guardian vs gardner

ok... i know, asking a question in the form of either/or violates everything i believe also.  so, feel free to talk on the x-axis between those two.  some of you will wonder along the "y" i'm sure.

anyway, i have come across my second reference to the theological battle between 'growing' people in their knowledge and practice of following Christ, and protecting and preserving a theological purity.  now i know that it's not either one or the other, (just wanted to restate that), but how do we balance allowing people to grow into their faith know that's a life time journey, and protecting the tenets of what we believe?

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what is pornography?

thought i'd throw out a new discussion.  let me give you a definition first and then the question.  this is the definition of 'pornography' from dictionary.com  it goes a bit beyond the traditional understanding only in that fact that it veers a bit outside of being just visual.

Books, photographs, magazines, art, or music designed to excite sexual impulses and considered by public authorities or public opinion as in violation of accepted standards of sexual morality.

i read an article on relevant.com entitled "emotional pornography", and it talked about the amount of unhealthy depictions of  relationships and imagery out there that has nothing to do with what we consider traditionally as pornography.  it went on to say that affairs are seen as normal and almost desirable in some situations, there are books out there which place unrealistic expectations on how men should be,(twilight series), that is no more fair than the visual images of women we see in traditional pornography.

which leads me to my question.  

what is pornography?

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measuring growth

ok... i guess the first topic was a huge dud.  i'm cool with that.  how about something simple.  

How can churches know if they are being effective at making disciples?

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