Now, I’m going to assume that if you’re even on this site in the first place that you can’t possibly be all THAT conservative (right?). But, just to cover my bases, let me start this message out with scripture:

“As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”—Matthew 9″9-12 (NKJV)

As a “liberal Christian” (liberal in the sense that I’m more interested in having a relationship with God than getting religious approval by man), it always baffles me how we as a people and church can claim to have a desire to reach out to “the world” and yet, we don’t reach out.  To me, inviting someone who doesn’t have a relationship with God (or you) yet to church (first), is like telling a homeless man that you will pray for him instead of giving him a meal.  In other words, you have to meet people where they are to reach them.  Church is not what sinners need first.  Love is.

I once heard a woman by the name of LaKita Garth say that if you want to catch fish, you must use the right bait; if you want to have someone understand where you’re coming from, you must speak in a language that they can relate to.  Jesus told parables because for sinners, it was a practical way of translating scripture.  Oh, how I believe that he desires that same approach from us even today.Â

…Or, at the very least that we would shut our mouths when it comes to those who are bold enough to do it; that we would stop ignorantly condemning those who strive to revolutionize ministry by truly being CHRIST-LIKE (if you want to know more about what that means, check out “Real Christianity” by William Wilberforce).

OK, enough of my soap box.  Let’s move on…

Not too long ago, I found myself watching a documentary on porn.  No, I’m not going to tell you the name of it because if porn is something you battle with, some of the visuals will distract you from getting the points that I am about to make.  Anyway, it’s a documentary on porn stars talking about their lives both on screen and off.  Here were some of the statements made by both the “actors/actresses” and “experts” who were interviewed:

“Everyone’s f***** someone to get somewhere in life.  We’re just doing it on film.”

“I get turned on and off very easily.”

“You don’t degrade something you love.”

“Once you do porn, there’s no going back.”

“Narcists [are what porn stars are].  They need people to want them.”

“Hip-hop music/videos first acknowledged them.”

“Desire begins with taboo.  [People try to] break the taboo.”

“Camera sex and regular sex are two very different things.”

“If you say you’re not interested [in porn], you’re just lying.”

“I made it [by breaking into porn].  Just halfway.”

“Porn is the most honest business that I can think of.”

“Porn irritates me.”Â

I think it’s the first and the last statements the resonated the most with me.  Both were made by porn stars and yet what’s so fascinating to me is that despite how many people claim to “love” porn, the sentiments these people share don’t sound very “loving” do they?Â

The Bible says that we are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39) and yet the first jusitfication listed for porn is that we all screw people in some shape, form or fashion, so why should they be judged for doing it while the camera’s rolling?

The second statement was made by a woman, a beautiful woman, who’s actually married.  Aside from her sharing that the sex she has on camera is nothing like the sex she has at home (let’s just say at home it’s very old school conservative), her main reason is because sex is a job to her and at the end of the day, she basically finds it irritating because of her profession.Â

Genesis 2:25 says that in the Garden, Adam and Eve were “naked and not ashamed”.  I Corinthians 7:5 says that married couples should not deprive one another except for the mutually agreed purpose of fasting and prayer.  That leads me to believe that God loves sex under the right conditions (if the Church wants to speak out about something, it needs to be THAT), and so I’m sure it saddens him that a woman who was given such a gift under the sanctity of marriage looks at it as no more than a means to a paycheck.

See, these are the stories that need to be told.  This is the way that sin needs to be presented.  These are the people who need real, practical, godly ministry (service). But, it can only happen when soldiers are willing to go where they are called and we as fellow believers are willing to support them.Â

Yes, the Bible says that we are not to be unequally yoked with non-believers (2 Corinthians 6:14), but this has been taken so out of context to the point that lives are suffering at this very moment due to our arrogance and ignorance.  “Intimate communication” is one thing, but to not meet people at their place of need—well, I’m sorry (actually I’m not), but there’s nothing even remotely Christ-like about that.

“Those who are well, don’t need a physician.”

These are the words that our Savior, Jesus Christ said to those who questioned his reasons for being around sinners; for interacting with them; for spending time with them.Â

When I watched this film, in my heart, there was no condemnation; there was love, there was pain, there was mild forms of pity, and, to a certain degree, there was even empathy.  I have felt screwed by people before.  I have felt like I was at a place in my level of sin that there was no going back (for the record, there is no going back, but there is moving forward in forgiveness and grace).  I am a narcist-in-recovery.  I have lied to myself before saying that porn is not a stronghold for me.  And yes, I have been at a place where my sin irriates me.

So, why am I sharing all of this?  Because, I want you to see that the spotlight of the world shines the same way on sin, whether you are in front of the camera, behind it, or on the couch being “entertained” by it.  We all have insecurities.  We all have questions.  We all are wounded on this spiritual battlefield.  And none of us have the right to look down on anyone for not knowing Christ, especially when we have not been doing our job at presenting in a way that makes people want to know more.  If anything, when we see/read/hear statements such as the ones above, we need to fall on our knees in repentance for not showing people the true heart of God—the one who knows the sin addiction is only used to fill voids that we don’t know love can.

Porn is a dirty, demonic, degrading thing.  The porn stars aren’t.  In the words of Christ, stop judging: “Go and learn what this means…”

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