The American Bible Society doesn’t want to print New Testaments for the XXXchurch.com boys with the title on the cover “Jesus Loves Porn Stars”.
I’m very disappointed in the ABS’s response, calling the cover caption “misleading and inappropriate”. (Emphasis mine.)
Misleading and inappropriate? Maybe the American Bible Society prints a different version than the ones I read, but according to the Gospels in my Bible, Jesus tended to hang out with the looked-down-upon of ancient society: thieves, drunks, prostitutes, even tax collectors. (The words “the more things change, the more they stay the same” come to mind.)
I would hazard a guess that beneath the surface, a majority of those involved in the porn industry are unhappy people who have been hurt enormously in the past, and the only place they have been able to find acceptance and worth is by taking their clothes off and having sex in front of the camera. All of us need Christ, and that goes for porn stars, too. The American Bible Society would do well to note this.
I pray Mike and Craig will find a Bible publisher willing to stand up and print these potentially life-changing copies of God’s Word.
I think I land somewhere in the middle on this and it leaves me wondering, who is the true legalist? I agree that it is wrong to look down on any group of people and deny them the love and redemptive power of Jesus. I also think that pragmatism is unnecessary, the Holy Spirit is sufficient and the same copy of the Word of God speaks to every sinner when it is mixed with the Spirit.
Having once belonged to another looked down upon group, I know that no special emblazoning on anything would have caused me to accept Christ. The day of my salvation was appointed at the foundation of the world and when the Spirit called me, I responded.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that pragmatism is another form of legalism, a way of canning God in the package we think appropriate. When we try to give someone our experience of God or make Him more palatable, it is secondhand God and it is some form of legalism.
I can't read the hearts of either party involved. Each may be acting out of hearts of true devotion to God, or each may be merely presenting God in their own image and relying on the works of the flesh to do so. God knows and God will judge.
In the meantime, I think we should all keep sharing our personal experience of Christ in our lives and praying that the Spirit will lead those who are trapped in such sins as pornography to Jesus and Jesus will set them free despite any method we may by our own cunning devise.
Pam
Posted by: Pam at April 4, 2006 08:35 PM