Urban Christianz Ministries

Resisting Temptation

How do you really resist temptation?  What are some ways you can get out of a bad situation or avoid becoming involved in something that you really don't want to be doing in the first place?  Read on to find some helpful tips and hints so that you'll be ready the next time you face temptation:

How do you really resist temptation?  The first part is easy - you have to want to.  Temptation will always defeat you if you really don't want to resist it in the first place.  If you really think nothing is wrong with over-drinking, indulging in drugs or having sex before marriage, then you won't stop.  So, check your attitude - do you really want to resist or are you happy with your life just the way it is?  Okay - ready to resist?  Here's what you do:

1.  Identify Things That Tempt You.

Peer Pressure

How many of you feel pressured by your friends?  Or do you sometimes pressure them to get your way?

Peer Pressure.  We've all felt it and we've all made someone else feel it, too.  Why do we give in?  What can we do to be more like 'ourselves' and less like the crowd?

First - why we give in.  We give in to it because everybody likes to belong.  We all want to feel like we fit in, that people like us, that someone cares about our day-to-day lives.  So we get in a clique or start hanging out with some friends.  But, this has its dark side - sometimes people are so desperate to fit in, they are willing to say or do things they probably normally would not do. And you might be one of those people or you might even be influencing someone else to do something they wouldn't normally do.  You definitely don't want that.  It's better to be out than 'in' with a crowd you don't necessarily like. 

What can you do to be more like yourself and less like the crowd?

Rock The Culture Cartoon

This is a cartoon that I find pretty interesting.  It updates weekly and gives politcal and Christian commentary on world events.  Check it out:

Here is the website, if you want to review their archives: http://www.radicallyreal.com/amok/rocktheculture.html

Overcoming Struggles With School

By Violet T. Barry

I struggle with institutionalized learning. I realized that I have a short attention span when it comes to subject matters that I feel do not equip me with practical everyday knowledge that can promote revolution in my community. It’s not surprising that I have been struggling with whether or not I am college material. Even though I graduated from high school 11 years ago at the top 10% of my graduating class as an honors magnet student, it meant very little to me because it was during some of the darkest years in my teenage life. In a matter of fact, I was rarely present at school during my high school years.

I had planned on dropping out of high school during my 9th grade year. It had gotten to the point where I did not sleep at night and was on my toes trying to be prepared for what I might have to go through in the late night hours. The top graduating students of my class stepped in and took a special liking to me after I told them off about how stuck up and arrogant I thought they were. They started meeting me in the evenings at a private library and giving me my homework assignments and project information. I would only show up to do my presentations and take major exams. Everything else was turned in, on my behalf, through one of them.

The Real Cost of Premarital Sex

How can something that feels so good be so wrong? Isn't being in a committed relationship the same thing as being married?  Many teenagers are faced with these questions when it comes to making the decision whether or not to have sex.  It's kinda hard to say no when you are in love, engaged, attracted to or committed to someone.  So why should you wait?  Here are some reasons why:

The Purpose of Sex

Simply put, God's purpose for sex was so that human beings could have children.  He gave us the commandment to 'be fruitful and multiply' (Genesis 1:22) and, as an extra bonus, he made sex pleasurable for both men and women.  Men and women are uniquely designed to enjoy the sexual act with one another and a significant bonding occurs when a couple has sex.  But the effect is not equal!  Women feel one thing the morning after and men feel something entirely different.

What Happens When You Have Sex

One of the hormones released during sex is Oxytocin.  Oxytocin causes a person to want to touch and be touched.  Oxytocin also causes a person to become emotionally, physically and emotionally bonded to the person he or she has had sex with.  So, both men and women feel close to their partner after sex, but men also produce the hormone vasopressin, which causes them to feel 'responsible' for the person they have had sex with.  It's a good thing when that man is married, but not when he is single.  The last thing most single men want to feel is 'responsible' for a woman they are casually dating. Sometimes, that feeling of responsibility may drive the man away if he is not serious about the person he is dating. Because of these hormonal interactions, women usually feel more 'clingy' after sex and men seem more 'distant'.

Teenage Pregnancy and STDs

Here are some of the other potential downfalls to having premarital sex:  In 2000, 84 out of every 1,000 females between the ages of  15-19  became pregnant.  This is not to say that you do not want or would not take care of your child.  But wouldn't want your child to be in a home with both parents, if at all possible?  So, you can get pregnant or you could cause someone to be pregnant.  Or, you could get a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD).

Cell Phone Do's and Dont's for Teens

There are certain things people just shouldn't do with cell phones!  Like talking in the grocery store line while trying to pay for your groceries, talking in church (like nobody will notice!), talking while driving and eating and talking to the people in the car and talking in the middle of class!

Hey - I love my cell phone as much as anybody else, but people are starting to go overboard!  You can't have a conversation with a person before their cell phone rings and then they get text messages and then they have to surf the web and then their voice mail goes off because the phone was too busy to receive any actual calls.  Come on!  Enough is enough.

And, in that spirit, following is Young Urbanz's official lists of Cell Phone Do's and Dont's (please don't take this list personally - but if you do, then you know that problem applies to you!):

Don't:

1. Talk on your cell phone at church

2. Talk on your cell phone in class (you're disturbing us, too!)

3. Talk about your mother when there are mothers around you.

4. Talk about kids when there are kids around you.

5. Talk and eat.

6. Talk when there is a home phone less than 1 foot away from you.

7. Talk on the bus at the top of your lungs (we all have to ride with you at least a few more stops - have pity on us!)

8. Talk to your old boyfriend when your new boyfriend is around.

9. Talk to your old girlfriend when your new girlfriend is around.

10. Talk to your parents and then pretend to lose the connection so you don't have to talk to them anymore!

Do: