UPDATE: This is not your grandmother's church
Check out updated material from a local holy man at the end of the post.
Church is definitely the last place I would expect to have a discussion about sex, cheating and pornography addictions, but apparently it's a growing trend for pastors to preach about their parishioners' sex lives.
In Oregon, a pastor and his wife have taken on the topic, which many still consider taboo for church, ABC News reports. Another church in New Jersey has the Web site mysexlifestinks.com, which states: "God wants you to have GREAT SEX." Their take is that within the confines of marriage, sex is allowed, and it's supposed to be fun at that. The fact that sex is supposed to be fun isn't a radical idea, but talking about it in church, well, that is.
I haven't ever been to a church that talked about sex, but I imagine that if I was there and the sermon started discussing better ways to please yourself and your partner, I would be a bit disturbed. Traditionally, church is a place that is holy and proper, and it is not a place to talk about what goes on in the bedroom (besides your nighttime prayers to God). Advocates of sex talk in church say sex is natural -- God created it! -- and we shouldn't be so uptight about discussing it.
Maybe I'm a bit conservative (OK, call me uptight), but I'd like to leave sex talk out of church. Honestly, I don't want to think about my parents doing it, and I especially don't want to think about our holy men doing it. When I go to church (granted, it's not very often), I'm there to worship God and ask for forgiveness for my sins, not learn how to have the greatest sex I'll ever have. If I got that in church, what would I even need Cosmo for?
Seriously, though. I could see having small groups that discussed love and sex. There are small groups for everyone else -- alcoholics, overeaters, singles -- so having a small group about sex seems plausible. That way people who don't want to hear it, don't have to go. Just keep it out of my Sunday sermon.
I wanted to reach some local pastors to see what they thought about the topic. Apparently many of them are hard to reach during the week — at least that's been my experience so far today. But Father Dan Edwards of St. Francis (Episcopal) Church in Macon took a minute to share his thoughts with me.
"I don't think that the Church knows anything about (sex) that they couldn't find from a sex therapist," he said. "What the church can offer, that a sex therapist wouldn't be able to offer, is to increase someone's moral and spiritual dimension."
He said that he has addressed issues regarding sexuality with his congregation, but nothing like offering sex advice. His church has conversations about homosexuality and offers help for people in unhealthy or cheating relationships, he said.
As for the New Jersey church's Web site, mysexlifestinks.com, Edwards said: "We've never done that. I don't know that I would. I'm not shocked by that or opposed to it. I'm just not sure the church has any particular expertise in that."
Amen.
What do you think about pastors discussing sex in church? What about in sermons or small groups? Would it make you go to church more?
Church is definitely the last place I would expect to have a discussion about sex, cheating and pornography addictions, but apparently it's a growing trend for pastors to preach about their parishioners' sex lives.
In Oregon, a pastor and his wife have taken on the topic, which many still consider taboo for church, ABC News reports. Another church in New Jersey has the Web site mysexlifestinks.com, which states: "God wants you to have GREAT SEX." Their take is that within the confines of marriage, sex is allowed, and it's supposed to be fun at that. The fact that sex is supposed to be fun isn't a radical idea, but talking about it in church, well, that is.
I haven't ever been to a church that talked about sex, but I imagine that if I was there and the sermon started discussing better ways to please yourself and your partner, I would be a bit disturbed. Traditionally, church is a place that is holy and proper, and it is not a place to talk about what goes on in the bedroom (besides your nighttime prayers to God). Advocates of sex talk in church say sex is natural -- God created it! -- and we shouldn't be so uptight about discussing it.
Maybe I'm a bit conservative (OK, call me uptight), but I'd like to leave sex talk out of church. Honestly, I don't want to think about my parents doing it, and I especially don't want to think about our holy men doing it. When I go to church (granted, it's not very often), I'm there to worship God and ask for forgiveness for my sins, not learn how to have the greatest sex I'll ever have. If I got that in church, what would I even need Cosmo for?
Seriously, though. I could see having small groups that discussed love and sex. There are small groups for everyone else -- alcoholics, overeaters, singles -- so having a small group about sex seems plausible. That way people who don't want to hear it, don't have to go. Just keep it out of my Sunday sermon.
I wanted to reach some local pastors to see what they thought about the topic. Apparently many of them are hard to reach during the week — at least that's been my experience so far today. But Father Dan Edwards of St. Francis (Episcopal) Church in Macon took a minute to share his thoughts with me.
"I don't think that the Church knows anything about (sex) that they couldn't find from a sex therapist," he said. "What the church can offer, that a sex therapist wouldn't be able to offer, is to increase someone's moral and spiritual dimension."
He said that he has addressed issues regarding sexuality with his congregation, but nothing like offering sex advice. His church has conversations about homosexuality and offers help for people in unhealthy or cheating relationships, he said.
As for the New Jersey church's Web site, mysexlifestinks.com, Edwards said: "We've never done that. I don't know that I would. I'm not shocked by that or opposed to it. I'm just not sure the church has any particular expertise in that."
Amen.
What do you think about pastors discussing sex in church? What about in sermons or small groups? Would it make you go to church more?
posted by Anonymous at 8:30 PM
1 Comments:
I would be holy (pun intended) horrified if I went to church, and my pastor started talking about sex, and how it can, and should, be better for me.
Mainly because, usually when I go to church, my mom is right next to me.
But I don't think it is at all appropriate to go into details in the sermon itself. A small group or sunday school class should be reserved for that. A friend of mine goes to a church where they have a sunday school class reserved for singles only, so maybe it would be good to have a class reserved for sex conversations.
Post a Comment
<< Home