'God Loves Sex' Billboard Turns Heads On Pennsylvania Highway

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/29/god-loves-sex-billboard_n_5732038.html

The Huffington Post | By Antonia Blumberg

Posted: 08/29/2014 10:21 am EDT Updated: 08/29/2014 10:59 am EDT


WHEP 16

Churches have done some elaborate things to attract new worshippers -- and one Pennsylvania congregation is taking a leap of faith with its sexy new billboard.

Restored Church of Wilkes-Barre, PA paid for a billboard along Route 309 that reads "'I love sex.' -God" and promotes the church's new sermon series that will focus on the biblical Song of Solomon.

"What we want to do is let people know that the Bible is relevant to everyday life. When it comes to sexuality... God is the the inventor, author and creator of it," Restored Church's Pastor Dan Nichols told HuffPost.

The Song of Solomon is indeed full of some of the sexiest passages in the Bible. The first lines read:

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the young women love you!
Take me away with you—let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.

more at link

[merrily]

1. Paul thought remaining celibate until Jesus returned was the way to go, unless

your desires got in the way. If they did, the solution was to marry. ("It is better to marry than to burn," or words to that effect.) Had more people followed Paul's advice, roaches would own the planet. The Shakers tried to follow his advice. They made some very good baskets, furniture, etc. But there are few to no Shakers now. Then again, I don't think they contributed to global warming.

*The above post was composed with tongue in cheek. Not very firmly in cheek, but in cheek, nonetheless.

[cbayer]

2. Lol, I like your disclaimer at the end.

Sad about the Shakers. Not sure what part about celibacy leads to extinction they are not getting. There is reportedly only one community left and it only has 3 members.

[merrily]

3. I am sure they get that. They believe they are being obedient.

In my experience, no one wants to die, but few would mind ending up in heaven, as they see heaven. If you believe with all your heart that a certain behavior is likely to cause Jesus to return, you might engage in it. I don't know a lot about Shakers, but that might be at least part of their motivation, as well as sheer obedience.

That was part, but not all, of the motivation for "spreading the gospel" via missionaries, etc. I have heard people say that Jesus will return once there is no one left in the world who has not heard the gospel. Another part of the motivation, of course, was to show people what they believed was the path out of eternal damnation and suffering. And, the other was simply obedience to the NT command to go out into all the world and preach (teach) the gospel.

[cbayer]

4. Sounds like the only reasonable explanation.

We used to visit a Shaker community when I was a child. I don't remember much about it, but I was taken in by the simplicity and general feelings of peace. And it wasn't until a few years ago that I found out about the celibacy part.

I've not heard the part about Jesus returning once everyone had been informed, but the leading people out of damnation part is very familiar to me.

[merrily]

5. I have listened to a lot of evangelicals, both in my youth and on TV.

I have heard "And that's why Jesus hasn't come back yet" explanations from some evangelicals, from abortion to homosexuality to failure to get the gospel into every corner of the world. Paul Crouch, late founder of TBN, felt called to make that happen via TV.

[cbayer]

6. Seems like Jesus would want to come back to correct

some of those things, if one followed their logic.

So their reasoning is that he will come back when the earth is "perfect"?

[merrily]

7. I cannot speak to their reasoning or motives, only to what I've heard them say.

[Tommymac]

8. Too Late for most of these stalwork defenders of the Faith

http://www.alternet.org/story/155253/the_right-wing's_20_biggest_sex_hypocrites

"The Right-Wing's 20 Biggest Sex Hypocrites - The ones who scream the loudest about how godly they are often turn out to be the exact opposite.
May 2, 2012 @AlterNet
By Alex Henderson

The Republican Party wasn’t always synonymous with far-right Christian fundamentalism. The late five-term Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, who was considered the epitome of an arch-conservative when he ran for president against Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, had no use for the Religious Right. Goldwater famously said that “the Religious Right scares the hell out of me,” and he said of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, “All good Christians should kick him in the ass.”

It isn’t that Goldwater abandoned right-wing ideas and became passionately liberal/progressive; rather, the Republican Party moved way to the right of him on social issues. From the early 1980s on, the GOP has pushed an agenda of militant social conservatism—and the more the GOP became the party of far-right Christian fundamentalism, the more Republican politicians and the evangelists who supported them became involved in major sex scandals.

Of course, the Democratic Party has had plenty of sex scandals as well. But most of the Democrats who have become involved in major sex scandals (Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Anthony Weiner, Gary Hart, among others) had not marketed themselves as extreme moralists. Post-1970s Republicans, all too often, have been self-righteous, preachy, overbearing, holier-than-thou witch hunters—and in many cases, the ones who screamed the loudest about how godly they were turned out to be the exact opposite. Below are 20 of the top socially conservative hypocrites of the Religious Right. ... "

[rug]

9. This church is less than three years old.

http://restoredchurch.org/history/

The church it is affiliated with is less than ten years old.

http://www.steamtownchurch.com/who-we-are/our-history.html

[cleanhippie]

10. Relevance?

[rug]

11. The article treats this as a novelty.

That really is a very silly question unless you have a flat view of religion that they are all the same with no difference in nuance, history, context, authority or social impact.

[AtheistCrusader]

13. Yeah, but that meme isnt isolated to that vhurch.

Mars hill church is deep into this stuff. You can find it on 'faithit', etc.

As with Mars Hill, it is normally a misogynistic, and homophobic movement.
Not much different from the quiverfull morons.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. Yeah, i have an evangelical work-friend that is deep into this shit.

Like, will not hesitate to bring up all sorts of awkward boundary violating commentary about how sex is a gift from god, and how awesome it is, and how dirty the perversion of homosexuality is to said sacred gift

Four more weeks and I give them all the finger, and start my new job.

[cbayer]

14. You are right.

I just read an interview with the pastors behind this. It looks like it's all about marketing and it includes a homophobic message.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/pa-pastors-behind-i-love-sex-says-god-billboard-answer-criticism-interview-125614/

[AtheistCrusader]

15. Here's a lecture on the quiverfull movement by an escapee.

Scary shit.

#t=914

[cbayer]

16. Limited data prevents me from streaming at this time.

If you think it is worth it, i will watch at a later date.

[AtheistCrusader]

17. When you get a chance.

The QA session at the end is just as interesting as the presentation.