EVERY SINGE MANS BATTLE

Stephen Arterburn & Fred Stoker

Part of the Every Man series, a set of books aimed at Spiritual and Sexual Integrity. This book is definitely the latter. The Author Stephen Arterburn is one of the main series writers. He was married but tragically his marriage failed, as such he found himself single and realised that singleness is a much neglected ministry, so he wrote this book. The result is a very personal, very honest, and immensely challenging book. This book is aimed at men, no mistake.

The book promotes accountability groups between men, especially single men, a much neglected part of male ministry. Reading this I was shouting YES! This is an area that Christians need to realise we are not individuals but called into fellowship with our brothers (and sisters), holiness being a personal and communal responsibility and as such we need to be accountable in community.

The book also addresses WHO God is, what claims God has on your life. From there it encourages single men to therefore submit to God and pursue holiness. Again a wonderful point, if we do not recognise God’s rights on our life, what incentive do we to have to be holy or to submit?!?

The writer has also looked into physiology and other sciences. He looks in detail at the affects of sex and masturbation on the brain, showing the science of addiction, and its sociological impact. I haven’t read anything like this before, it’s scary and yet true. Showing how the fallen world and our fallen bodies can so easily corrupt God’s gift of personal, intimate, marital sex.

For those who need more of a kick, or who want to put the accountability into practice there is a workbook element of the book. In fact half the book is a workbook with questions that relate to the chapters in this book (and also every mans battle) aimed for you and your group to address in a personal accountable environment.

However. This book is designed for Sexual integrity, as such reading you would think that every single mans battle is related to sex and lust. Yes guys struggle with this more than girls. HOWEVER issues like money, loneliness, language, ministry, identity etc do not come up. Also there is no teaching on what the gift of singleness as presented in the Bible is (or that it is a gift). The book is about sex, sexual integrity as a single man. Nothing else. The writer is very personal and as such his perspective on these things comes out a lot, for him after being divorced the major issue he faced was how to deal with his sexuality. Also his experiences shape what he thinks on these issues.

Overall, a good resource for men that struggle with sexual integrity. However as a book on singleness, it won’t do much to help your thinking on what it means to be and live as a single Christian in today’s society (apart from what to do with your libido).