What About My Body?

And in case you think she's been driving it around like a grandma, she confesses, sometimes she goes 120 miles an hour. [Laughter] how come her car's lasted so long? She's done all the scheduled maintenance, and she stands and watches as it's done... Taking very good care of car. She also, whenever she buys a part, she gets the lifetime warranty, so she's been through seven midas mufflers, three sets of sears shocks and 14 j.c. Penney batteries, all for the price of one.

You know, it's amazing how long a car can last if you take good care of it. Makes you wonder, how long will our bodies last if we take good care of them? Good question for us to consider in M.I.Q. Welcome, friends. How can I know that God is listening? Did I come from apes or prehistoric sludge? Can the Bible be trusted? What should I do with my life? College? Cars? A job? Can I ever be perfect? Can I make a difference? [Questioning simultaneously] ...or what? Announcer: "M.I.Q.": Your questions, God's answers. Does it matter what I wear? Who I date? What I eat? These are good questions for every body.

Join us now for M.I.Q. Hello, everybody. This is M.I.Q.: Amazing Facts for teens. I'd like to welcome our audience here in cedar lake, Michigan and also those of you who are watching on various television networks and online, thank you for joining us again. And we'd like to hear from you.

If you have a Bible question, you can go to the M.I.Q. Teens website, miqteens.com, and you can post your question online. You can also send us a text message with your question. The number is 760-523-2287. And friends, if you go to the M.I.Q. Teens website, be sure to look at the various resources that we have online. If you've missed any previous programs, you can see the archive of the earlier ones. Just click on the link that says, "archive programs." We have a theme song that we like to sing at the beginning of each of our programs, and I'm going to invite our song leaders to please come forward at this time. Immediately following The Song, Jordan will be having our opening prayer.

Let's stand as we sing together, "Jesus is the answer." When I gaze up at the countless stars or on an endless sea my mind may swim with questions bewildering to me but then I read the Bible and seek your face in prayer I'm satisfied remembering your loving grace and care whatever questions I may have whether great or small I know Jesus died to save me and that he forgave me Jesus is the answer to it all Jesus is the answer to it all I have so many questions I wonder in my heart how something comes from nothing when did forever start why can't I see your glory where is the promised land I trust that you will lead me there if I can take your hand whatever questions I may have whether great or small I know Jesus died to save me and that he forgave me Jesus is the answer to it all Jesus is the answer to it all dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity for us to come together and learn more about you here at "M.I.Q." Please be with pastor Batchelor. Bless His Words. I ask that you pour down the Holy Spirit to everyone listening to the message tonight. Help them to gain a blessing. Thank you for being such an amazing God.

In Jesus' Name, amen. Pastor Doug: amen. Thank you very much. Kelly, our singers, Jordan, for having our prayer and thank you for joining us, friends. We're very glad for everybody that is here, for our most important question program.

By the way, I was talking to our office, and we're going to post the words and the guitar chords for The Song. Some were wondering if they can play along. And there might be some of you who are watching -- we've got a lot of young people, very talented and sophisticated with computers, have some of those programs that will convert a melody to sheet music. You want to take that on, and help us do that, we'd appreciate it, and then we can post the music as well as the guitar chords and the words, of that song. It's kind of been evolving during the program.

Mm hmm, it has. Well Pastor Doug, I think we're ready for questions and let's get right to it. Hi, my name's cindy, and my question is: where do we draw the line in cosmetics? Like, how much is too much? I don't know. Do you think I've got too much on? [Laughter] normally this question should just apply to the girls. We hope, right? But when I do television, I've got such a big part in my head that they said that I shine if they don't put a little powder up there.

What's the principle for makeup? And for cosmetics? Well, I think that first of all, Christians want to look healthy, they want to be as natural as possible. So the idea would be, you know, if there's some formal occasion and you want to look your best, I don't believe it's a sin to do something to try to improve your natural, healthy appearance. When you start doing all the sparkles and blue and green goo, then it just doesn't look very natural. Now, some of this is my opinion, but there is a Scripture. The Bible tells us that jezebel painted her face and they threw her out the window.

[Laughter] so I'll let you apply that any way you want. Isn't that true? Is that 2 Kings...? You search for it: it's in there. It's in 2 Kings. All right. Well, let's take a look at our next question today.

This is a question that has come from miami, florida. Well, obviously, if a person has accepted Christ, and they have everlasting life -- Jesus says, "I come to give you peace." Now, Paul talks about a "peace that passes understanding." Over and over Jesus said, "fear not. Don't be afraid." So if we're believers, we shouldn't be afraid. We shouldn't have fear. But if you do not have the Lord in your life -- and then you've got the devil and all his minions tormenting you, it'd be perfectly normal for you to be uncomfortable about the approaching end.

Matter of fact, I wouldn't want you to be at peace if you're on your way to destruction. I'd be pleading with you to come to Christ and find that peace. So it depends on where you are in your relationship with God. All right. That's how you're gonna view the end of the world.

