I grew up not celebrating the Easter Bunny and used to think I was somehow missing out on something important. I remember for the longest time being angry about it. The same went for Halloween and Santa Claus. But the older I get the more I appreciate having grown up under my mom’s convictions.

And I had to come into that understanding myself—after years of fighting it. Am I just being too conservative? Just a radical Christian?

But more I study who & what Eastre actually was (a pagan goddess of fertility who turned her bird into a bunny that laid colorful eggs for children) the more I am disheartened by how trivial this season has become—even in the Church.

• Churches dropping eggs from helicopters.
• Churches putting on egg ‘hunts’ consisting of tens of thousands of eggs.
• Churches celebrating with huge festivals and pictures with the Easter Bunny.

If the Church and the world are both engaged in the celebrating of eggs, candy and bunnies… who’s getting more play this weekend:

The Bunny or The Christ?

I understand Christians wanting to ‘take back’ Easter by bringing these customs into our churches. But are we belittling the magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice while we do it?

I work with women everyday who struggle with pornography and sexual addiction. Easily one of the most shameful and secretive struggles faced by a Christian.

When you have the Church and their nearly silent stance on pornography as it affects men, paired with women in the congregation being the ones who are addicted, what you’re left with is a hot soup of silence, isolation and shame.

Who can they to turn to when the world says it’s okay, and the Church is silent?

Not the Easter Bunny. But to the One who came and died… and more importantly rose again so that they could live life abundantly…. not in shame. The gift of freedom freely given and a Hand of Grace to lift them up.

That’s a celebration I can get behind.

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Isaiah 54:5-6

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

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UPDATE:

And the winner is. . .

Heather from Generate Hope

Congrats!

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE FREE STUFF?

We’re giving away 2 TICKETS ($198 value) to The Idea Camp: Sex in Las Vegas on September 27-28.

In a culture formed and broken by tainted views of human sexuality, what should followers of Christ embody? Join us for a fresh, honest and transformative conversation with leading thinkers on topics including sexual identity, orientation, abuse, gender perceptions, porn, marriage, family, prostitution, and slavery. The issues related to human sexuality are too often misunderstood, ignored, or avoided in far too many churches.

The Idea Camp will facilitate a safe and transparent environment of learning, sharing of insights from the respective fields of focus, and practical insights and examples of holistic care. From porn addiction to human sex trafficking, let’s see sexuality for what it was meant to be. Faciliators will include Crystal Renaud, Nicole Wick, Andrew Marin, Annie Lobert, Angus Nelson and more…

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tweet back to this post using the hashtag #DGMICSEX (or click here).

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A few ground rules:

• The giveaway is for tickets to the conference only. You must still find your own way there and a place to stay.
• UPDATE: Deadline to enter the drawing has been extended to Monday, September 13 at 10pm CST.
• We’ll draw the winner using random.org and announce the winner here on Tuesday, September 14 at 12pm CST.
• If the winner only needs 1 ticket, we’ll redraw for the extra ticket and announce the 2nd winner on Wednesday, September 15 at 12pm.
• If the idea of Las Vegas scares you, the conference itself is actually held in Henderson, NV at Central Christian Church. Not scary at all.

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If you don’t win these tickets – let me still HIGHLY encourage you to register and plan to attend The Idea Camp in Vegas. I know this is said about every conference, but I am confident is saying this conference will be like no other church conference before.

Use the promo code “ICFRIEND” to save 10% off the registration price.

Join DGM Founder and Director Crystal Renaud along with DGM Intern Jenny Miller as we walk through the book, “No Stones: Women Redeemed from Sexual Addiction” by Marnie C. Ferree. This book is a great resource for any woman who finds herself in the throes of sexual addiction and the group will serve as a great introduction to accountability.

We will meet via Tokbox (web conferencing) beginning Thursday, October 14 at 9pm CST for 12 weeks.

REGISTER NOW | ORDER BOOK

Last night I found a “goals” type of school paper I wrote when I was just 16 years old. Behind pretty words about my newfound faith and elaborate life goals hid a girl who was hopeless.

A girl entangled by pornography and sexual addiction.

I clearly remember when I wrote this paper. It was the beginning of my junior year. My teacher at the time “Mr. Boothe” asked us to write a paper on what we hoped to accomplish during the remainder of our high school careers and what we hoped to do after graduation… and beyond.

I had just come off the high of “getting saved” at church summer camp. I was ready for things to be different. Or at least perceived as such. No more being the quiet girl afraid that everyone would know about my dirty little secret. You see, I finally had a new mask to hide behind.

The mask was a “relationship with God.” When in reality the only relationship I had was with pornography and the men I manipulated in order to be close to me.

I began to play the part of the “good Christian girl.”
Surely no one would suspect me of having any secrets.

I had everyone fooled.
Including myself.

In the paper I write about how I wanted to save the school. Then go into the community and save everyone else. Show everyone how great God’s love is and tour the country as a worship leader and have a big Christian family.

And… and… and…

But I didn’t have God fooled.

He knew every bit of who I was and what I was hiding. Sure, I got saved at camp and I believed that some variant of that decision was real… He knew that I didn’t believe He could love me as much as everyone said He did. And even while I had heard at summer camp that “His grace was sufficient for me” — He couldn’t touch my sin.

No matter how “good” it all sounded, it was never enough for me to actually surrender my behavior. But it was certainly enough to hide behind. And it became increasingly easier to keep doing what I was doing all the while “repenting” with each unmentionable indiscretion.

When we go about our sinful behavior (perhaps even repenting before we’ve even acted out) we cheapen His grace.

We cheapen Him.

It would be another 2 years and numerous rock bottoms later before I really got it.