Apparently a pastor in Texas is going to set up a bed on the roof of his church and hit the sack with his wife there for 24 hours. The 24 hour bed-in will be broadcast on the Internet. The date corresponds with a book the pastor will be releasing about sex.

Source: http://thesexperiment.com/

Really? When I was growing up in the church, the revolutionary message was, ”Christians can rock too!” Now our church leaders are doing “Christians can f**k too?” No thanks. Is that really where we’re at? By the way, I too have had weeks where I have encouraged couples to be intentional about having all the sex they can — I think that needs to happen. But this whole thing reminds me a bit of the scene in that Monty Python movie…(warning to the sensitive — there is brief nudity in this scene, and a comic demonstration of sex):

In what way is this different? The Youngs feel the need to demonstrate sex by getting in bed together, and to do it on a rooftop, put it on the Internet, etc., for the supposed benefit of others. (The mere fact that some, perhaps many, may in fact benefit in various ways is beside the point.)

BTW, my use of the term f**k instead of the less vulgar “have sex” is intentional. It seems to me that once you put it on a rooftop and invite thousands of people out to see it, it could never be anything other than f***ing. After all, the medium is the message, right? Can you take sex and put it in a barnyard and have it in the mud and invite all the neighbors and expect that what they will see — no matter your intentions — is beauty and intimacy in action?

This is Spinal Tap is a brilliant 1984 mockumentary about a fake band called Spinal Tap that is a send up of the absurdity, filth, excess, and stupidity of rock culture. (Great movie, but to be compared to anything that happens in it is not good.) Their song Sex Farm comes to mind here. In the movie the point is made, ironically of course, about how this song debases sex.

Comment on the song Sexfarm,by Spinal Tap, from the movie This is Spinal Tap, 1984

Now for the song. Again, if you are sensitive about sexual things, this lyric will bother you. Don’t watch it. It debases sex, big time. That’s the point.

The song “elevates” sex (according to the band) by taking the idea of it and putting it on a farm. Does it matter whether it’s a farm or a rooftop? Isn’t the medium the message? Aren’t you always saying more by how you say something (and the context in which you say it) than by the words you say? So again I ask my question. Can you take sex and put it in a barnyard (on a rooftop) and have it in the mud (in the sky) and invite all the neighbors (the Internet) and expect that what they will see — no matter your intentions — is beauty and intimacy in action?

My presumption is that Pastor Ed and Linda aren’t actually going to have sex, but that too is beside the point. What is going to be accomplished by this circus that couldn’t be accomplished more effectively by simply modeling appropriate sexual attitudes in one’s personal and public life day after day? I’m not questioning that Pastor Ed is already doing that. I’m just stating that it’s enough.

This media show is every bit as absurd as the Monty Python clip above, isn’t it? And depending on your point of view, it’s every bit as funny. Or every bit as tasteless. Then again, quietly living out a life of sexual propriety, decency, responsibility, faithfulness, and integrity — as great as that is — doesn’t sell books. Besides, who wants to see a pastor and his wife in bed together? Creepy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/