Let's take a look at the next one. Hi, my name is Danielle, and my question is, if somebody commits suicide, and they don't know that it's a sin, will it be held against them for eternity? Wow. That's a heavy question. I think all of us here probably know of somebody, or might even have someone in the family, that made this terrible mistake. Now, God looks on the heart.

I want to be careful to preface my comments by saying, God looks on the heart, and so we really can't judge externally. But typically, suicide represents someone who has entered a hopeless and faithless experience. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Now, there can be exceptions. You know, sometimes a person maybe has had an accident or they're going through so much pain, or you know, there could be some medication or some chemical imbalance and that's why -- you know, you've got to be very careful.

But if you have ever contemplated suicide as a way to end your problems, that is exactly what the devil wants you to think, because as long as you've got life -- the Bible says, "a living dog is better than a dead lion." Where there is life, there is hope. When you commit suicide, you have permanently sealed your problems. Because if you die, first of all, if the last act of your life is self-murder, that's not very good hope for your future. Isn't it a sin to commit murder? And that would include yourself. And if you think, "by committing suicide I'm gonna relieve my problems," your next conscious thought is the resurrection of the lost and your problems have been permanently sealed.

So please, don't ever let the devil make you think, "it'll get better by killing myself." It's the opposite. And in cases where you may know someone that's made that decision, just put it in God's hands, because you know, you just have to trust the Lord and wait until that time comes. Now, there's a difference also between a suicide and a sacrifice. Some people say, "well Jesus laid down his life. Isn't that a suicide?" No.

He sacrificed his life. He was killed by others. Samson stretched out his arms, knocked down the building, laid his life down, but he did it to defeat God's enemies from their people. It was more of a sacrifice. So, difficult question.

Hope that helps a little. Thank you, Pastor Doug. Let's see our next question. And this is a question that's come from freehold, in New Jersey. Or you might be wondering, "is there a biblical reason?" Well, our family, as a practice, does not go to the theater or movies, and it's not that there is never a good production of a dvd or some program out there.

We're producing some programs right now. How many of you like orange juice? Anyone like orange juice? I oughtta word it that way. Okay. Do you buy your orange juice at a bar? Can you get orange juice at a bar? Trust me, I know, you can. I used to drink.

They use it to make screwdrivers. But I don't buy my orange juice there anymore, because I'm a Christian and it's too expensive. It's also too expensive and it's a bad environment. Most of what they show in the typical theater these days is not g-rated, family and appropriate. Matter of fact, you can take most of the popular movies, based on the principles we laid down of purity and nobility and true -- last night, not too many good things out there.

And so, you're gonna pay too much, it's not a good witness, and it's probably not a very good environment. So those are some reasons, I think, if there is something good, that rare thing that's produced that's good, wait until it comes out on dvd. For $1, the whole family can watch it. All right. Well Pastor Doug, I think we have one more question that we can take a look at.

And the question is: well, this is very important. You know, I won't ask for a show of hands, but I bet everybody here can relate to that. You make a mistake... You're sorry... You tell God.

.. You ask him to forgive you... He forgives you... You feel better... Then you do the same thing.

And you come back and you knock on heaven's door and you say, "lord, I know you hate to see me coming again, but I did it again." You know, it's that way with gossip. Sometimes we feel bad when we gossip, say, "lord, help me. I'm sorry. Forgive me." Then, you know, you turn around, before two hours go by and you do it again. "Oh lord, I'm sorry.

Please help me," and then you do it again and you think, "lord, I'm not even gonna bother you anymore, because you're probably tired of seeing me come with the same sin, asking for forgiveness." Wrong. God will not get tired of forgiving you as long as you are sincere about being sorry. What typically happens, though, is we presume on God's forgiveness and we start taking it for granted and it can get to the place where we can lose our capacity to be sorry for that thing. But don't think that God is tired of seeing you sincerely come to him for repentance. We may often have to weep and kneel at the feet of Jesus and say, "lord, I made the mistake again.

" Mary magdalene -- the Bible says Jesus cast seven devils out of her. And that's seven different times she came. She had fallen back into the old behavior. God is long suffering to us. He loves you.

How often will a parent forgive their child? Look how patient our parents are. God loves you more than any earthly parent. If you make the same mistake again and again, keep coming. You know how many times I quit smoking before I quit smoking? Who was it? Mark twain that said, "quitting smoking is easy. I've done it a hundred times.

" It's staying quit. But I finally did quit for good. So I'm so thankful that I didn't give up on God and he didn't give up on me. Don't get discouraged with yourself. Amen.

Time's up. Well thank you, Pastor Doug. I'm sorry I went long. That's all right. If you have a Bible question, you can go to the m.

i.q. Teens website -- you can post it online -- or send us a text message. Those of you who are watching, the number is 760-523-2287. Pastor Doug, the time is yours. Thank you very much, Pastor Ross.

You know, he's a pretty good racquetball player. We played today. He hits the ball so hard that it breaks. [Laughter] we flew out here, we just didn't bring enough. Anyway, to our lesson for tonight.

