but the LORD rescued me.

14The LORD is my strength and my song;

he has given me victory.

15Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly.

The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!

16The strong right arm of the LORD is raised in triumph.

The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!

17I will not die; instead, I will live

to tell what the LORD has done.

18The LORD has punished me severely,

but he did not let me die.

19Open for me the gates where the righteous enter,

and I will go in and thank the LORD.

20These gates lead to the presence of the LORD,

and the godly enter there.

21I thank you for answering my prayer

and giving me victory!

22The stone that the builders rejected

has now become the cornerstone.

23This is the LORD’s doing,

and it is wonderful to see.

24This is the day the LORD has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

25Please, LORD, please save us.

Please, LORD, please give us success.

26Bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD.

We bless you from the house of the LORD.

27The LORD is God, shining upon us.

Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.

28You are my God, and I will praise you!

You are my God, and I will exalt you!

29Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 118 (NLT)

Just Jesus & Me at the Crucifixion

4/3/2015

I've always wondered what it would have been like to be present at Jesus' crucifixion. I wondered if I would have joined the disciples and disappeared. Or would I be like the only disciple, John, who stayed to witness Jesus death.

I was fortunate to be granted the opportunity to see Jesus being crucified. However, having been a participant in the Easter Musical, I became, at times, a little complacent about Jesus' crucifixion. It became a matter of rehearsal and the actor playing Jesus was a friend. However, one practice, I was struck with the reality of Jesus' compassion and love, how He died for me.

I walked onto stage and Jesus was on the cross. I looked up and just at that time, Jesus was looking down at me. I forgot that this man was an actor and my friend. I felt transported to the time that Jesus' was actually on the cross. I felt so overwhelmed. Jesus was looking at me and I was the only person there even though the stage and the audience was filled with people.

It was Jesus and me.

Nevertheless, I was overwhelmed by two competing emotions: 1) I felt ashamed at my sin, and 2) I felt pure love. I felt no condemnation. A flood of tears came to my eyes and at that night's performance, I didn't have to pretend to cry. My complacency vanished.

My tears were real.

Jesus was real.

My sin was real.

The love I felt was real.

The forgiveness Jesus offered was real.

Salvation is real.

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Is using porn cheating on your spouse?

4/2/2015

It’s one of the most debated topics when it comes to pornography: Is watching porn cheating?

Let’s start by pointing a few things out.

If you think about it, the majority of men and women aren’t proud of viewing porn. Regardless of whether or not they’ll admit it, most feel varying amounts of guilt, shame, or awkwardness about it.

Think about it: people don’t lock the door or check their surroundings when they are about to flip open the pages of a Nordstrom catalog to order their significant other a birthday present. They don’t clear their online browsing history because they spent too much time scouring the web for a deal on plane tickets to take a vacation with their partner. People aren’t watching skateboarding videos or looking at pictures of cool street art with their door locked and their browsers set on private, right?

This is one of the main reasons that porn is cheating. Because of all the damaging secrecy and hiding that goes into it. There are few things that will tear apart a relationship as much as snooping around and keeping secrets. And when that secret is that a partner is watching other people have sex instead of wanting to be intimate with their own partner, how could the other person in the relationship not feel cheated on by that?

Pornography is taking something extremely awesome and intimate and exaggerating and exploiting it as cheap entertainment. When partners view porn, they aren’t sharing intimate moments with their partner, but instead having them alone with a computer screen.

Perhaps we’ve heard or made the excuses: “Nobody gets hurt. It only has to do with me.” But that is a wishful ideal that is just simply not true. How about all the women in the porn industry that are being abused, threatened, and coerced into being there? What about those caught in the sex trafficking industry and have had porn made of them unwillingly or even unknowingly?

What about the excuse, “It’s a healthy, natural release for me!” Not true either. Pornography is shown to actually rewire your brain and has been proven to be as addictive and harmful as hard drugs. The ideal that porn is a healthy sexual behavior is perhaps one of the most twisted rationalizations of our day, one that science is consistently proving otherwise.

There is actual scientific proof that watching porn is cheating. When someone is viewing porn, a pleasure chemical called oxytocin is released into the brain. Oxytocin is known to increase feelings of attachment, connection, and trust. Studies show that couples in a healthy and well-adjusted relationship exhibit much higher levels of oxytocin than those in a distressed relationship. Because the hormone is naturally released during sex, watching porn triggers the release of oxytocin as well, effectively bonding the person to that experience. Over time, the bond becomes stronger and stronger until it seems unbreakable. Meaning, a porn user is literally bonding themselves to a sexual experience coming from a computer screen, not from their partner.

We don’t know your definition of cheating, but when a person is sexually bonding to something other than their own partner, we would most definitely call that cheating.

Honestly, two people in a committed relationship is sexy. One person alone in front of their computer screen?

Not so much.

Bottom line: cheating doesn’t have to be a physical act. It can be emotional as well. And when it comes to porn, it very easily leads to both physical and emotional cheating. Not cool.

Love, sex, and intimacy is something that should be shared with no one (and nothing) else but your partner.

This post was taken from: http://fightthenewdrug.org/is-watching-porn-cheating-on-your-partner/#sthash.Y2irnBMA.dpbs

Youth-Produced Child Pornography on the Rise

4/1/2015

This report demonstrates an increase in sex videos and images depicting and distributed by children

Publication Information

Title: Emerging Patterns and Trends Report #1: Youth-Produced Sexual Content
Publication: Internet Watch Foundation
Author: Internet Watch Foundation
Date: 03/10/2015

The Study was carried out by Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in partnership with Microsoft and was initially designed to expand upon an earlier study carried out by IWF in 2012 which provided a snapshot of the availability of self-generated sexual content featuring young people online and the extent to which control over that content is lost once it has appeared online.

During the course of the Study, 3,803 images and videos were assessed as meeting the research criteria.

The key findings of the Study were as follows:

17.5% of content depicted children aged 15 years or younger.
85.9% of content depicting children aged 15 or younger was created using a webcam.
93.1% of the content depicting children aged 15 or younger featured girls.
46.9% of content depicting children aged 15 years or younger was Category A or B5 compared to 27.6% of content in the 16-20 years age range.
89.9% of the total images and videos assessed as part of the Study had been harvested from the original upload location and were being redistributed on third party websites.

What emerged from the data in this Study is an increasing trend for the distribution of sexually explicit content produced by younger children using laptop webcams which, due to the nature of the technology used, they are aware is being shared with at least one other party. To reflect this finding, we instead propose a new definition of “youth-produced sexual content” as: “Nude or semi-nude images or videos produced by a young person of themselves engaging in erotic or sexual activity and intentionally shared by any electronic means.”

This post is taken from: http://pornharmsresearch.com/2015/03/5706/