You may not have noticed this new trend but when issues like same-sex marriage and abortion laws surface on the news, Christians start spreading these: you’re-going-to-hell messages, when in reality, it should be a John 3:16 message that evokes the feeling of love, grace, mercy, acceptance, and the gateway to heaven.
Christians are humans like everyone else on the planet and before we go too far, we as Christians ask for forgiveness for being judgemental, hateful, irresponsible, and inconsiderate of those who we have blatantly wronged. I am mainly speaking of Christians who follow in the foot steps of Fred Phelps and similar churches like Westborough Baptist Church.
We can pass blame messages across the whole world and talk about who’s done wrong and who’s done right, who’s better than Jim and Sally is better than Sue - but does it really matter? I think what matters is that we all pitch in and help each other lead and live better lives….as Christians and dare I say (or not). If I am a Christian talking to a non-Christian who’s made it clear they are not interested in being a Christian, should I just shame them and disassociate myself from them completely? On what grounds would I do that and why?
Here are the two biggest things Christians get hung up on:
- Christian Sex (ie: How can regular married Christians have sex and enjoy it. What’s wrong / right in bed? How can a single Christian handle their sexual desires and stay in God’s grace)
- Sexuality (ie:Can a person be homosexual / lesbian and still a Christian / same sex marriage issues - see the news for details
)
If you bring up either one of these two topics with the average Christian you can guarantee a very tight-lipped short conversation that lasts less than five (5) American minutes. What is there for a Christian to say besides a forceful - “it’s wrong!”? There are plenty of other things to say but most of them are not considered as important as condeming the other person and their faults. Christian Sex is the biggest plague to hit Christianity since…Adam & Eve even though they are two similar issues they are different now in the year 2006-(7). I really only have one question for every Christian and religious leader on the face of the earth:
When Can We Talk About Sex Without Being Ashamed Of Our Own Sinful Mistakes
How hard is it to say, yes I’m a Christian and yes last night I actually committed a sexual sin. Doesn’t matter who or where, but in many large ways I think mass outreaches fail because:
- Christians usually are not down to earth
- Christians are easy to judge someone else
- Christians usually seem to have an invisible and subconscious- I don’t sin but you do attitude
- Christians are quick to bait & switch (talk about a subject for 10seconds and then get off of it, or walk away) see video below:
There are tons of videos on YouTube that exploit homophobic Christians who on one hand carry around the Christian Badget of Honor and on the other hand promote a divided disfunctional family with their own children.
Each individual in the world carries around their own ideas and beliefs about life, love, marriage, politics, sex, sexuality, happiness, sorrow, work, social life, etc and that is often influenced by other factors in their life-governing heiarchy like spirituality / religion. It is far easier to gain the attention and mindshare of others when you make yourself extremely easy to talk to and get along with, and by extension your message can be heard by individuals who can affect other communities of like minded inviduals of who you are aiming to infect with your ideavirus.
How hard is it to genuinely care for someone to the point of checking up on them every now and then and being their friend? Valauble relationships are always the products of invested time, energy, sacrifice. We now live in an experience economy where standing out from the crowd is the new fad. As more people desire and express their need to stand out from the crowd, most will often look to some leader for some guidance, even if they don’t think they are following the lead at all.
If your ideavirus is to spread the word of God and Christianity, then as long as you are making it hard for the gays, lesbians, and sexaholics to ask questions or share their ideas, then you are severely wasting your time and blocking the funnel of communication.
The basis of this project is John 3:16, you know it - you’ve heard it and your future grandchildren will know it before they’re born. But it’s rather hard to promote that message when there are so many other messages to beat others over the head with, when they don’t believe what we believe. A Christian who wants to help change the world is one who:
- Constantly aims to be Christlike
- Constantly encourages others to do the same (both actively and passively)
- Is willing to be genuine in their efforts to spread their message (maybe you’ve made mistakes too)
- Is willing to care for a person beyond making a “christ sale”
The aim of Christian Sex 101 is to stimulate better sex and better communication in Christian marriages, but married Christians aren’t the only ones who need sex & sexuality ed.
When I say HellKnow what I am reserving is the respect of non-judgement that everyone should be given, and that respect comes from a deeper care for the desired change. I can not condem you to hell and that won’t do either one of us any good, but what will do some good is if I can help you in anyway I can live and lead a better life.
What type of things bother you about the way Christians discuss (or refuse to talk about) sex and sexuality? What could Christians do better?
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November 11th, 2006 