Did you know that you experience life in your body? And if you take good care of your body, you'll enjoy your life more. Last night, we talked about your thinking: the inside, your mind, purity of heart. Tonight, with the help of God, we're gonna cover a broad spectrum of issues dealing with "what does the Bible say about how I can take care of my body so I can enjoy an abundant life?" And you pray for me because I've got a lot of things to talk about and I'm going to be very honest with you, and share with you from my personal experience what I've learned -- some things the hard way -- about taking care of our bodies. Why don't we start with just talking about something basic, like eating? Now, eating is something that we all do. I'm assuming most of us do it, right? But there needs to be even some self-control, and there are some Bible guidelines on what to eat and how to eat.

And to do it for strength and for health. Question number one in our lesson. Let's go there. Well, you know, it tells us in 1 Corinthians, "whatever you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God." We've got another verse here from Genesis 1:29. It gets into some of the specifics.

Now, the original diet for man was what you'd call a vegetarian diet. It was fruits, grains, nuts, beans. Vegetarian diet. Later, after sin, God then added vegetables. Now, I want to tell you from personal experience, my body is exhibit "a" of an experiment.

I know that scares you. But I grew up eating all of the wrong things. I have eaten everything and anything that could crawl across your plate. Matter of fact, rich people -- my dad was a millionaire, and they'd take us out to these fancy restaurants, and I've eaten snails... I've eaten frogs.

.. I've eaten turtle steak... I've eaten catfish. We used to catch them in our backyard. I've eaten rattlesnake, though I didn't get that in a -- squirrel.

I mean, I could go down the line. Ants. All kinds of things. And growing up -- now, that was kind of rare. I didn't do that everyday.

And growing up, I'm ashamed to say, my breakfast, for a good part of the time, was a twinkie and a cup of tea. And I wondered why I went to 14 different schools. I did so poorly. I was just bouncing off the walls the first period, and then I'd have -- I'd crash, you know, when all the caffeine wore off and all the sugar wore off. And then I was depressed and I couldn't perform, and it -- finally, I moved into the hills when I became a teenager.

And because I had no refrigeration, I didn't have enough money, I started eating a simple vegetarian diet. I started feeling like I'd been born again. My mind was clear. I could think clearly. I wasn't going through these cycles of ups and downs and depression.

I felt so much better. My endurance was better. I was getting fresh air, sunshine, exercise. And I felt great. Then I moved back to the city, and of all things -- it's a long story -- I got involved in a meat business where I sold steak.

And I started eating steak three times a day because I had the best cuts for myself. I was eating New York steak for breakfast, and t-bone for lunch, and filet mignon for dinner. And I'd top it off, and I'm not exaggerating, with a half-gallon of ice cream. You know, it's amazing what you could eat. Teenagers -- their stomachs, I think, are that big.

And I felt awful. And then I started studying into it and I went back to the diet I had when I lived up in the mountains, and I've been on that ever since. And I feel a lot better. For a guy with six grandkids, I'm in pretty good shape. And so, I've learned some things.

The original diet that God had really will promote a long life. It's a pretty well established fact now that vegetarians live longer. It's just that simple. By the way, some of the greatest athletes in the world -- I got a few facts here that I saw. You've heard of dave scott? He holds the record for the most ironman world championship victories.

How many of you know what the ironman competition is? That's where you run -- let me see... 2.4-mile swim. That's a long swim. 112-Mile bike ride, topped off with a 26-mile marathon run. And this fellow, who was a vegetarian, has won it six times.

He tried it one more time in his 40s... Came in second place. That's phenomenal when you think about it. How many of you have heard of carl lewis? The olympic champion who won, what was it, seven -- no, ten olympic medals over his career. Nine of them gold medals.

His best year, he said, he adopted not only a vegetarian but a vegan diet. And so, following a Bible pattern -- now, the Bible doesn't say it's a sin for you to eat meat or dairy products. I personally think you're better off, because from my experience and a lot of data supports that. But if you're going to be eating meat, the Bible specifies what kind of animals they should be. You can read, for instance, in Genesis 7:2, when they went on the ark, back in the days of Noah, it says: the clean animals were taken by sevens, and the unclean by twos.

Now, that's because Noah was Jewish and he just wasn't allowed to eat kosher food, and so they took extra clean animals for him to eat. Was Noah Jewish? How many people here related to Noah, I just want to check? You know, we're all cousins, aren't we? Through Noah. And it did him pretty good. I mean, he lived 900-plus years. The original diet for man was not only a vegetarian diet, but God said, "you should only be eating.

.. If you're gonna eat meat, the animals that are clean." And so God gave some criteria, and the Bible outlines, and it's in your lesson book, "what are the clean and the unclean animals?" Some of you might be thinking, "well Pastor Doug, doesn't the Bible say that if you pray, God will sanctify what you eat through prayer"? And I've got some dear friends that believe that. But you know what? I'll ask them, "so you mean to tell me that it doesn't matter what you eat, that you could eat -- doesn't matter how much sugar, how much cholesterol, how often, how frequently -- you just pray, and it's all of a sudden good"? "Well, yeah, God says it's sanctified by the Word of God." So, if your children, before they go to school, fill a bowl with count chocula and then begin to heap the sugar on their count chocula, and then they begin to pour some chocolate syrup on top of that, and you say, "whoa wait a second, let's not get carried away." And they say, "but I'm gonna pray before I eat it." No parent would accept that. Obviously it's gonna have an effect. Now, there's nothing wrong with eating sweets, a little bit.

