Any religion can claim to help peoples’ sex lives.  Buddhists have tantric practices.  Hindus have the Kama Sutra.

Instead of this tawdry “month of sex,” why don’t our churches promote the one thing our faith gives that no one else can?  You know, the whole forgiveness of sins and grace thing?

Seriously, were the Apostles martyred for preaching about how to have better sex?  Were they crucified and stoned because they encouraged Christians to be intimate?

And asking single people to abstain from sex for a month?  Does that mean that this church would otherwise normally condone fornication?

Yeesh.

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CS

Lori:

You’re absolutely right that we need to understand God’s design for intimacy.  But what is it that is getting the news headlines, thrusting this story onto the front page of CNN’s website today?  Is it the media explaining the significance of the intimacy in regards to Scripture?  Is it God’s holiness and the forgiveness of sins?  Is it Jesus Christ?

No.  It’s sex.  It’s sex, projected in a crass and shameless gimmick by telling people to hit the sheets for a month. 

And too many churches have been doing this recently by hoisting provocative billboards, sending out obscene fliers, and getting aired on news reports with no mention of the Gospel.  Just sex.

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CS

I think this is a unique way to address the culture of immorality we deal with in our churches. 

I’m not sure where your churches are, but we are finding that those we are reaching have routine lives centered around immoral sex.  I could list a lot of new believers that are struggling in this area.

This may be a relevant way to address this.  I like the commitment of singles to abstain from sex for a month. 

Not sure if we would go this far.  But I certainly don’t knock them for taking a stand.

if you actually go to this church’s website, you will see that while the matter of having sex for 30 days is a driving part of this series, they have a very intensive questionaire and guide for couples to go through together throughout the process to spark conversation and dialogue about their marriage and to dig deeper into what God’s idea of a marriage is intended to be.  there are a lot of Christians who live and preach “the whole forgiveness of sins and grace thing” but have lifeless, loveless marriages.  do you really think that’s how God intends marriage to be?  Jesus used marriage as an analogy of the Church’s relationship with Him.  when you consider that fact, i really doubt that God’s intention for marriage is the way many couples live theirs out.  check out the church’s website and materials before you bash it.  you just might see it a little differently…

CS-
this is anonymous speaking.  i cannot understand at all how you equate sex between a husband and a wife with pornography.  one is blessed by God, and one is a twisted perversion of it.  makes no sense to me

“If this sermon series produces loving, Godly relationships between husbands and wives, but uses the wrong means to get it in the end, that does not justify anything”

i don’t see the “wrong means” you speak of.  new?  yes.  progressive?  yes.  wrong?  read Song of Solomon before you make that judgement.

“If you read the other post about “Pagan Temple Prostitutes” here, you will see some demonstrations of the “pastor’s” sermons, where he asks single people from abstaining from having sex with their “partners"--in the plural.”

well, CS, the fact is that a lot of single people do have more than one partner (in the plural, as you say).  would you prefer for the pastor to tell them to keep that up?  correct me if i’m wrong, but i’m pretty sure it’s biblical to ask single people to sustain from sex.  like i said, you can correct me if i’m wrong.

“The “wrong means” I speak of is the cheap “30 Days of Sex” marketing that the church is using.”

as far as i know, i’m pretty sure the series is being marketed as “the 30 day sex challenge,” not “30 days of sex.” these two ways of phrasing are pretty different to me, not that i would really be offended by either one.  some people are just going to be offended by anything new or controversial, but the fact is that Jesus was controversial, the Gospel is offensive if you really believe it, and the fact is, if people are being led to Christ, isn’t that really what matters, more than whether we’re going to offend one person (i assume a Christian) who doesn’t like the marketing?  who do we need to worry about more, the sick or the (arguably) well?

“Also, Christians should not be fornicating.  The purpose of church is for the gathering of believers to worship God.  This message should not even have to be preached if people were convicted of their sins.”

so none of the Christians in your church struggle with sin?  that’s an amazing accomplishment.  you or your pastor deserve a pat on the back, man.  that’s awesome that that your pastor doesn’t have to worry about God using his messages to help convict people and he can just preach the happy stuff…

but seriously, man, do you really believe that everyone in your congregation is really living as the Bible teaches?  i would seriously suggest you spend some more time with your people and see what’s actually going on.

“The means of someone getting saved are important and cannot be glossed over.  If people got saved by jumping out of the way of a speeding semi, we wouldn’t line people up in front of 18-wheelers to get them to jump.

Additionally, there is no Biblical precedence for using worldly or sinful means for getting someone saved.  I don’t recall any of the Apostles leading people to Christ by talking to them about their best sex life now.”

i’m amused by the analogy of a sermon series to a speeding semi.  that was quite a stretch.  i would love it if you could show me some Biblical proof that using the word “sex” in a sermon title is “sinful.” as far as biblical precedence, i don’t recall any of the apostles leading anyone to Christ by using sermon notes on powerpoint slides, either...do we need to remove all of the media from our church services as well...or light bulbs, too, for that matter?  as a matter of fact, i don’t think the apostles had indoor plumbing either, so maybe we should remove all of our toilets form our church buildings as well…

but seriously, there are a lot of things hat we don’t have actual biblical precedents for.  we’re supposed to use what God has said to us to make good judgements.  but in that, we should be careful about making judgements and calling someone else’s ideas “sinful,” simply because it doesn’t sit well with us.  we need to make sure it actually falls into the Biblical guidelines of sin, otherwise we’re bordering on heresy, not to mention passing judgement.

“And, while, no, there is no verse that says, “using the word ‘sex’ in preaching=sinful,” the man’s preaching sure appealed to the world, such as major news networks.”

jesus’ ministry certainly brought a lot of attention fro the world around him too.  i don’t think i would call it sinful because of that…

“I say this tongue-in-cheek, but were you passing judgment on my thoughts on this matter?”

yes, yes i was.  i guess i couldn’t come to your church until God convicts me of it first…

i’ve never heard a message by this pastor, and i’m curious if there’s a particular message you’re referring to.

however, i’m not sure i agree with the reason this has gotten so much attention.  i think the world is shocked to hear anything from Christians in regards to sex that is positive.  the fact is that God gave us sex to be used in a positive manner, and we as Christians have gotten to a point where we’ve made it dirty and scandalous to talk about, when we should really be reclaiming it.  the world has gotten so used to us saying, “don’t do it!” that they can’t believe that we’re publicly acknowledging sex in a positive way, and i think that shocks them.  i don’t think that every time we do something controversial, it has to shock the world though.  i think sometimes it’s good to shock some Christians out of their stuffy attitudes that the last several generations of pastors and churches has imposed on us.  we’re called to be holy, not uptight, yet that’s what we’ve become, and sometimes we’re totally missing the real point.