Popular novel should be renamed Fifty Shades of Porn

Because of its popularity this is my second post on Fifty Shades. This fuller article was published today. See link below.

British writer E. L. James’s erotic home run is flying off the shelves.

In the United States alone, almost 20 million copies of the 1,594 page trilogy have been sold. The book has held the top three spots on USA Today’s bestselling books list for nine weeks. In at least one hotel it has upstaged the Bible. The owner of the Damson Dene Hotel in Windermere, England has replaced the Gideon Bible in each room with a copy of the steamy novel.

Many people have asked, “Why are women by the millions buying this book and simply devouring it?” I am sure there are many different reasons. For instance, the story line is apparently profoundly romantic, and women have always been attracted to this genre. But there is another very basic reason. This popular work might be titled Fifty Shades of Grey, but a better title would be Fifty Shades of Porn. The book is all about explicit sex. Does sex sell? You bet it does — when doesn’t it sell? 

E. L. James deals with sex in a way that is new for most mainstream people, which is another reason for her popularity. She delves deeply into the realm of sadism and masochism and does so in a focused, erotic way.

Although there is nothing new under the sun, there is plenty under the sun that is new to people who have never tried it or thought about it. This material directly appeals to the curious crowd who have an interest in trying something new in their intimate lives.

My great concern is that unwary and unwise Christians might take up this book. They might think any book so mainstream and at the same time so wildly popular is not likely to be harmful. They would be wrong. In my view this work has power to attract and seduce. Like all porn, it wields the ability to deeply invade the thought life and to take people to places they should not go. It is a sad sight to see people caught in the web of porn addiction.

I suspect that some reading this article will at this point be furious at me. They might say to themselves, “There goes another prudish, sex-hating, repressed and bigoted Christian.” Well they would be wrong. 

The Bible is explicit that sex is a good gift. After God created all things, including Adam and Eve, he described everything he had made (including sex) as being very good (Genesis 1:31). In I Corinthians 7, God instructs that husbands and wives are to meet the sexual needs of one another. In Hebrew 13:4, the Bible instructs that, “marriage should be honoured by all and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”

Now, it is true that from the time of Christ to the present, Christians have accepted God’s guidelines around this good gift of sex. Simply stated, sexual intimacy is a gift to be shared only between husband and wife in the covenant of marriage. God gave commandments regarding sexual conduct because the wrong use of sex with the wrong people causes offence to God, leads to the killing of innocent life in abortion, promotes the destruction of families, and leads to unhappiness in marriage ... I could go on and on.

So what impact, in particular, does porn have on marriage? Sheila Wray Gregoire, author of The Good Girls Guide toGreat Sex, writes a cautionary note to men in one of her blog posts.

“Porn rewires your brain so that what becomes arousing is a picture or an image, and not a real live human being. Porn will make you impotent in your marriage, it will make your wife feel like trash, and will make her feel angry and unwanted. And it is a form of cheating. It is not OK. It is wrong. End of story.”

I would counsel everyone to resist the temptation to pick up this book — running in the other direction is a far better choice.

Royal Hamel is ordained with The Christian and Missionary Alliance and now writes as a freelance journalist.

Published Guelph Mercury, July 28, 2012    Find it here

Fifty Shades of Porn

British writer E. L. James erotic home run is flying off the shelves. In the United States alone almost twenty million copies of the 1594 page trilogy have been sold. The book has held the top three spots on USA Today’s bestselling books list for nine weeks.

Not a few people have asked the question, “Why are women by the millions buying this book and simply devouring it?”  There may be nuanced reasons, such as the fact the story is apparently profoundly romantic, and women have always been attracted to this genre.  Nothing new here.  But beyond that simple fact there are some other very basic facts.  The book is all about sex; it is without doubt a form of soft porn.  Does sex sell?  You bet it does, the more profound question is, “When doesn’t it sell?” 

A further reason for the high sales relates to the fact that this book deals with sex in a way that is new for most mainstream people.  It delves deeply into the realm of sadism and masochism and does so in a focused erotic way.  Although there is nothing new under the sun, there is plenty under the sun that is new to people who have never tried it or thought about it. This book directly appeals to the curious crowd who have an interest in learning and maybe even trying something new in their intimate lives.

My great concern is that unwary and unwise Christians might take up this book.  They might think that any book that is so mainstream and at the same time so wildly popular is not likely to be harmful. They would be wrong.  In my view this work has the power to attract and seduce well meaning Christians.  It has the power to invade their thought life and to take them to places they should not go. Porn will do that, you know.  

It might be called Fifty Shades of Grey, but a better title would be Fifty Shades of Porn.  I do not believe that literature like this has any place in the life of a committed follower of Christ.

It is dangerous to even toy with the temptation to pick up this book—Running is a far better strategy.    

