Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships: God's Prescription for Enhancing Your Love Life [Hardcover]

Chip Ingram (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

Straightforward, biblical help for building a relationship characterized by love, purity, and enduring qualities that beat the odds of our day. possible to enjoy love, sex, and a lasting relationship in the culture and times in which we live? In this new book, Chip Ingram examines why many relationships fail and highlights the principles couples need for breaking the trend. Whether single or single again, those who have heard Chip's teaching and radio ministry have reported significant help as a result of their exposure to these principles from God's Word. Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships covers: the secret to a lasting relationship (God's view vs. Hollywood's view); successful and unsuccessful strategies for finding ""the right person""; ways to know if you're in love or merely infatuated; why knowing the difference between love and sex makes all the difference; how to be sexually pure in a sex-saturated society; why sex is such serious business to God; revolutionary ways to attract and relate to the opposite sex; how to give a marriage the best chance of success. Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships is a fresh approach for those who deeply desire lifelong meaningful relationships. It combines biblical teaching, sociological research, and personal stories, often challenging widely held beliefs, even among Christians, about how to establish and maintain healthy relationships. In his winsome but straightforward approach, Chip provides a new lens through which to look at the opposite sex and practical, specific ways to build the kind of relationships that last.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chip Ingram is the senior pastor of Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California, and president of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry. A pastor for over twenty-five years, Chip has a unique ability to communicate truth and challenge people to live out their faith. Chip is author of twelve books, including Overcoming Emotions that Destroy; God: As He Longs for You to See Him; The Invisible War; and Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships. Chip and his wife, Theresa, live in San Jose, California. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801012546
• ISBN-13: 978-0801012549
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chip Ingram's passion is to help Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, coach, and teacher for twenty-five years, Chip has helped people around the world break out of spiritual ruts to live out God's purpose for their lives.

Today, he serves as Senior Pastor of Venture Christian Church in Silicon Valley, California, and President of Living on the Edge - an international teaching and discipleship ministry. Chip and his wife, Theresa, have four children and eight grandchildren.

For more information about Chip or Living on the Edge, please visit www.LivingontheEdge.org.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Understanding Marriage, July 31, 2005

By 

G. Williams - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships: God's Prescription for Enhancing Your Love Life (Hardcover)

I read this book at the request of a woman who has profoundly impacted my life on all levels. This book focuses on society's very real issues in relationships. These issues have always existed, however today we see a steady increase in divorce, STD, abortion, etc. Why?

"The Hollywood Formula"
This belief instills into current society "fast love" concepts, love as a 100% pain-free experience, and the love/sex identity crisis. It centers on looking to another person to complete yourself. "You complete me."

The God formula emphasizes that you become your true self in Love, and by consequence you will draw true Love to yourself.

Chip explores what profound love is, and what it is not. Paralleling the holy trinity, he explains the 3 loves as the Greeks knew them:
agape - Love that is selfless, without condition, without judgment. (Spirit)
phileo - Love that begets beautiful friendship (Mind)
eros - Love that is erotic, passionate, and physical. (Body)

Profound, True, Love, is rooted in all three of the these.

Today, eros obviously reigns supreme. However, living only on eros is robbing you of the fullness that you could otherwise experience. Human being is mind, body and spirit. You cannot satiate the needs of mind and soul with what satiates the flesh.

Chip includes 12 salient points to consider in evaluating your relationship (which I recommend everyone consider before marriage if you truly seek a love that lasts). He provides 5 non-biblical arguments to avoid sex outside of marriage - again, to consider if you wish to find a love that lasts.

I do not agree with everything Chip presents here, most of which because I think mankind has misinterpreted much of what God communicates in the Bible. Many of the stories he relates seem to equate with experiencing the "wrath of God", but they are actually people experiencing the ravages of guilt. Perhaps guilt is a form of God's wrath... Regardless of those misgivings, I do fully agree that most people today have a warped perspective on love, sex and relationships.

If you take nothing from this book, try as hard as you can to "Walk in Love." And I would like to add to Chip's work and suggest we should all learn to:
Love everyone agape.
Love as many as possible in phileo,
Love one in eros.

If we could learn to do this, we would attain a far better understanding of God.

I leave you to ponder the meaning of this statement:
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Substitute "me" with the statement of "I am."

"No man cometh unto the Father, but by the way, the truth, and the life."

You will truly know God when you live the way, the truth, and the life. Really think about all of what Jesus says in John 14.

Jesus told us 2000 years ago how to know God. Live like He did.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It works!, April 20, 2005

By 

Reader (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships (Paperback)

This book is terrific. It explains how our society gets into trouble by confusing sex and love. It explores the negative impact of sex outside of marriage. And it tells you how to maintain sexual purity and real love in a marriage. If you believe it and live it, it works.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships, January 4, 2004

By 

K. Allen "mzpetite_24" (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships: God's Prescription for Enhancing Your Love Life (Hardcover)

Before reading this book I had a dear friend share with me on how much of a blessing it was to him. He was so excited about it that I had to order it the next day. When I opened the pages I had no idea of what to expect but I knew as I started reading it it was truly something different.
It opened my eyes to all that has gone wrong and why in my past relationships. I was hooked after reading hollywood's solution because it showed me what I had done wrong.
The more I read the more I wanted to read. When the truth is being ministered to you, you hunger for more. After reading this I wanted to purchase the book for everyone that I knew. It truly lifts the blinders off your eyes. Thank you Chris and Teresa for your devotion to those pages. They have made such an impact on my life and my views on relationships!