
It is apparent that using the word “Porn” in conjunction with Christ could be interpreted adversely. The awareness of this fact is diminished when you take another look. I clearly said “Christian”, in doing so I am pointing out that we have perverted this word and almost made it detestable to people who don’t believe like we do.
Porn is a dirty word to Christians
Christian is a dirty word to non-believers
One of the areas of “Christian Porn” is the effort with which churches of America have taken to make their church or “yoke” look appealing.
What do I mean? We all know or perceive that porn (especially to men) is intoxicating and thrilling, appealing. There are now tons of off shoots/slang with porn in it that really have nothing to do with nudity. There is Guitar Porn, Car Porn, Extreme Sports Porn, Gossip Porn and so on.What those statements are trying to convey is, “Hey, you’ll get a good feeling from looking/reading/listening to this.”
They don’t mean there is any sex going on, but rather, this thing is so appealing it deserves a stimulating container word.
The American church today produces a massive amount of “Christian Porn” in the form of endless books on the same subject, banners, cd’s, bulletins, Sunday service, Children’s service. All of this “stuff” is made to try and convey one message, “Hey, we got it going on, come check us out.”
They are trying to compete with the constant onslaught of media messages and things clambering for peoples time, especially on Sunday’s. Sometimes it is done under the guise of trying to be relevant, expressive, connecting or even “true to culture”, but it ends up leaving the user empty handed.
There will always be another book, better musician, they will forget the banner you spent so much money on, and they will throw away the bulletin etc…
The one of the problem’s with porn is that there is no substance, only flash. No content, just a hook leaving the user searching for the next bigger better thing.
Church in America is at best a sloppy imitation of the world instead of being a Christ imitator. They settle for copying TV shows, movies and pop culture, all in order to make their church seem more appealing.
We need to stop peddling a “Look and Feel” and start focusing on the deeper issue. Jesus said it best with the story of the woman at the well. She was looking for some water to quench her thirst, but Jesus said he offered something far deeper and satisfying than mere water (flash). He cut straight to what she needed, without programs, sexy looking cd covers, He met her need not her want.
People today are smarter than the surface level of, “Please my eyes and the rest will follow.” They want substance, content even if they don’t realize it yet. They want something to chew on, mull over, examine, because it is in that that we find truth.
Take time to seriously evaluate whether your church is contributing to “Christian Porn” or are you putting forth something that pulls from a deeper well.




June 5th, 2008 at 10:59 am
A good article! So much I can say along this thread - but I’ll just say this:
porn is self-gratifying, un-authentic, and degrading
church can also be self-gratifying, un-authentic, and degrading
So, the correlation is all too scary!
I wrote an article on this if you’re interested.
http://avantgardefaith.blogspot.com/2007/06/church-as-porn.html