Editor,

Thanks for an honest and insightful July edition of Nucleus.

As a junior doctor, I still find Nucleus valuable; your articles are not only helpful but can also challenge Christians and non-Christians alike to fruitful discussions.

I have a few comments on the July issue: first, a response to Becky Payne’s article about cohabitation. I wanted to say that using the three principles in the scenarios is a useful way of challenging our own thoughts and decisions and helping us decide what we would say to others.

Scenario two concerned a cohabiting couple where one became a Christian – should they always separate? My personal thinking is that if you have a friendship with Jo, the real question would be whether you approve of Dave and herself being together. It may be painful to tell her the truth but we should be bold enough. She probably knows that she should not be living with Dave, and at the very least that she should not be sleeping with him anymore. She’s unlikely to ask whether you think their

relationship resembles a marriage. Despite their three years of commitment in cohabiting they have not made the commitment to ‘fully and trothfully’ commit to a lifelong journey with one another. We would not advise a Christian (male or female) to begin a relationship with a non-

Christian and despite the short term heartache involved I don’t believe that God would want us to encourage Jo to get in the way of her relationship that God.

Second, a note in response to Trevor Stammers’ article on solo sex. Masturbation is one ‘taboo’ area for Christians that causes much distress for male and female believers alike and is a common area of debate. It was excellent the way the worldly point of view (from sex therapists to agony aunt columns) was interspersed with the biblical principles of self-control and purity. For those of you who want to read more, Not even a hint, by Joshua Harris (Multnomah, 2003), is a practical offering on tackling lust and sexual impurity in a range of guises and deals with masturbation as falling into this spectrum. I agree with his conclusion: that masturbation as an act is rooted in lust, and the only way to address it is to start at the cross.

Verona Beckles,
Orthopaedic SHO, London