Kurt Strassner on National Porn Sunday

In Cincinnati recently, the Vineyard Church hosted "National Porn Sunday," the 'ministry' brainchild of xxxchurch.com (link to it yourself; I'm not going to help!). A dear brother, Kurt Strassner, wrote an article entitled "Naked and Not Ashamed" in response to this rather bizarre event. Kurt pastors Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church in Cincy. I have provided the article in its entirety below:

TripleXChurch.com bills itself as the ‘#1 Christian Porn Site’ on the web. Do they have your attention yet? Join the crowd. Recent television news reports about ‘Porn Sunday’ have created quite a stir in and around Cincinnati—including within the walls of my little church. The reactions have been varied. Some are confused. Others are frightened. Still others are shocked and appalled. And a few are saying, ‘Well, their methods seem a little shaky, but maybe the intent of their hearts is in the right place.’ Maybe. But my sense is that the founders of TripleXChurch are achieving just what they had hoped—a tidal wave of publicity and many new hits to their already popular website (they claim 50 million)—all in the name of helping those millions of Americans addicted to pornography. It is a noble cause to be sure—one that every pastor, including this one, needs to take up. One cannot help but applaud these men who have gone to Vegas porn conventions to hand out Bibles, and who produce online accountability networks to aid those entrapped by lust.

But what are we to think of the idea of naming a supposedly Christian website TripleXChurch? What are we to think of its over the top tag-line: ‘#1 Christian Porn Site’? What are we to think of ‘Porn Sundays’ in local churches, during which video clips featuring scantily clad women are flashed before the eyes of God’s people? One such service in middle Tennessee had to be limited to those sixteen years of age and older. Is this really what Jesus had in mind when He taught His followers to be in the world, but not of it? I don’t think most Christians would answer ‘yes.’

Craig Gross and Mike Foster, the founders of TripleXChurch, claim that their name was carefully chosen so that those who type ‘XXX’ into internet search engines would bump into their site. OK. Then why not make the tag-line ‘Freedom from XXX Pornography’ or some other straightforward description? Why is it necessary to cloud a positive work with a cloak of darkness? Why does their site claim “We refuse to have this be your typical Christian (expletive) Web site with crosses and Bibles all over the place”? I can think of only one plausible answer: publicity. It is the same reason why so many churches feel the need to be over-the-top, cutting edge, and cool. Publicity. Sadly, we preachers have often become the lead pitch-men in a gigantic advertising department instead of shepherds in the muck with our sheep—both the lost and the found.

Now, to be sure, the TripleXChurch is an attempt to get next to the guy struggling with porn addiction and to help him out of the quicksand. But is showing semi-pornographic material to a gathered congregation the best way to do it? Proponents of TripleXChurch would argue that Christians need to know what is really out there, and how bad it is, so we’ll get our heads out of the clouds and start to fight back. Really? Does anyone honestly believe that the average Christian in America doesn’t have some idea of what pornography is all about? And for those numerous men in every congregation who struggle with porn, is an R-rated video, played in church, really a help or a hindrance? Ask anyone who has struggled with the addiction. Lust is almost always triggered by sight—leaving me to wonder how many men return home from ‘Porn Sunday’ looking to satisfy a craving that was ignited by the buxom blonde projected like a goddess before their eyes in the morning worship service.

Finally, let us pose this question: Is TripleX’s methodology biblical? Is there any Scriptural warrant to the edgy, publicity driven, temptation-laden methodology of the TripleXChurch? Well, consider the words of the Scripture: “I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16.19). Contrary to the claims of so many friends of TripleX, Christians do not need to ‘know what is out there’ in order to combat sin. Rather, they need to study what is right and true, and be confronted constantly with the grace of God in Christ. And what will TripleXChurch do with a verse like Ephesians 5.3: “Among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality”? Will they change their name in order to prevent confusion? Will they cut the ‘goddesses’ out of their informational videos? Or is it more important to be cool and cutting edge?

It is a question all of us should ponder: Is it more important to please the Lord (with both our message and our methodology), or to increase the number of hits to our church’s websites?

Thanks, Kurt, for your keen insight and keeping the battle lines drawn.