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
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