But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV
The Irresistible Revolution
"While the voices of blockbuster movies and pop culture cry out for a life outside the matrix of numb efficiency, Christianity often has offered little to the world, other than the hope that things will be better in heaven."
"Sometimes we speak out to change the world, and other times we speak to try to keep the world from changing us."
"In our culture of "seeker sensitivity" and radical inclusivity, the great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd. With the most sincere hearts, we do not want to see anyone walk away from Jesus because of the discomfort of his cross, so we clip the claws on the Lion a little, we clean up a bit the bloody Passion we are called to follow."
"We would like to include people like the rich ruler and Ananias and Sapphira, but we would end up with the sort of Christianity that arose after Constantine, in which everyone can be a Christian but no one knows what a Christian is anymore."
"For us, belief is only the beginning. What really matters is how we live, how what we believe gets fleshed out, so we also have a statement of orthopraxis (meaning, "right living, right practices"). And this is where most belief-oriented faith communities fall short. They tell us only what they believe, but they do not tell us how their beliefs affect their lifestyles."
"We live in an age in which people, when they hear the word Christian, are much more likely to think of people who hate gays than people who love outcasts, and that is a dangerous thing."
"The world has seen Christian extremists who will blow up abortion clinics and dance on doctors' graves. We have seen Christian extremists who hold signs that say, "God hates fags." The world has seen Christian extremists who declare war in the name of the Lamb. But where are the Christian extremists for love and grace?"
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Non traditional thoughts about life, the world, and God from a Christian's perspective.
"I am seized with fear that my own will will be given place, and I will thus ruin my usableness for God. It would be easy to follow my feelings...to interfere with the voice of the Lord when He says, 'This is the way, walk ye in it.' "
Elisabeth Elliott
Friday, March 31, 2006
Bibles for Porn Stars
I contacted the American Bible Society and had made arrangements months ago to order 10,000 bibles. We have 3 porn shows coming up (Erotica LA, June. Gay Erotica NY, October. AVN Expo Las Vegas, January.) The cost was over $7,000 but in our opinion it was money well spent. They printed the Bibles prior to getting our cover artwork. Two weeks ago, we sent over the cover art and all hell broke loose.
Long story short…they have refunded all of our money and have refused to print the Bibles. They have told us that this goes against everything the Bible stands for and they don’t want anyone to think that Jesus is okay with porn. We think they are wrong. We think this goes with the central message of the gospel and Jesus loves you regardless of your profession.
My first thought is, WHOA! Since when does giving Bibles to people who need the hope, grace, and love of Jesus go against everything the Bible stands for? I love this verse (Matthew 9:13) in the Message: Go figure out what this Scripture means: "I'm after mercy, not religion.' I'm here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders."
Jesus came to seek and save the lost! He spent his time with sinners. He had dinner with the tax collectors. He conversed with the Samaritan woman. He loved sinners. As the hands and feet of Jesus, we are asked to do no less!
I hope someone out there reads this, or one of the other stories floating around and offers to print the Bibles for this ministry. This is what we are here for. This is what the church should be doing.
Tags: Porn, Jesus, Christianity, Bibles, American Bible Society, XXXChurch
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Posted by Amanda at 3/31/2006 09:27:00 AM
11 Comments
Rhett Smith posted at 3/31/2006 02:23:00 PM
thanks for the comment on my site. Good thoughts on the XXX Church stuff...rhett
Philip Del Ricci posted at 3/31/2006 05:38:00 PM
Great post!
I work for a Catholic publisher (Liguori Publications), I'll circulate this around. If nothing else, it will make for good discussion in the lunch room.
Peace,
P. Del Ricci - Dark Glass
Dave posted at 3/31/2006 08:36:00 PM
Hey there,
I like the sentiment behind this post. I like to see religion as 'inclusionary'. Kudos
ontheedgeofmyseat posted at 4/03/2006 02:47:00 PM
If we all write enough letters to the American Bible Society, maybe they will reconsider printing these Bibles. Please be sure your letter speaks the truth IN LOVE, so as not to create division in the church.
Higher posted at 4/03/2006 11:02:00 PM
that's the way it goes, sometimes the Church, (which is a place filled with sinners who have been forgiven) forgets that God is trying to reach those that are lost. Remember Jesus said that it is not those that are well but the sick who need a physician. Rest assured that if not the American Bible Society, then God will use someone to Spread the Word...
keep doing your part...
Leon posted at 4/05/2006 08:46:00 AM
I think you are too inclusive in your stance on religion. God isn't someone that just loves, loves, loves everyone. In his eyes pornography is wrong. It says so in the Bible. He'll accept you, but you must change your ways.
Matt posted at 4/06/2006 12:03:00 AM
I have mixed feelings about this. I can definitely see both sides of the issue. I think I lean somewhat on the side of the publisher because the cover is too inclusive. We are all sinners, but I don't need a bible that says on the cover: "Jesus loves liars" or "Jesus loves the selfish" - that just wouldn't make sense. I think it is up to the ministry to say "Jesus loves you for who you are, even if he doesn't love your sin" not the Bible. The Bible will speak for itself on the issues. I think this is one of the problems, in general, of "seeker sensitive" churches: the message is sometimes reduced to fit the needs of the seeker. (Obviously that doesn't always happen.) If they want to make a bible that will be better received by the porn industry, fine, but don't make a cover that could throw doubt on what the Gospel is. I guess what I am saying is that the cover could be taken somewhat ambiguously on an issue that isn't so ambiguous. If that makes sense...
Diane posted at 4/06/2006 08:25:00 AM
The link to rhettsmith.com doesn't work. Make sure there are quotes around your html....I know...I've done the same thing at my blog..LOL.
Amanda posted at 4/06/2006 09:23:00 AM
Leon:
The beauty of the Gospel is that God DOES indeed love, love, love everyone. He loves all of us so much that it breaks His heart when we sin. And no, we don't have to change our ways. We just have to surrender to Jesus and allow him to change us from the inside out.
posted at 4/03/2009 02:30:00 AM
Pity - all 3 links are inactive now.
The article doesn't say why the publisher objected, but presumably it was to do with the cover artwork. Thgere may be very good reasons why they wouldn't publish Bibles with certain artwork, and it may not at all reflect on who they were going to.
Can we have more information?
posted at 4/03/2009 02:35:00 AM
Amanda said...
Leon:
The beauty of the Gospel is that God DOES indeed love, love, love everyone. He loves all of us so much that it breaks His heart when we sin. And no, we don't have to change our ways. We just have to surrender to Jesus and allow him to change us from the inside out."
You are both right. Once He changes us from the inside out we will change our ways. Indeed, much of the content of the Letters is directed at Christians to put off the ways of the Old man and put on the new. Paul, John etc didn't just leave it to Jesus to change a person's ways.
The fact is that if a person's life remains unchanged, then the Holy Spirit has not done a work of conviction and salvation in that person, who has never actually come to true repentance.