I think to come to the solution of this issue, we must examine a few things about who (and what!) we are as Christians and as humans.

Obviously, I'm coming from a Christian perspective, so I'm taking a few liberties that some (or maybe more than some) might disagree with. If that's the case, I hope at the very least you can understand where I am coming from, even if you disagree with the message.

When we are born, we are born into the flesh. We are of the world. Therefore, we are separate from God in the respect that our Spirit is not alive, and therefore we have a natural bend towards sin. When we choose Jesus and become born again, our Spirit comes alive, and we become one with God.

I think a lot of Christians, myself included, fall into some or many of these traps (particularly, strongholds/mindsets):

A) Okay, I'm saved, so now I don't have to worry about Hell. I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing.
B) I'm the lowliest of the low; I'm a sinner, I'm worthless, I have no value, I can't stop sinning. What's the point?
C) I'm a Christian now, and all I see is everyone sinning. They're going to Hell.
D) I don't want anyone judging me for my problems so I'm going to put on a front and pretend to be the perfect Christian.

Suffice it to say, there are many more mindsets, but I think these are the ones I see or have experienced on a regular basis. I particularly struggled with B, and sometimes still do, but I have come to understand a couple of things that really have helped me overcome this poisonous stronghold.

As God is a being with three parts, we are the same because we are made in His image. He is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are beings of soul, flesh and spirit.

Our flesh is our human biology. When we are hungry, when we are thirsty, when we are craving sexual intimacy, these things are our flesh crying out. To me, this is the easiest issue to overcome, but it's also the easiest to stumble over if you are not careful.

Our soul is our mind, our will, and our emotions. What we think, what we want, and how we feel emotionally are associated with the soul aspect. From my understanding, this is where our habits are formed (and our flesh carries out the deeds). This is often the most difficult to overcome, particularly because of the exposure to so many external stimuli that are absorbed by our brains. This is where the battle is fought (more on that in a minute).

Our Spirit is who we really are when we are reborn in Christ, our "perfect self," if you will. The way I understand it is that when Jesus looks at us, THIS is who He sees, not the carnal being who has all these problems. This is the person that God created, but in a fallen world, it has become corrupt to look like us. This is also who we strive to submit ourselves to, because as we submit ourselves to our spirit, we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit and therefore, to God.

Once I understood this, I stopped beating myself up over when I would curse, look at pornography, over-eat, whatever it was. And let me tell you, things began to change. It was and still is a process, for sure, but because I no longer beat myself up over my problems, I am finding that the problems I have with myself are going away.

The problem I think a lot of people run into is that we do not disassociate ourselves with the behaviors of the "dead man," the person we were before we were born again. When we are born again, we are a new creation in Christ, but even that is limited if we do not allow Christ to shine through us. And the only way that is to happen is to forsake the old practices AND (very important) adopt new practices that are sanctified. It's important to note that just stopping bad habits isn't enough. It's like having a dead car battery removed and expecting it to work without a new one to replace it. In fact, things get worse when you don't replace it. Oftentimes I've found myself in a worse mess with the same sin and habits than I did before, simply because I did not change the stimuli that caused me problems in the first place. At least with the dead battery, you have the chance to jump it off and get some juice going to drive your car, right?

That being said, I'm going to be specific with cursing. I used to curse a lot, especially during times when I was angry. When I finally decided that it was time to hang that habit up for good, I found myself doing it more often. So what I did was I started to spend more time with my Christian friends who didn't curse (not because they didn't curse, but because they were my friends and I like to hang out with them) than I did in places that I found myself cursing in (particularly, work). I found that over time, I spoke less curse words, and even thought less curse words. Now I can remember one particular instance in the past six months where I cursed, and it was because someone thought it would be funny to choke me. Do I wish I hadn't cursed? Yes. Do I let it bother me? No. Have I repented? Yes.

Repentance is another key factor in these sorts of issues. Repenting to God is not saying, "Lord, I'm sorry." It's saying, "Lord, change me, my mind, and my behaviors so that I stop disgracing You." As Christians, it is our responsibility to be the light in dark places. We are made to shine so that other people may find Christ, and our behaviors have a huge impact on whether or not this actually happens. A Christian whose actions are offensive reflects poorly on the entire Christian congregation and even Christ Himself (Westboro Baptist Church - I know we can make the argument that they are not Christians, but they use His name and affect other people nonetheless). Without true repentance, we are actually hindering people's salvation and coming into the Kingdom.