Alleged Killer/cannibal Luka Magnotta has Plenty of Fans

Yes, it’s unbelievable, but the alleged killer/cannibal, Luka Magnotta, has his own fans on Facebook.  At least he did until the service shut down some 1400 fans because it was deemed  inappropriate. Apparently the fans consisted mostly of teenage girls as well as some older women. The following is a quote from an ABC news article.

"I like EVERYTHING about him," Destiny St. Denis, the 21-year-old creator of the now defunct page told ABC News in an email. "He needs to know that there are A LOT of people that care about him. He doesn't have to go through life thinking that no one does. That isn't fair. What he did, is his business! No one is in the position to judge him. I support him because he is a human being who deserves love, respect, and affection just like anyone else."

So here is one fan who thinks that no one is in a position to judge Magnotta, because after all what he did is his business.  How many others of his fans believe essentially the same thing?  Well, we don’t know for sure, but there are probably a few others among the remaining 1399 fans.

So what does this have to do with walking and talking our Christian faith?  Well it raises the profound question of whether it is every right to pass judgment on other people. In our contemporary Christian society I’ve heard more than a few Christians loudly proclaim that we have no right to judge anybody. But is that true?

Come and let us reason together for a moment. Is there such a thing as right and wrong?  Is there good and evil in the world? Are there not people in Nigeria right at this moment plotting to murder as many Christians as possible, simply because they are Christians? Were those people who flew the planes into the World Trade Centre guilty of evil because they mercilessly slaughtered over 3000 innocent people? What about serial killers? What about pedophiles who abduct, rape and murder young children. Were Hitler and Stalin and Mao Tse-tung merely misguided in their calculated slaughter of millions of innocents, or did they do evil, and are their actions culpable and worthy of judgment?

Our whole society has gone gaga over moral relativism. And those moral relativists who are consistent cannot condemn anything, because after all, it might be right for some to do “evil”, even if it might be wrong for others to do that same “evil.” 

Sadly I think some of this relativism has infected and affected even some in the church.  For we are at the point where in the name of tolerance and non-judgmentalism Christians are being asked to not pass judgement on actions that former generations clearly saw as moral evil. 

Christians are often referred to as sheep in Scripture.  I put it to you that well armed lambs are neither mute nor stupid. Christians possess wisdom and discernment from scripture. Let us bleat out warning and admonitions to a generation fumbling in the darkness—for the love of God, and the love of people.

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Let us talk the walk 

Let us flood the darkness—with light!

  

Great Message on Repentance

For the last while I've been writing on the important topic of repentance. Sometimes I feel like a lone voice in the wilderness crying out about the virtual loss of this crucial doctrine.  How important is it?  Quite simply there is no true following of Christ without it.  Indeed I think there is no true conversion unless the one who is trusting in Christ also manifests repentance.

With the dearth of this teaching everywhere, imagine my surprise  to hear a guest speaker at my local church bring a message on precisely this theme.  David Loney is an active part of Crossings Community Church in Acton and he spoke last Sunday.  I would very much like you to hear this sermon. It is available here.

Be blessed, challenged and grow in the things that shall last forever.

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Catholic Bishops Called to Bark Like Dogs

Some Catholics were grievously disappointed that their bishops did not do more to stop the Ontario Liberals from pushing Bill 13 through parliament. Father Alphonse De Valk concludes that with the passage of this bill there is little left of Catholic education that is distinctly Catholic.  He laments that this so called anti-bullying bill will in fact systematically teach Catholic children a version of sexuality that is not according to Catholic teaching. He states in a recent article published on lifesitenews.com: 

"Ostensibly about fighting bullying in schools, Bill 13 is much more than that. It is a product of the homosexual agenda which since the early nineteen seventies has tenaciously fought to have its lifestyle accepted, first by the general public, then recognized as a civil “right” by the judiciary under the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and finally given “equality “in 2005 under Prime Minister Paul Martin, who even removed the definition of normal marriage between one man and one woman. Today it has triumphed in the schools.

From here on activists will seek to deform the consciences of toddlers and students. School materials have been in preparation for years. Barbara Hall, Commissar of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, holds that today her Commission overrides all other rights, including the Charter’s religious section."

De Valk is especially critical of the Catholic bishops. He thinks they made very little effort to stop the passage of this dangerous bill. Quoting from Saint Boniface, a famous German martyr, he writes, "Let us be neither dogs who do not bark, nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf."  

De Valk’s advice is good for Evangelical leaders as well. Is it not incredibly ironical that we have a vast army of muted, moral watchmen, who mostly just watch, as our culture slowly trickles down the drain into a moral wasteland?  God help us, we need some barking dogs. We need them now. 

What Does it Mean to Repent?

I heard a rare message on repentance at my home church this last Sunday. David Loney at Crossings Alliance Church did a great job of teaching and laying out what it actually means.