The Bible says, "eat honey for it is good; don't eat too much honey, lest you vomit." So these things, you know, you need to use common sense and do things in moderation. Also when you eat, eat for strength at regular times. If you're kind of just noshing all day long, you're stomach doesn't get to rest. I have found that -- I feel so much better -- I wish I knew when I was younger what I know now. I think it probably would have added several years to my life.

I just eat principally two real meals a day. I just had a few grapes and a granola bar before the program, because I'm still on California time. And I feel good, and then you get exercise. You got to balance that with -- you gotta get some good, vigorous exercise. Now, the reason I'm spending some time on this today -- you know what the number one killer is in North America? It's not starvation.

You can sum up the number one killer to, not a lack of food, but too much food. We are living in one of the only generations in the history of mankind where more people are dying from abundance. There are so many things to eat and there are so many refined foods. And there's so much sugar in the food, and you know, even childhood obesity is epidemic, which is leading to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stress, and you name i, the whole gamut of diseases, can be traced to eating too much of the wrong things and not getting enough exercise. A sedentary society: sometimes the only exercise we get is the remote control and the mouse, right? I know we eat, study, so having regular times to eat, and eating the right foods.

.. And soda pop, you know, it's like liquid candy -- y'all know that. That's one of the biggest offenders. And I'm not saying that it's a sin, you understand? But you gotta realize what you're putting into your body because your body is the temple of God. You'll feel better -- you know what? Let me just -- I'm gonna cut this whole section short just by telling you something real quick.

What are some good reasons --? Seven reasons to take care of your body: be careful what you eat... Your exercise... What you drink... Number one: you'll serve God more efficiently, and that's the best reason, because you love the Lord and you want to serve him. Number two: you'll serve your fellow man better.

Number three: you will feel better. Number four: you'll look better. That's right: the older you get, the more responsible you are for the way you look. Number five: you'll have more money. Why? It's best to spend less money on junk food and less on doctors, groceries.

Number six: you'll live longer. Number seven: you will be more intelligent. You ever read that chapter in Daniel 1, where Daniel and his friends made some decisions not to eat the Babylonian food, but they were gonna eat basically a vegetarian diet? And after they were tested, they were ten times wiser than all the wise men in Babylon. And they had a lot of wise men in their kingdom back then. So, the Bible principles are, it does matter; what you eat and what you drink, and do it all to the glory of God.

"Eat for strength," the Bible says, "and not for drunkenness." You'll feel better, you'll look better. You'll... Live longer. You'll have a more abundant life. So I just wanted to mention a few principles, basic, broad principles you find in the Bible, about taking care of yourself.

Number two: now, someone's probably thinking right away, "well, doesn't Jesus... Didn't he turn the water into wine? That must mean it's okay." Let's read this here from Proverbs 23:31, it says: you can also read in Proverbs 20:1: "wine is a mocker; strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Now again, I am sorry, but I gotta tell you I know what I'm talking about. My father had a bar in his house when I was growing up. My mother... First time -- my first exposure to drugs was provided by my mom.

I'll maybe share more about that in another program. I grew up surrounded with it, and I was drinking -- I don't remember how young I was when I started drinking. My parents served them to me as a child as far back as I can go. I used to go around and clean out my dad's martini glasses when he would drink himself to sleep. Alcohol kills more young people than any other drug, all the other drugs combined.

Now, I'm not justifying any of them. But what scares me is every now and then I meet Christian young people and they say, "well, there's nothing wrong with a little alcohol. Jesus turned the water into wine." That is a myth that it was alcoholic. Jesus saved the best for last, and it doesn't mean the stuff that was strong proof. He gave them "new wine" at a time when it was unusual.

Matter of fact, at the Lord's supper, unleavened bread, unfermented grape juice -- Jesus said, Matthew -- oh, is that chapter 26? "I will not drink it again until I drink it with you new in my father's kingdom." New wine, in the Bible, was unfermented. Jesus would never make... 60 Gallons of booze for a party. No, everything -- matter of fact, think about this. If you want to know how Jesus feels about drugs, the salvation of our entire planet hung in the balance as Jesus was on the cross.

The devil wanted to do something to get Jesus to sin. And one of his last desperate attempts was, they soaked a sponge in some alcohol and they put it on a pole up to him. Maybe if he drank and was a little inebriated, he would curse God or do something wrong. He refused it. When he -- a lot of people would think, "boy, boy, if you ever needed some drugs right now for the pain, that would be a good time.