Another important thing to note is that Jesus commands us to "love others as we love ourselves." First, we cannot truly say we love ourselves if we are caught in habitual sin. Therefore, we cannot uphold Jesus's command to love others in such a way. When I recognized that my Spirit was the true me and the prideful, distracting, and lazy me is not who I really am, I began to actually love myself for who I was made to be, for who I was becoming more and more like every day. A lot of the habitual sins have become things that happen sporadically, when I do not keep my guard up and temporarily fall to my old ways. Only then could I begin to love others as I loved myself, and therefore, I no longer curse people out if I become irritated. I don't even curse when I tell jokes, because I know that such an action can have an impact on the people listening, regardless of how simple or stupid it seems at the time.

The other part of Jesus's command, "love your God above all else," is probably the most important thing to remember for change. When you do something that dishonors God, you are not showing Him the proper love and adoration He deserves. He created us, He sent His son down and died for us, and He gave us another chance to be with Him forever. He even takes the time to help us in our lives, whether or not we see it, and loves us regardless. Dishonoring God after what He's done for me is the biggest deterrent from sinful actions, not because I'm scared of going to Hell, but because I believe He deserves my all because He's given me His all.

I hope that's a coherent explanation of what I believe. You're free to disagree, and you won't get an argument out of me. I'm not perfect, and I might have mis-spoken or misunderstood something, or we might just have differences in theology. Either way, the Lord will ultimately correct one, both, or all of us if we will let Him. Anyways, I'm going to put conclude with a few thoughts:

I find that what goes in to a person often comes out. If Christians are to stop cursing, then we need to change what we watch and what we listen to. While we are not corrupt by what goes in, we are more apt to speak what we fill our hearts and our minds with. Thus we are corrupt by what comes out of our mouths, by what we speak.

Christians need to spend less time around people who engage in such behaviors. We are called to be a light that shines in the darkness, but if we cannot avoid the habits of darkness, then we are not called there in the first place. Thus, I find that spending time with my Bible Study group really helps me grow and become resistant to the darkness, so I can actually shine as a light and not conform to its ways.

Do not judge others who do curse, even if they are Christian. By judging others, you are opening yourself to engaging in the very same actions that they are doing.

Remember that these changes take time. This is a process, it is a journey. Trials build character. You or your friends might curse a lot now, but submitting yourself constantly and giving the Lord time to work will ultimately yield results. Remember, you have had these habits for longer than you have been trying to quit them, so it's not going to be an immediate transformation. Think about Peter. Having spent three years with Jesus, he still denied Him three times because of the fear in his heart. But the Lord restored him, and he boldly led thousands into the kingdom. God will often make our weaknesses into our strengths and give us a testimony.

God bless, everyone!

I see what you guys are saying. Just for the record, I do have an alarm clock, but typically I wake up telling it to shut up. Lol. In respect to the 24 hour thing, I've done that a couple of times, but I just can't seem to fall asleep when I lay down. I don't really understand that. I go to bed dead tired, I toss and turn for a while, and then I bust on the laptop and watch Youtube videos, read articles, or watch movies until I can't stay up any longer. In a lot of ways, it's maddening. I've got some fitness/school goals that I'm striving to achieve, and this horrible sleep cycle is making it worse.

I'm going to try soft music without lyrics. I think this will help. I'm also going to try the warm drink route, although I'm not sure what I'll drink yet since I don't drink any tea nor do I like warm milk. It's more likely that I'm just going to have to suck it up and do it anyways, since that's pretty much what it takes to get anything done nowadays.

I used to find that reading audio books helped me fall asleep earlier, but I still didn't wake up when I needed to, and now I'm not sleeping even while listening to them. Reading books at night is difficult as well, partially because I read mostly non-fiction nowadays, so when I fall asleep, I forget a large part of what I've read. Perhaps I need to stick to fiction at night and non-fiction during the day.

By the way, my doctor (who I probably should just drop) recommended that I take magnesium to help me sleep, since it's readily available and a small dosage is supposed to help with sleep. I have the wonkiest dreams when I take it, so I have just scrapped that all together. Not only that, but when I wake up, I feel like I haven't slept. I think everyone should avoid that stuff unless you have problems with your stomach, and even then, don't use it at night... It's not pretty.