The call, “to repent” is sometimes confused with penance.  They are not the same.  To “do penance” which comes to us from the Catholic tradition implies carrying out penalties usually imposed by the priest in the confessional booth. A person might be told to say thirty or forty “our Fathers’” or some other religious duty.

The word, repent comes from the Greek word, metanoia which means “to change one’s mind”.  It  carries with it the thought of turning from one course of action and turning toward another. Evangelicals in times past have usually conceived it as turning away from sin and turning toward God.  Bakers Dictionary of theology notes, “Generally however metanoia can be said to denote that inward change of mind, affections, convictions and commitment, rooted in the fear of God and sorrow for offenses committed against him, which, when accompanied by faith in Jesus Christ, results in an outward turning from sin to God and his service in all of life.”

Repentance in the book of Acts is repeatedly tied to the call to put faith in Jesus. Apostolic preaching expected that the new convert would be a transformed person.  The new convert would have turned away from sin and selfishness and their new orientation would have been toward God and love of neighbour. Repentance should always be linked with the call to believe in Christ. 

An old story has it that a newly converted follower of Christ was being mocked and belittled for his newly found faith. His tormentors laughed at him for believing that anybody could turn water into wine.  The convert said, “I don’t know how Jesus turned water into wine. I wasn’t there.  But I do know that in my own home he has turned beer into furniture and whiskey into shoes for my kids.”

6 Reasons Why Repentance is Missing Today

I know that I’m not the only one who has noticed the teaching of repentance is largely missing in our churches today.  Since our evangelical ancestors made much of it in their preaching and teaching, we do well to ask ourselves why there is so little focus on it in our time. 

For starters I am offering the following six reasons that seek to explain its demise in Christian circles today. My plan is simply to lay out these points in a somewhat stark format and then expand on them in the days to come.

1.       I believe there is widespread ignorance of what the term actually means. This should not surprise us since doctrinal teaching in the churches has been de-emphasized over a period of many decades

  

2.       I think that some teachers and preachers have concluded that repentance is opposed   to grace. And since grace for them is the primary teaching of the Bible, they are loathe to muddy the waters by also speaking of repentance. 

3.       In order for repentance to make sense as a teaching the pastor has to be willing to treat the wider issue of what constitutes sin. And in an age of rampant ethical relativism the whole concept of sin itself is largely rejected by the broader culture.

4.       The preaching of repentance smacks of judgmentalism.  And our society hates with a passion anybody who dares to pass judgment on its actions.  Likewise, the preacher bristles at the mere idea that he might be perceived as passing judgment on anybody.

5.       The preaching of repentance does not fit in with the seeker sensitive mentality found in many churches today.   In such churches the leaders design everything to appeal to newcomers so they will return.

6.       To boldly preach repentance means taking a stand against popular sins that are culturally accepted and many leaders simply do not have the stomach to confront people in the pew, or the people who make up our society.

Repentance Has Gone Missing

Just a few days ago a friend of mine related a story about his encounter with the leadership of his church.   Rob (not his real name) had expressed concern with the problem of “Christians” among the fellowship who were cohabiting without benefit of marriage. Rob wanted the leaders to take some kind of action. Specifically he wanted them to lovingly speak the truth of this sin and its dangers to these young couples. He was shocked beyond belief by the leaders’ response. They indicated they were not interested in preaching against sin. But rather they were all about preaching Jesus, and wanted to just preach the gospel and not be judgmental in anyway.  

I suspect, sadly, that this attitude is prevalent in thousands of churches in our day. And I am not speaking solely of the mainline (sidelined and slipping) churches, but of all Christian churches in general.  

Just how important is the teaching or repentance in the scripture? First, let’s note that Jesus began his ministry with the call to repentance. The apostolic preaching in the book of Acts frequently includes the call to repent. The church down through the centuries has carefully guarded the truth that repentance is part of the ministry of preaching the good news of Jesus.  J. Edwin Orr insisted that, “repentance is the first word of the gospel.” Martin Luther strongly called Christians to repent as part of their daily walk with God.  General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, warned that one of the chief dangers of the twentieth century would be the offering of forgiveness without repentance.

I lament that we live in a time when we see much decline in the churches. I think that one of the clear reasons for this decline is the loss of this very basic teaching of repentance. On every hand we see a growing and blatant apostasy in many mainline churches.  But we need to see there is another apostasy at work, quieter perhaps, but no less dangerous.  Far too many Christians in the conservative churches, yes even some Evangelicals, are neglecting, and abandoning certain basic truths of scripture. 

For the next week or so this blog will explore, just how this doctrine has been lost and how it can be recovered. And yes, it can be recovered and the church can be made strong again. The church can and will find herself, reforming her own reformation by God’s help and leading.  May God help us all to move in that direction. And soon, please God.