God Love Sex

Why is it that these churches think that when they do a sermon series on sex that they have to take out billboard advertising and announce it to the whole world? Do they really think a sex series is an evangelistic tool? Its as if 'Sex Sermons' have become the post-modern equivalent of an "Evangelism Sunday".

Reading between the lines, what this billboard is really saying is "come to church and 'get some'".

Comments

[CE7]

I bet they're also marketing themselves as the first church in the history of Christendom to mention sex. So, is "God Love Sex" a sentence with poor grammar, or is it just an incredibly unimaginative group of buzzwords?

[chuck bridgeland]

Is it just me, or is the individual on the left (on the billboard) somewhat androgynous? Lesbian chic, without probably even being aware of it.

[Al]

Think that if it said "God Hates Sin" they'd get people to show up?

[Denise]

It is the latest fad.Its worldly and not Christ-centered. That's what the Emergent Church Movement is all about. They already play rated R movie clips during their "dialogues" on Sundays--why not this? I'd hate to think what the next drama will be on.

I pray God shuts down such horror done in His name.

[Mike]

This sort of stuff is getting really boring. Do they think that they are sex experts or something. Sex may sell but it does not sell the gospel.

[Don]

maybe its just me but these images appear to be young people. are we promoting the idea that god love sex and young people do too?

WOW we must be alarmingly close to the end huh?

[planetes]

Not poor grammar, but definitely poor hype. They're not trying to say, "God Loves Sex". They want people to equate the three, as in "God, Love, Sex" and tie that in with the Bible book mentioned under it: "Song of Solomon".

The saddest part of the billboard is the pimping out of one of the most misrepresented books in the entire Bible.

Song of Solomon (originally the "Song of Songs") was probably written while King Solomon was still young and Godly, most assuredly before he pimped himself out to 700 wives and 300 concubines (not very smart for one so wise), often for the sake of international alliances. But THIS relationship was special.

The book is a love poem. Full of romantic love, and love for it's own sake. Lots of people try to make the book an allegory to mine some deeper meaning. But there is no other interpretation needed. Read the book for what it is.

Since God deemed it fit to include this poem in the Bible, He has in effect given His endorsement of romantic, eros love between one man and one woman, just as it was in the world made perfect with Adam and Eve right after creation.

The problem with so many of the "God, love, and Sex" sermons and series is the preoccupation with the "sex" part because our culture is soaked in it. Sex IS good and it's of God. We get it already. I don't know of a Christian who thinks otherwise. If it wasn't, God would not have built us the way He did. God made male and female parts (which fit together just fine in a complimentary way) and not just by which to have children, else He would not have made it so pleasurable just to assure a continued population.

Human beings have the God-given capacity to experience something much deeper than the mere sex act. And only man can relate to romantic love in such a way, using language full of symbolism and nuance, which is what this poem does.

It was always God's intention that sex be something deeper with people than between animals. Only human beings are imbued with the capacity to experience romantic love beyond physical pleasures. Emotional and spiritual enrichment unique to the sexual experience is a totally human experience.

To equate the Song of Solomon with sex is to leave the book half empty. And any sermon series that focuses on trying to tell us how great sex is, why God made sex, and that sex is OK, is nothing more than a shallow, hollow sermon I can find in any edition of Better Homes and Gardens, or Cosmopolitan magazine.

If these guys really want to do a series worthy of Christian attendance, how 'bout these pointers for starters?
Teach us that:

1) Sex starts before the bedroom (husbands, help your wives do the dishes; wives, let your husbands know how you appreciate them when they fix the plumbing). The woman who cleans, cares for the kids, and holds down a job is no more "in the mood" when she's tired than the guy who is told he's a lazy bum.

2) Christians should follow the Biblical injunction for a truly great marriage -

2a) Wives, submit to the authority of your husbands (husbands like that part and often skip the rest, which has created all kinds of women libbers)

2b) Husbands, love your wives and give yourselves for them as Christ loved and gave Himself for His church. (ATTENTION: husbands... there is not a woman on earth who would not wholeheartedly submit to a man that would really give himself for her. INTERPRETATION: You want her to submit to you? Then love her and serve her with all your heart!)

3) Sex is temporary; love is eternal. Old persons, disabled persons, and those who suffer various accidents might not be able to express this type of love as they once could, but the relationship should actually grow stronger with the passage of time, if the relationship is built on mutual understanding, friendship, affection, caring, time spent together, a similar faith, and many other qualities.

4) We ought to find creative ways to express our sentiments to each other. This might include writing a poem, a la King Solomon. People giggle when they read Song of Solomon. That's because they've not matured enough to recognize the powerful imagery of poetry or symbolism. It's silly stuff to them, who've been taught that the physical act is an end in itself, and haven't grown past adolescence. We guys need to be reminded that cheeseburgers don't have to have cheese to be really good. Sex might be icing on the cake, but it's not the whole cake.

5) The most important thing is to make God the center of all your life, including your relationship. Have devotions together daily as you are able. Pray WITH each other - and FOR each other. You would not believe how much closer you will become.

Enough of my sex therapy talk! Read Song of Solomon. Let the Bible instruct.

[Ken]

Everytime i see these kinds of church promotions my insides twist a little. About 10 years ago I helped a starting church with their marketing. With the help of the pastor, we created a postcard with the headline 'Love Sex Money - Just 3 of the topics we talk about at church'.