" But he wasn't gonna jeopardize our salvation by fogging his mind with a drug, and he turned away from it. It would have relieved his pain. the Lord wants us to have our minds clear. And so, do I need to go through all the drugs? I smoked a lot of pot -- used to grow it. I drank a lot of alcohol -- I used to make my own beer.

I learned how to do it at a boarding school one time. I won't tell you what the recipe is. [Laughter] l.s.d., Cocaine -- I never did use heroin. I saw what it did to my friends in New York city and it was very pathetic. But I went through the whole gamut of drugs, and you know what? All of my friends that did that, they've either -- they're dead, in prison, or they became losers, unless they got the victory over that.

I think it's clear to everybody here, drugs is just not the way to go if you want to take care of your body. I'm hearing we've got a text question that's coming in. So we're going to go to the screen and see what somebody's got on their mind. It says: [laughter] well, you know, they wanna be able to Market it if they didn't find a way to make it. If it tasted disgusting, they wouldn't sell them, would they? Of course it's tasty.

You know what they're finding out is, a lot of young people are getting so wound up on these energy drinks -- I've been reading some interesting things -- that some are even having car accidents because they get so hyped on them that finally when they do come down, they actually black out. And others are becoming very irritable. In class, they're pulling knives, and they're finding out that they were so tanked up on that stuff, it was like speed. And then, when the caffeine effect stops, it often leads -- you can't take money out of the bank and not pay the piper. And so if you take some kind of drink or something that's gonna give you a surge of energy, you're going to have a corresponding low.

The tide is going to go out. And if you have the tide come in a little extra far and you say, "hey, this is great, I feel a rush," the tide's gonna go out a little further. And so, you're never really coming ahead by doing those things. Best way if you want good energy is, get the exercise, eat good food. Your body will stabilize the chemicals, and you'll find that when you're awake, you're clear, you'll feel that energy; your mind is fresh.

So, by the way, anything that can become addicting is not good for you. You ever heard of somebody getting addicted to bananas? And you're talking to your friend, and they're looking real edgy and shaking in the class, and, "what's the problem?" "Get me a banana, quick. I gotta have one. I'll pay you whatever you want." Doesn't happen, does it? Nobody ever -- "what's the matter?" "Brussels sprouts. Get me some brussels sprouts, quick.

" [Laughter] people get addicted to what's bad for them, isn't that right? And so, any of these drugs -- that ought to tell you something right away: they're addicting. All right, question number three: 1 Peter 5:8, the Bible has some sage advise for that question. "Be sober, be vigilant." Whenever you find the word, "be" in the Bible, just remember this: God created the world by saying, "let there be light." "Let there be water, land," whatever it was. He spoke. And when he said, "be," it happened.

Man came to Jesus one time, said, "lord, I'm a leper, but if you want, you can make me clean." And the Lord said, "be clean." He was cleansed. So when God says in His Word, "be sober," if you're struggling with some kind of addiction, you think, "there's no hope for me," if God says, "be," you can be. It's true, friends. "Be sober, be vigilant," that means, be on your guard, "because your adversary the devil" is walking, he's prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour. And now the devil is devouring a whole generation of young people through drugs.

That's why God says, "be sober." If your mind is clear -- by the way, before I leave this subject, I'm gonna talk a little bit later about sex and dating and some of that stuff. Why do you think guys will often try to get a girl to drink a little bit when they go out on a date? Is that so her morale resolve will be strengthened? Or do they know very well that their moral resolve will be weakened? The devil knows that, too. Our moral fortitude, our power, our intellect to resist temptation is eroded by drugs. Matter of fact, even eating well will give you more power to resist temptation. Taking care of your body.

When did the devil come to Jesus to tempt him? After fasting 40 days when he was hungry in the wilderness; low blood sugar, tired. The devil came at him then. So the devil tries to get us when we're weak and tired, or under the influence, and that's what drugs will do to you. So "be sober, be vigilant." Alright, question number four: a lot of times when someone is approached about biblical standards of Godly living, they'll say, "well, you need to have balance." And what they mean by balance, is they said, "you need to just balance a little bit of drugs with a little big of sobriety, and you need to balance a little bit of adultery with a little bit of morality, and you need to balance..." And their idea of balance is, you balance your sin with your episodes of obedience. That's not what the Bible means when it talks about balance.

You do need a balanced life, but balance would be, you don't want to spend all day studying. Study is good. You want to balance your study with exercise. You don't want to spend all day long talking to your friends and not do any work. Friends are good and you need to do that, but you want to balance that with being industrious and doing your work.

So yes, a Christian should be balanced. But don't ever use that word "balance" as a code word for mixing in a little bit of sin, so you're not too Godly. That's not how God uses it. But yes, we should have lives that are balanced, and that'll add balance to your life through Christ. Alright, question number five: I always enter this subject with fear and trepidation.

