Does ‘Jesus Loves Porn Stars’ Bible Go Too Far?
When do our methods begin to interfere with our message as we reach out in love to our non-Christian neighbors? That’s one of the questions to ponder regarding the “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” Bible, published by Christian publisher NavPress. ABC reports:
This weekend at the erotica convention in Los Angeles, Pastor Craig Gross, who runs an anti-pornography ministry, handed out hundreds of “Jesus Loves Porn Stars” Bibles. Gross, in his “porn-mobile,” is a regular fixture at porn conventions. His anti-porn Web site is provocatively entitled XXXChurch.com.
“I believe Jesus, he’d be in the show with us,” Gross said. “He’d be mixing it up with these people. ‘Cause he doesn’t look at them as porn stars, or porn producers. He looks at us as all the same.” While the porn professionals seemed to like the new Bible, many of the companies licensed to publish Bibles do not. (ABC News)
The cover pictured in this post is actually the second (I think) cover design. The original had a 70′s-style porn vibe. Despite its title and cover, what’s inside isn’t too controversial. What you get is a full length New Testament (in “The Message” paraphrase) with a brief introduction describing what the New Testament is about.
From the back cover: “Does Jesus really love porn stars? Absolutely. That might go against what you’ve heard about Jesus, but it’s true. Jesus loves porn stars as much as he loves pastors, soccer moms, liars, thieves, and prostitutes. We’re all the same to Jesus. We’re all just people who need God to save us from the mess we’re in and lead us to a better way. …”
What do you think about this approach? Would your church avoid such methods, or embrace them?
Related reading: How to Battle Porn – Four steps to winning the war against temptation
Image credit: Andy Mihail, used with permission, Creative Commons 2.0 License.
3 Responses to “Does ‘Jesus Loves Porn Stars’ Bible Go Too Far?”
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Love can be dangerous
Love can be dangerous. When you aim high and love lets you down, the fall is far.
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How could it possibly go too far? I mean, if there really is a Jesus and he was/is anything like what they said he was like, he would love porn stars, Satanists, Osama bin Laden, neo-Nazis, aggressive panhandlers, and even Justin Timberlake.
No, what I take issue with is Gross’ anti-sex stance. ‘Cause, see, Jesus loves porn stars, but he desperately wants them to stop being porn stars. Arguably that’s the whole goal of loving them, is to change them into something they’re not. And that’s where for me it gets highly problematic. What’s the point of doing this stuff if you have to stop being you?
The God that I serve loves us all no matter where we have been, no matter what shame the devil has instilled in us. The devil is a lier and a thief he tries to kill us. Jesus came to love us beyond words His love is more than I can even imagine. satan would have all of us think that we are not loveable, even soccer moms, but God’s love is absolute, it has no boundaries. That kind of love is hard for humans to understand, some try to make God’s love just for chosen ones (in some churchs even Jesus would not be welcome) but He loves us all even pron stars. He don’t love the sin, He forgives it (if we ask) and loves that precious child inside all of us. The great commandment tells all children of God to spread this good news that God is a very loving God and forgives all our sins not some not just certain ones ALL!!!!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!!
Jesus’ Love knows no bounds, I pray that the people who this man is reaching out too will answer the call.
This man is in a war zone and we need to keep him in prayer that he would be safe from evil in the midst of this and that He listens to God when he leads him to minister or to walk away!