HELP! SHE’S STRUGGLING WITH PORNOGRAPHY
By Rachel Coyle
Day One. 63 pages. £2.00
ISBN 978 1 846 252 464
This readable little booklet highlights that pornography is increasingly a problem for women, with 17% of women saying they are struggling with pornography addiction.
The author spends the first half of the book outlining what pornography addiction is before offering practical biblical advice on how to overcome it. Rachel Coyle redefines ‘addiction’ from a biblical point of view as ‘slavery’ or ‘idolatry’, because, in her words, ‘when we label problems and struggles biblically, we realise that God provides solutions’. She goes on to identify the specific idols women are usually inadvertently worshipping when struggling with this sin. I liked the fact that, while managing to show just how damaging and sinful pornography is, she also offers great hope, with lots of specific Christ-centred advice for those in this battle.
HELP! MY TEEN IS GAY
By Ben Marshall
Day One. 59 pages. £2.00
ISBN 978 1 846 252 433
Ben Marshall aims to provide help for parents whose teen has just told them he or she is gay. The author emphasises that the world’s teaching on homosexuality is contrary to what the Bible teaches and that, in fact, in Christ there can be great hope for change.
He spends several pages countering the world’s views on homosexuality with biblical arguments, but the guidance on how to actually help your teen is a lot less detailed. The gospel is rightly at the centre of his advice and he stresses that pointing the teen towards Christ and repentance is key. However, I was left wondering how a parent could go on to help their child practically following such repentance. He only briefly mentioned extenuating circumstances with which the teenager may need help, but didn’t offer advice on this. Nevertheless, I don’t doubt that reading this would be a helpful starting point and probably, at 59 pages, that was all it was designed to be.
HELP! I’M A SINGLE MOM
By Carol Trahan
Day One. 60 pages. £2.00
ISBN 978 1 846 252 440
This was for me, of all the three booklets, the one I enjoyed reading the most. Perhaps this is because it is intensely personal, having been written by someone who was suddenly and tragically widowed while pregnant with her third child.
Carol Trahan’s aim is to bring comfort to single mums and get them to engage in spiritual warfare by meditating on God’s word and clinging to the promises found there. She urges the reader to fight for a God-centred mentality and trust in the sovereign Lord when everything around screams at you not to. Her honesty in recounting her own struggles makes this extremely accessible and gives weight to her words.
All three booklets have an appendix called ‘Personal Application Projects’ with questions to be worked through and further Bible passages to read.
Hilary Pethick,
Women’s and International Worker at Carey Baptist Church, Reading