What does the Bible say? 1 Peter, we're talking about our bodies, including what you put on them. 1 Peter 1 15:16: "but as he who has called you is holy, so you should be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'be holy,'" there's that word again, "be." "Be holy," God says, "for I am holy." Is God calling us to be holy? Is that Scripture clear? He's saying, "be holy." As a matter of fact, "I'll empower you." You know, the Lord will never, ever, ever ask you to do something without giving you the power to do what he's asking you to do. Wouldn't that be cruel? If a parent said to some child, "look, I want you to run over there and turn that light on." But the light's over the child's head. And he says -- the kid's jumping up and down and says, "I can't reach it." The Father comes over and smacks him to the ground and says, "I told you to turn on that light." Wouldn't that be cruel? Is God gonna punish us for not doing something that we are incapable of doing? Every time -- it's encouraging. Every commandment of God should make you happy because that means you are able to do everything he's asking you to do.

How much can you do through Christ? All things. Now, we're gonna talk a little bit about clothing. Does it matter what we wear as Christians? Why do we wear clothes at all? I lived -- I have told you. I know what I'm talking about. I bet not too many of you can say that you went a year without clothes.

I can. I lived up in the hills, and I just ran around in my birthday tuxedo most of the time. [Laughter] and you know, first time I did it, I said, "you know, this isn't right." I grew up like you, wearing clothes, but I was with a hippie movement back then. I thought, "I'm gonna find God through nature." And I thought, "this is natural." And so I just took off all my clothes and... [Laughter] I wasn't the only hippie that would be up in the hills like that.

Every now and then I'd run into somebody else, and they didn't have their clothes on sometimes, too. And I wanna tell you right now, it's really hard to talk to someone else that's naked and act like you don't notice. [Laughter] you know, I'd be hiking down the trail, and all I had -- I always wear my boots. I had my hiking boots because there was cactus up in the mountains. And I had a little backpack and I'd just be hiking around the mountains up there, just naked, and sometimes I'd run into other people.

They were usually hippies and they'd try and act like, "hey, yeah, hi, how're you doing?" And they try and act like they don't notice or -- and you know what? I just wanna tell you right now, it ain't right. It's just, it's not normal. Every animal is born with clothes on or they grow from the inside out. Humans are the only creature that sort of puts their clothes on from the outside. In the beginning when man sinned, when we were made, we had robes of light.

Adam and eve had glorious robes of light, and when they sinned, the light faded and they saw each other's nakedness. And then they went, "this is embarrassing." They even -- they were married! They said, "this ain't right." They went and found fig leaves. And God said, "no, guys, fig leaves aren't gonna work. You don't know this yet, but they're gonna shrivel." Nothing had died yet. And he had to sacrifice some lambs to cover their skin.

By the way, adam and eve, it says, they made aprons of fig leaves. So they were wearing the little cooking aprons and God said, "no, the fig leaf mini skirts aren't gonna do." And it says he gave them tunics, robes of skin. Something had to die to cover them. It's a whole 'nother story, but that represents, Jesus died to cover our nakedness. By the way, the only thing Christ left behind in this world was a blood-stained robe.

And that was all left for you and for me. So when you think about why we wear clothes, the reason we're doing it is, first of all, modesty. If it got really hot in here, I hope that you're not gonna all start throwing your clothes off. We wear it for protection. If it was too cold we'd want more clothing.

Clothing also sometimes represents a uniform, your status and things like that. But for a Christian, there are some principles in your clothing. You want it to be neat... You want it to be clean... You want it to be modest.

Styles change but you don't want it to be revealing for the purpose of advertising. Now, the styles in our culture today, it kinda goes to the extreme of that, doesn't it? And so there should be a principle. You don't look at the world around and say, "you know, every new fad and fashion that comes along, that's what I'm going to follow." Christians, in their clothing should be modest, it should be appropriate. It doesn't have to be the cheapest clothes. You don't have to wear bags.

I think it's okay to buy quality clothing. By the way, Jesus' robe, it says, was so nice they decided not to tear it up. They said, "this is pretty good quality. We'll clean the blood off. Let's gamble, see who gets it.

" And so Jesus had a nice robe. But those are just some basic principles. 2 Corinthians 6:17, it says... And so the Lord is asking us to be a little different. Christians are called a peculiar people.

And that doesn't mean you need to dress peculiar. But you know, how do I say this to you? I remember one time I was in a restaurant, I was talking to a Christian friend and the waitress came over to us and she was wearing that waitress uniform they wore in that restaurant. She took our order and she left and I said to my friend, "I think she's a Christian." He said, "I was thinking the same thing." And she came back, brought our order, and we said, "are you a Christian?" She looked a little embarrassed. And she said -- she wondered why we're asking. She said, "well, yes, I am.

" She said, "why do you ask?" We said, "you just look like one." There was something about her. She not only was -- she wasn't all duded up, and she looked simple and clean. She had a glow of happiness and peace about her and cheerfulness that we just knew. And Christians ought to carry themselves that way. And everything about who you are -- when you love Christ, you are a walking advertisement for Jesus.

You're called to be a witness. So it does matter, you know? Not only what you eat and what you drink, but even what you wear. You wanna take care of your bodies. All right -- by the way, a little practical tip: you don't wanna wear something that's so tight you can't breathe... Or run or something like that.

