Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Jesus Loves Porn Stars

The American Bible Society is refusing to print New Testaments (here and here) with covers that say "Jesus Loves Porn Stars." Well, doesn't He? That's what I was lead to believe, in the sense that Jesus loves everyone, regardless of who they are, what they do, etc. That's also what California ministers Mike Foster and Craig Gross apparently believe, and they're trying to reach out to members of the porn industry with their ministry, xxxchurch.com, a name I'm sure has confused more than a few people (#1 Christian Porn site. . .wah?). Yet the ABS, by not printing Bibles that are expressly marketed to those whom the vast majority of Christians believe to be sinners, seems to miss the point of their own website's headline:
Good News for Everyone

Not only that, but in their own mission statement, The American Bible Society says,

Our mission today is to make the Bible available to every person in a language and format each can understand and afford, so all people may experience its life-changing message.

So wait a minute. . . Your mission is to get the "Good News" to "all people" but when two guys try to let porn stars know that Jesus loves them, even though they're sinners, you tell the two guys you won't help? I mean, Gross and Foster have a decent marketing scheme (after all, that is a pretty big part of evangelism) in that they're using a kitschy, if not downright cheesy, cover to promote their wares (salvation in the form of the words of Christ) to those who are living a life of sin. What exactly is the problem here? All Gross and Foster are doing is attempting to present a very old concept/product in a new and perhaps shocking way in order to bring some wayward sheep back into the flock. The cover doesn't say "Jesus Loves Porn," it says "Jesus Loves Porn Stars." Does the ABS preach only to the converted? Are porn stars not "good enough" to be forgiven by Jesus, in their view? After all, Jesus said to the sinful woman,

Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

In my view, that's one of the central points of the New Testament: to save everyone, even the sinners. The American Bible Company can do whatever they want, as is their right, but to say that all people should experience the New Testament's "life-changing message" and then not print a New Testament marketed to a specific group of people because the words "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" are "misleading and inappropriate for a New Testament" is just being hypocritical and worse, ignorant of that message.

2 comments:

  1. Now that is an interesting story. They've quite missed the point in my opinion, considering the sorts of people Jesus hung around with. Of course for most Christian, myself included, that's par for the course.

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  2. Damn, that's weird, I just finished linking to one of your posts and you come over here and comment.

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