If you had asked me at the time why we did that I would have said it was because we wanted church to be 'relevant' and 'real'. Looking back, we did it for shock value and the hopes that someone would be intrigued enough to come to church. How sad. And wrong.

I know God has forgiven me, but I still hold on to the shame of doing that.

[Mrs. Jake]

Planetes, your comments are always insightful. You said, and I agree, "they've not matured enough to recognize the powerful imagery of poetry or symbolism. It's silly stuff to them, who've been taught that the physical act is an end in itself, and haven't grown past adolescence."

That's exactly who is running many of these "churches" that we've seen springing up lately - stunted adolescents. Aging frat boys cracking semi-dirty jokes and appealing to the masses' prurient interests with no desire for the holy things of God. Pearls before swine indeed.

[dove]

in jan. 2005 i went to a seeker church that a message series on this topic - it even had the same name. it was a 6 week series and by week 5 i had begun the process of repenting and turning toward Jesus because the message was about how pure God was and how deadly sex was out side of marriage.
coming from a broken and sex-filled life, God used this message to turn my heart to how pure Jesus is and how sinful i am.
now,i am not a superfan of messages like this- but before i met Jesus i was- i was amazed a church would talk about this subject. and God had used this message to show me His pure standards vs. the world standards
i guess i saythis because the message has sucha soft spot in my heart for all it showed me

[lor]

a seeker church addressing sex that resulted in real life change and brought a sinner to Christ

somehow, I think that is the whole point

Thank you, dove, for sharing your experience

[Matthew]

What's the problem here? It looks like they're saying "God must be first, then love, as evidenced in the Song of Solomon, AND THEN the Sex.

Can anybody not choosing to be obtuse about this really take issue with this? Granted, a better word would probably have been "marriage", but referencing Song of Solomon, I would think, pretty much exemplifies that.

And yeah, certainly it's a buzzword billboard. Welcome to the era where buzzwords trump long, deeper conversations about meaningful topics. Not happy about that, by the way, but there it is, anyway :-(

[Janice]

I read about this sex-craze on this website and others including sliceoflaodicea.com Another guy wrote some book/slide series on sex called something like Holy Sexuality, and the author of the blog was kind enough to list the courses. It sounded like a course in tantric sex with a Christian mask. Very soul-to-soul spiritual oneness wording with doing the sexual act.

Someone else on there mentioned that we are very close to seeing the real demo live on some church stage in the near future. Sadly, I have to agree.

I think Driscoll and several others have taken a beautiful poetic love story in the bible and cheapened it with Cosmo talk. Why would I need to pay for a 'course' like this or attend one when I can buy Cosmo mag in any store everywhere? It's very offense not just to women but to Christians at large who are trying to keep their mind on the Lord and heavenly things (especially single folks like me).

Just my two bits......

[s]

I've driven past this sign a couple of times. I can't for the life of me figure out why the gay-hating x-tians have a billboard with lesbians kissing.

more power to us lesbians, i guess.

[albert]

Wasn't The Passion of the Christ movie rated R? Hmm?

[Philip]

Planetes.

I find it funny that your criticism of what their sermon series should be about is almost a verbatim outline on what it was about. You can actually download the entire message online at www.lifechurch.tv, however, I have a feeling most on this page don't want to bother to hear what the intent of the series was truly about. Rather they would like to condemn an entire group of people from one advertisement. The Church has been silent about sexuality too long. We've given one of the most beautiful parts of what makes us human over to the World. For many sexuality has been dissected down to the physical act of intercourse and left at that. “the talk” within the community of Christ at times has even been more silent and even at times caused more pain the world’s perspective. Our silence, in essence has sat by and condoned it’s degradation. The only message non-believer or believer hears from the Church on sex is don’t do it if your not married and Homosexuality is evil, or we witness the public sexual fall of one of the leaders. and the message stops, we don’t discuss it further.

You know we talk allot about redeeming this world. Let’s redeem sex. Let’s start to have an honest dialogue about what it means to be truly human, sexual and in love with our creator.

[Str8ShootR]

I remember seeing this sign along my morning commute. I can't speak for the church, but according to the Minnesota DoT the section of I-94 upon which that sign was posted averages in the range of 90,000 to 110,000 vehicles per day. Whatever the church's message, I don't think everyone who saw that sign showed up on Sunday to see what it was all about. The question therefore arises: What message does this billboard convey on its own with no interpretation? In reality, it conveys many different things to many different people. There may be a "target audience" who sees and reacts to such a sign, and possibly even shows up for part of the sermon series. But there are many audiences outside the target, and some will inevitably interpret the sign and its source in such a manner so as to justify their own behavior based upon incorrect definitions of "God", "love" and the intended nature of "sex". For a variety of reasons, I'm not in a position to offer either critical or positive discernment. What I do know is that God has set a higher standard for church overseers, and Christians in general are called to responsible public conduct. Caution is certainly warranted.

This may or may not be relevant, but I also know from personal sinful behavior that it takes faith and discipline to let what seems like a slick idea or concept (be it a billboard, an e-mail or even a simple punchline) die on the drawing room floor, and to do so for God's glory, rather than pursuing an action that may be contrary to God's purposes. In such circumstances, I am still all too often the worldly offender rather than a victor in Christ. All the more reason to give thanks for the final victory secured in Jesus.