Your clothes ought to fit -- well, I'll get to that later. All right, question number six. 1 Peter 3:3-4, he says... You know, God is calling us to -- really, the adorning ought to be the inner adorning. Now, we got a question in just a minute that's gonna talk about tattoos and piercing.

And so this sort of overlaps a little bit. Peter just addressed the wearing of gold. And someone, no doubt, is gonna say, "well, what about Christian jewelry?" Or, you know, "how much jewelry?" Or "is it wrong to pierce your body?" You always wanna ask, "what would Jesus do?" Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit... And we wanna treat them that way. And so that's that principle for simplicity.

Philippians... Philippians 2:3. Now, the reason we included this Scripture is because people sometimes can deliberately dress to try to accentuate their curves, their sexuality. That is a big thing in our culture. A matter of fact, if one girl comes up to another girl and say, "oh, nice outfit, very sexy," it's taken as a compliment.

Am I right? But you know, the Bible says that if a man looks on a woman to lust in his heart -- adultery begins in the mind and it can happen with looking. We all know the story about king David looking off his roof and seeing bathsheba bathing. And just from looking he invited her home and it turned into adultery and then it turned into murder, it turned into the death of four of his sons. And it started with a lustful look. And then, you got a good story about Joseph, who.

.. This woman, wealthy woman throwing herself at him. And he said, "I'm not gonna sin against God. And he ran away from her so that he wouldn't be tempted. Bible says "flee from temptation.

" Now, girls are... You know, girls can be attracted visually. Not exactly the same way as the mind and chemicals in a boy and how he operates. But boys are attracted especially to, something about the curves in a woman's figure. That's why guitars are curvy.

You don't ever say something square is sexy, do ya? Right? If you see a sexy sports car it's usually, it's got the curves. And I don't understand. It's kind of a miracle how God designed that, but if it is a sin for a man -- let's just pick on the boys for a minute -- to look upon a girl and especially be distracted by her accentuating her attractive curve or the... Well, you get the idea. [Laughter] .

..then what if a girl deliberately is dressing to see how many guys she can make stumble through the day? So you might have one guy that's looking and he has to go home and repent and that one girl could be strutting around campus and making lots of guys stumble in their hearts in their relationship with the Lord. Why would you wanna do that deliberately? And guys, it goes both ways, because girls also, you know, can be attracted. And there's a place for that, and it's in marriage. So it does make a difference what we wear. Is it wrong to follow a style? Styles change and you know, there's a lot of styles that are probably harmless in themselves.

And I'm always way behind trying to catch up and figure out. My wife and my mother-in-law and others are saying, "doug, we bought you clothes." Because I scare them sometimes when I dress myself. I have no sense of taste. But... So it's not that every new style is bad, but you wanna apply the principles of modesty, that you can represent Jesus, and I've said enough about that.

We're gonna move along. Talking about our bodies. Now, your body's the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture's clear enough all by itself. Leviticus 19:28, can this be misunderstood? Even back -- tattooing goes back to the early history of man.

And your body's the temple of the Holy Spirit. Is it just my imagination or has... Have more and more tattoo parlors been springing up everywhere? And everybody's getting tattoos. And I think it's so sad, frankly. And I'm not here to criticize people who have done that.

God can forgive you. He loves you. You can have some of them removed. There'll be people in heaven with tattoos. Do y'all hear me? I'm not consigning if you've gotten tattoo, that person's going to hell.

I'm just telling you God says not to do it. Why? Your body's the temple of the Holy Spirit. What would you think, you have this beautiful, marble, white pure temple and then all of a sudden some kid looks over his shoulder both ways and he runs up with a can of spray paint and he paints a dragon on it? You know, that's kind of defacing something. It's called vandalism; it's a crime. Your body is made by God.

Now we talked about tattoos. By the way, I don't know anybody who has had a tattoo for 30 years that if they couldn't get rid of it, wouldn't. If they could wish it off, they'd probably be thankful to get rid of it. There may be some out there but, you know what? As the older you get, those tattoos they kinda run and they fade and they all sort of look like antique maps after a while. "What does that say? What is that?" And it's kind of sad that you've got that on your body forever.

And... Alright, enough said. Cuttings in our flesh. I guess I was one of the last ones to hear that that's a real problem. Principally among girls, but also among boys where they cut themselves.

And that is connected to piercing to some extent. We're all aware of that. You know, in the Bible when people worship the devil, you can find examples where they would cut themselves. You read the story about Elijah on Mount Carmel with the prophets of baal in the book of 1 Kings. And it says that when the prophets of baal, these pagan prophets, wanted to get their pagan deity, to get his attention, they leaped on the altar, they took lances and they cut themselves until they bled.

You can read about this demon-possessed man in Mark chapter five. It says, always, he was going about the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself. And so, this obsession with piercing and cutting our bodies, that's... What would Jesus do? Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And in case you didn't know it, God spent a lot of time at the drawing board designing your body perfectly with the appropriate number of holes.

