Man…

I wish I could remember the name of the vodka company that features an ad that I saw on a billboard the other day.  It said (and forgive me for paraphrasing a bit), “Sex Sells.  But that’s not what makes a good vodka.”

Say a word, say a word.

I am going to talk to Craig about making a t-shirt that says on the front, “Sex Sells” and on the back, “…but that’s not what makes a good relationship or a good self-image….or good sex for that matter.”

It seems like any time you hear a justification from a magazine publisher, film producer, movie/model agent about why there is so much sex/nudity in our eyes/ears/head space, their justification is “Well, sex sells.”  I guess what we should be asking is, but at what price?

Personally, I think one of the most “taken out of context scriptures” in the Bible is I Timothy 6:10 (NKJV):

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”

How many times have you heard that money is THE root to all evil.  That is not what the verse says…it says that money is A root.  That said, when you look at all of the corruption surrounding the attempt at getting to the almighty dollar, I understand why that was written.  There is so much that people will sacrifice just to make a buck, but really what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? (Matthew 16:26)

Sometimes, I think when we speak of the “soul” we think of heavenly places and while that is a part of it, while on this earth, our soul is actually the emotional part of our human existence.  It’s our feelings and our thoughts, which ultimately motivate our actions. (Proverbs 23:7)  So when you put it like that, I guess the remix version of this scripture would be, “What does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his emotional sanity?”

I wonder what a porn star, video…umm, girl, stripper, Internet…umm, participant would say to such a question.  Is it really worth it to show everyone your precious body parts? It is really worth it to let random guys (or gals) get at you all do to the flesh you show?  Is it really worth it to be handled and fondled just for a few dollars?  Can you really put a price tag on your heart, your esteem, your GODLY purpose?

I doubt it.  Not the price that God paid, anyway. I Corinthians 6:20 (NKJV) states, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Slowly but surely, it seems like some people, even in “the world” are catching on.  This is why I was darn near ecstatic today when I read that Source Magazine was pulling/banning all future porn and escort advertisements:

“I realize the risk that we’re taking.  (But)
we don’t want to just glorify the lowest-hanging fruit,” co-publisher
L. Londell McMillan told the New York Times. “There’s a lot of people
that want hip-hop but don’t want some of the filth that some of the
business carries with it.”

Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/business/media/19source.html

Low hanging fruit…LOW HANGING FRUIT.  I couldn’t have said it better myself!  All women are beautiful, precious and, to the right man at the right time (uh, marriage), a sweet emotional/spiritual/physical/mental delight to the senses.  But when fruit hangs low, anything, even dogs (Matthew 7;6), can get to it.  We deserve to have a covenant and not a check to set the price for our (physical) worth.  Does Jesus love porn stars?  Yep. I got two stellar X3Church t-shirts to prove it.  But he loves them so much that he wants them to start loving themselves…to see beyond that money has to offer…to accept that they are, in monetary terms, invaluable.

Well, that’s my PSA for the week.  Thanks to all of the Maryland folks who have been showing the site some love since I was there on the 10th.  The time with you gals was truly awesome.

Oh, and if you want to check out a new, cool, Catholic (but not-super-religious-like-Catholic) website that I write for now, I’ve enclosed a link to an X3Church feature I did a couple of weeks ago.  Shoot, just the name alone should pique your interest: www.BUSTEDHALO.com. 🙂

Link to article: http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/porn-in-the-usa/

See you on this side of next week…