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JESUS LOVES PORN STARS
So here's two article summaries/excerpts I read last night in this weeks TIME magazine:
1. Nav press decided to print 10,000 copies of the New Testament for the ministry "XXX Church". On the cover of the New Testaments (which will be the Message paraphrase) will be the words " JESUS LOVES PORN STARS" real big on the cover with a cool 70's looking Jesus in the background. The American Bible Society, the first publisher it approached, backed the mission of reaching out to the porn industry but rejected the cover as "misleading and inappropriate." According to TIME, "with NavPress, XXXchurch was preaching to the choir".
Well, part of me says, rock on... I think everyone should know they were created by God and for God. I'm also not sure that's any more radical than putting, "JESUS LOVES BRIAN BERRY" on the cover. I'm a total idiot who doesn't deserve it either. But, without the er of superiority, the question becomes, Is this the best way to reach those who are not living Bible supported lifestyles? It seems a subtle shift from Jesus loves porn stars to Jesus loves porn. It also seems to beg the question, what group would we not use this method to "market" Jesus to? What about JESUS LOVES TERRORISTS for army chaplains ministering to prisoners? What about Jesus loves CHILD PORN ADDICTS for a ministry to the other end of the porn industry? I hate the "pandora's box" fear of stuff, but it does seem like we opened a bit of a can of something here.
Click here to read the full article on XXX Church for free until they archive it.
2. An article by Andrew Sullivan called, "My Problem with Christianism". In it he writes a rant against those who claim that they hold the corner on the basic tenets of the Christian faith- and specifically those who have relegated it as a "republican" ideal. His conclusion is awesome. He says, "That's what I dissent from, and I dissent from it as a Christian. I dissent from the political pollution of sincere, personal faith. I dissent most strongly from the attempt to argue that one party represents God and that the other doesn't. I dissent from having my faith co-opted and wielded by people whose politics I do not share and whose intolerance I abhor. The word Christian belongs to no political party. It's time the quiet majority of believers took it back." AMEN Andrew. Amen. Thanks for speaking the truth. I pray it resonates loud and clear with people all over the globe. I know it resonates with Kingdom of God.
Click here to read the full article by Andrew Sullivan for free until they archive it.
3 comments:
i have no problem with "Jesus loves terrorists", or "Jesus loves child porn addicts".
i am sure we would agree both statements are true.
and being american christians i am sure we must both be proponents of the politically charged concept of "truth"
it only a sublt shift grammatically between jesus loves pornstars and jesus loves porn, just about the same number of letters are different between the phrases "God hates homosexuals" and "God loves homosexuals"
- a nice trite rebuttal, but i dont think that grammer is what you meant when you said "subtle shift". it communicated to me that there was a percieved similarity between the two concepts.
i think we both also know Jesus' stance on sin, and we know His stance on His love His childern.
i think we are supposed to communicate the message of the bible. and clearly so.
the love spoken of in the bible isnt clouded with conditionality. (romans 8) and i think it should be portrayed as such.
i think it is an interesting concept, marketting Jesus. maybe we're going about it all wrong. i once saw a paper that read "want to change the world? think small" and pictured a small child. seems briliiant. maybe we should try loving people not in order to win them to Christ, but to love them. even to attempt at that unconditional love. which seems to me, from all i've heard, to be what those XXXchurch guys are trying to do.
maybe i'm oversimplifying, creating strawmen of your points. i come to greater understanding through conversation. so keep it going, friend.
with love.
the comment I deleted was my own. I decided to blog some clarity.
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