For school, actually for our school newspaper, I am writing a feature story on the porn debaters, Craig Gross and Ron Jeremy. It is a feature so I decided to fill it with information about what Gross’s overall goal is. I think this quote explains it…
“We’re trying to reach a new audience and so we can’t just do things like our parents did, like the generation did before us,” Craig Gross.
So, his objective is basically the same as ours. But, that is not the point. The point is that this quote came from an abc news article titled “Does ‘Jesus Loves Porn Stars’ Bible Go Too Far?” In the context, the quote is used to explain why he ordered the porn star Bibles. Beforehand, the article refers to how the American Bible Society refused to print Gross’s Bibles because they are “out of a sense of propriety” and the “wording… was misleading and inappropriate.”
Immediately after Gross’s quote, ABC quotes the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Albert Mohler. “These younger guys seem to say that older evangelicalism is just out of touch,” Mohler said. “In a rush to be relevant I think these guys have crossed a line that I would not cross and i would not commit.” Soo… From what I am getting, he is saying he is against the Jesus Loves Porn Stars Bible.
And this is where my opinion comes in… Now, when I read about the American Bible Society (let’s call them ABS ) and Mohler’s view one main thing popped into my head: they are basically saying Jesus doesn’t love people who sin as much as porn stars.
Now, this kind of makes my head hurt thinking about it (i’m taking this medicine that gives me headaches already plus whenever I look at the high school, I think I may die of such a head pulse. but that’ not the point) because at the begining of the article–before ABS & Mohler–ABC News quoted Matthew 18:19 and started with “Christians agree that the Bible commands them to ‘go and make disciples of all nations’ and that Jesus ‘came to invite all sinners’ to be his followers and ‘save people who are lost.’”
If you have not already figured out my point, my question is if these people are christians who read, preach and follow God’s word, HOW would they come to the conclusion that it isn’t okay to reach out to people like porn stars?
There was a comment I really admire on this article that doesn’t say it better. Basically, he says Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners… he would visit people whether they were prostitutes or an average person.
I really admire Craig Gross’s work, his faith and his attitude towards all of this. (He posts hate mail on his website–from christians and non–lol.) I would be so frustrated! Like in the last homechurch teaching I taught, it said how God worked through Paul to give compassion to a demon possessed girl, God’s enemy… and when I talk to people about God and they say that they aren’t worthy of Him, I’m just so surprised like I was at these quotes, you know? There could be a lot of reasons as to why people grow up thinking that God’s grace doesn’t reach them. But, the reason to why people think God only loves them and no one on such low a level as porn stars, that just stumps me. I see no reason… But, I could be wrong.
If anything, I would be more surprised that God gives grace to people who think so that others aren’t interested, aren’t worthy or are too hopeless to be reached out to…. Well, that statement could totally back fire on me. But, I’m gunna leave it.
So, thats something I found interesting.
Sounds like it’s gonna be a great article. The thing that always strikes me is from whose perspective peeps are coming from. The bible is pretty clear, we are ALL hopeless, I am no better than the porn stars! ( did I really just say that?) People have a different perspective, but JC knows the deal: Matt. 23:27.
It’s kind of funny- after reading your blog, it seems that the only group of “hopeless cases” would be those in the ultra-conservative evangelical arena who think that reaching out to porn stars “crosses a line.”
But you’ll hear that same argument from conservative Christians who are convinced that merely going into a bar “crosses a line,” listening to non-Christian music “crosses a line,” and on and on and on. If some Christians could have their way, we would’t even be IN the world, much less have a chance to be OF the world.
I realize that ABC news is not only in the business of reporting news but also entertainment. Naturally they’re going to go find Al Mohler and see what he thinks. He’s a really sharp man, and says a lot of good things. Unfortunately not everything he says is good…or right…
I guess I have a tendency to assume that those people who do actively espouse that kind of ultra-conservative, Christian-y grossness are saved, they just don’t know what to do with it. Obviously not all who cry “It’s wrong to put the words ‘porn star’ on a Bible!” are saved. To some of them Christ may very well say “Depart from me, for you I never knew.”
Maybe the next edgy Bible could be stamped with “Jesus loves ultra-conservative, nit picky academics who spout their conservative morality and think that God would never ask them to reach out to anyone not from the upper middle-class without a college degree and respectable employment.”