Sorry about the random tangent, there. The good news is that, barring nights I have been silly and taken magnesium, I sleep fairly well. It's just the times that really bother me, since I have things that I want to do and it's much more beneficial to wake up early and work than it is to wait until later in the day/night to do so. I've read a lot of studies on this subject and I've taken quite a bit of advice, but a lot of it is very generic. That's why I've turned to y'all for help! I'm looking forward to seeing more suggestions.

Hey, everyone.

I'm just looking to see if anyone has any experience overcoming bad sleep habits in establishing a good routine. My desire is to wake up at about 6 every morning to work out, and I want to go to sleep no later than 12 (1 on days that I work until midnight), perhaps with a small nap in that time.

Currently, regardless of when I'm going to bed, I don't fall asleep until 2:30 or 3 am, and I don't wake up until 10 or 11 (which leaves me no time to prepare for school/work). I don't drink much caffeine; maybe a cup of coffee every couple of days, and I drink a lot of water. My work-out time is typically mid-afternoon, but not too close to my bed time that should keep me up. I do have a tendency to stay in my room instead of in our living room, but that's because I get distracted by what's on TV.

Do you guys have any tips or tricks that have helped your sleep? Something like routines, foods you eat, anything that helps you guys sleep better and wake up earlier?

I'm all about our military. I'm hoping to join after I graduate college next semester, but we'll see how that goes. I'm looking at the USAF as an option, and that would be nice, especially if I'm a candidate to become an officer. However, I might get a second Bachelor's and try to join the Air Force ROTC on campus.

I have no problem with it. Both of the leaders in our ministry are women, both well-educated and intelligent. They bring a different perspective than a man does, and in a lot of ways it's refreshing because many former churches that I've gone to with male leaders have power and micro-managing issues. The ladies, on the other hand, bring more of a motherly role to the table, and especially with kids from 15-24, it's necessary due to a variety of issues that are happening in society, particularly in the realm of the family. Most of the kids in our group have divorced parents, were abused as children (verbally and physically), or have had a past history of drug use/other types of addictions. For a long time I suffered with depression, but the love these ladies showed me really changed my life.

From my understanding, where most people get hung up in a woman leading/teaching is when Paul said that he would not have a woman teach him. In the context of the situation, during Paul's time, women were not nearly as educated as men, if they were educated at all, and as such, a woman teaching Paul could be misleading. I definitely don't think that is the case today.

Another double-dash style game would be cool. It certainly was fun to play! But in all honesty, what I think they really need to bring back is the 16 race course set that Double Dash implemented. I would always love playing through the races on 150 CC, sometimes falling behind in the standings only to make a surge towards victory. A tournament style would also be nice for the Wifi. I'm now sure how 7's online was, but Mario Kart Wii's was decent for its time, but I'd rather see a more competitive aspect thrown into the game. Especially the 16-race set, though!

My heart's been broken a couple of times, but the way I look at it is that the heartbreak was on a weak fault line, and the glue God used to patch it up was much stronger than the state it was originally in. Even so, I don't rush head-long into something because I'm not interested in getting hurt by just anyone. I more or less believe that the "right one" will come at the right time, and I'm not really in a position to be too worried about when she'll come. Rather, I'm just cool with finishing school, deciding on a career, and paying off my car/student loans while enjoying time with my Bible Study friends.

Still, though, heartbreak does present a good opportunity for growth, and in the even that it does happen, it's best to pay extra attention to your feelings and thoughts, because you can learn a lot about what you are made of. I would literally sit and contemplate the pain I was feeling, where in the body I felt it, and what kind of thoughts stimulated that pain. It's a very interesting perspective, and it makes for cool conversations with people who are intelligent.

I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. In Alabama, we're a little bit different in how we do things, and especially those of us who grew up around trucks, we do things that normal people consider dangerous. That being said, a truck is how I ended up in the ER.

I was at a church (not drinking!) and I hopped on the back of my friend's truck to hitch a ride to my car, not too far away, but he was heading in that direction and I just figured I'd go for it, you know? Well, he didn't know I was back there... Apparently there were some balloons impeding his vision. So when we passed by my car, I stepped off, and next thing I know, I'm lying on my back with people asking me my name, where I was, what 50% of 72 was (which I answered correctly, somehow). Got transported to the hospital, in which I walked to the EMTs about various things, like the Air Force Pararescue and football and all sorts of good stuff.

It was an interesting experience, for sure.