He didn't plan on you to add your own later. He gave you the right number to begin with, right? We shouldn't add to that or diminish from it. So... Enough said on that, I suppose. Number eight.

There it was, that word. Now, you know, i... I'm praying about how much to say. Maybe I'll say it this way. I wish I could go back in time.

I went to military schools and all the boys talked about was girls. And I didn't believe in God and I had this crazy idea that people were like salmon. The purpose for life was you had to spawn before you died. Kinda pathetic when you think about it. The whole purpose was sex.

And I thought, "the sooner, the better, and the more the merrier." You know, guys like to brag about their list of... Of conquests. But you know, once a person becomes a Christian, and guys and girls invariably they say they wish they could go back in time because they regret that they've given away something sacred, that you can only have that one first experience with, and it's supposed to be with your wife. I lived during that hippy era and I'll tell ya there's just a lot of heartache. I don't know how far I should go talking about the -- my dear wife knew I was gonna talk about this today.

She sent me something that maybe I should mention here. Some of these statistics about -- there's an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases. I'll tell you what, let me read this to ya. On a similar subject, do you know the largest consumer of internet pornography is teenagers, 12-17? The median age for the first use of pornography is boys, 11-13 and girls, they're only one year behind, 12-14. Pornography addicts -- and by the way, this is dr.

Mary ann linden was speaking before the senate committee and it's an epidemic in our country right now, a multi-billion dollar business: pornography on the internet. She said, "in some ways it is the most difficult addiction to recover from," because at least with cocaine, tobacco, alcohol you can get it out of your system. But with pornography it stays in your mind forever. It is serious business. Now, I'm just gonna talk to you heart-to-heart.

I realize the sexual drive is a very powerful drive. God gave it to you and he invented it, not the devil. It's a beautiful thing used the way God designed within that permanent relationship of marriage. Now, he also gave you the desire to eat, but there's a difference. They're both physical desires.

You can go a little while without eating, eventually you'll die. But believe it or not, you can go the rest of your life without sex, and you won't die from it. You might think you will, but you won't. It's an illusion. And you know what? I really feel sorry for you because it's so much worse now in your generation than my generation, which is not that long ago, because I have teenagers at home.

When I grew up we would every now and then see a fleeting reference to it. And if someone saw the centerfold of playboy, we just thought that was scandalous... Compared to what is available to young people today and how our society is saturated. And the sit-coms talk about sex like you're just shaking hands. "Hi, what's your name? Hi, pleased to meet you.

You wanna go sleep together?" It's treated as perfectly normal because we've all evolved and we're just animals, right? Isn't that was the culture's telling us? That's the devil behind that. This whole philosophy that we're just animals and we're perfectly normal and just go with the flow and see if you don't get caught. But you know, there are consequences for that... That affect you for the rest of your life. And there's a whole gamut, I think there's like 28 different sexually transmitted diseases that you can get.

Many of them are viral diseases. And if it's a viral disease, there may be drugs that will subdue the symptoms, but there's no drug to heal it. You know, back when I was growing up in the '60s, I think it was 1 out of 10 teenagers that were sexually active had a transmittable disease. But today, it's one out of four of active teens. That's an epidemic.

God has called you to holiness and purity. And he's asking you to trust him. This whole idea -- you're being bombarded by our culture with this idea that you've gotta do and have everything now -- is not true. The greatest happiness is gonna come in waiting. In waiting for that moment when the time is right and you got the blessing of God on your relationships.

And we have another program where we're gonna talk about relationships. But you know, I just wanted to share with you in closing. The Bible says in Romans 12 -- this, I think, is a very important verse -- "I beseech you, therefore," that means he's like begging us... "By the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice." God doesn't want a dead sacrifice; he wants you to have an abundant life. He says, "come to me just like you are.

" He says, "I want to... I not only want your mind, I want your body." He died to save your soul. It's all of you that he wants. But you know, God's not gonna force you. He's given you a mind, he's given you a will, and he has entrusted to your care for this life that body, made in his image.

Now how many of you would like a new body some day when Jesus comes? Would you like that? Then he wants you to take care of these temples that he's given you now. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says, you honor that temple, he'll give you a new one when he comes back: a glorified, immortal temple. But if we defile these temples, that's serious business. There's good news.

We've all made mistakes in what we eat and what we drink in how we live and maybe what we think. Jesus said he can give you a new start. He can make you pure and forgive you. You can come to him right where you are and get a new beginning in your mind and in your body. Praise God that he heals our bodies, amen? And I'd like to appeal to everybody here, those who may be watching, you can be a new creature through Christ in your mind and in you heart.

Follow the Lord. Thank you for watching this episode of M.I.Q. During our next presentation, we will be discovering what God has in store for your future. See you then. Announcer: video games, television, shopping, they all eat up precious time.

Well, why not take a much needed time out and get connected with God with the "most important questions" DVD series? A boxed set that includes ten one-hour presentations and a 126-page companion guide to the most frequently asked questions on God, the Bible and living a Christian life, presented by TV evangelist Doug Batchelor. To get your copy visit store.amazingfacts.org.