What's up with a Porn Star Bible?

The great Swiss thinker and theologian Karl Barth was asked when he guest lectured at the University of Chicago what the greatest thought that ever crossed his mind was. He scratched his head and ran his fingers through his shaggy mane and took a puff on his pipe and then announced: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Folks, here is the good news: Jesus love is all encompassing and all inclusive. Jesus loves theologians, Jesus loves religious people, Jesus loves irreligious people, Jesus loves messed up and broken people, Jesus loves self assured people, Jesus loves arrogant people, Jesus loves self absorbed people, Jesus loves Goths , Jesus loves rockers, Jesus loves punks, Jesus loves skinheads, Jesus loves second hand cars salesmen. Jesus loves school teachers, Jesus loves cops, Jesus loves robbers, Jesus loves bounty hunters, Jesus loves athletes, Jesus loves slobs, Jesus loves geeks, Jesus loves techies, Jesus loves famous people and their entourages, Jesus loves anonymous people living quiet lives on the margins, Jesus loves giants , Jesus loves little people, Jesus loves porn stars, Jesus loves pedophiles, Jesus loves murderers, Jesus loves thieves, Jesus loves crooks, Jesus loves respectable people, Jesus loves con men. Jesus loves trapeze artists, Jesus loves rock stars, Jesus loves zookeepers, Jesus loves microbiologists, Jesus loves illiterate people, Jesus loves atheists, Jesus loves agnostics, Jesus loves priests, Jesus loves rabbis, Jesus loves imams, and Jesus loves televangelists. Jesus loves red, yellow, black and white… they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves you!

Jesus loves with no limits or boundaries. A Bible that declares, ”Jesus loves porn stars”, is no compromise or confusion of the New Testament message (as per an ABS spokeswoman) it is simply echoing the heart of the New Testament.
Not only does the ABS miss the message of the NT it fails to grasp the mission of the NT. That fierce reckless missionary adventurer, Paul, put it this way:

“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have a voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized--whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ--but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23, The MESSAGE)

The ABS suffers from a classic case of missing the point. XXX Church embodies the missionary heart that the apostle Paul expresses above. This involves giving up home field advantage, going where people are, relating to them on their terms, with their terminology but never diluting the gospel!
A Bible that says Jesus loves porn stars in no way condones pornography. Refusing to print Bibles because the cover was too edgy or racy or whatever prevents the constituents of a dark, destructive and addictive culture of sexual exploitation from getting their hands on the life giving message of the Bible.
The Bible is God’s road map to Jesus and salvation. Paul wrote to his apprentice in ministry, Timothy, and referenced,” the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:15). The Bible has its own in-built power and authority because it is the very Word of God. It seems plain odd to this Scotsman that a Bible Society would nix the opportunity of putting a spiritual lifeline into the hands of people who are lost, broken, and full of shame and guilt. Who in short (like all of us) are sinners in need of a Savior.

David Suchet is a man who learned his acting craft through treading the boards in Shakespearian productions. If you are a Masterpiece Theater fan, you will know him as the Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot. You may have seen him as the sasquatch hunter in “Harry and the Hendersons,” or a crazed terrorist in “Executive Decision.” Suchet was on tour and soaking in a hot bath in his hotel room when he developed an insatiable urge to read the Bible. He climbed out the bath tub and sloshed around his hotel room until he found a Bible. He climbed back into the tub and began to read. He was hooked. As he read the gospels, he was drawn to the magnificent and compelling figure of Jesus of Nazareth. As he read the Bible, he was captured by Jesus and fell in love with Jesus and became a Jesus follower.

Nicky Gumble is the delightful chap behind that global phenomenon, ALPHA. When Nicky was a student he was horrified to discover that a couple of friends became Christians. He just had to convince them of their folly and setting about doing research to refute their now found faith. One of the research documents he grabbed was a Bible. He reads the Bible and was hooked. When Gumble picked up an old dusty Bible he read Matthew, Mark, Luke and fell asleep halfway through John’s Gospel. He the waded through Acts and 1 Corinthians and Second Corinthians and was gripped by what he read. He states that what he was reading had a ring of truth about it. Shortly after his big plunge into the dusty pages of an old Bible he became a dedicated follower of Jesus.

These are wonderful and remarkable stories of grace, transformation and the power of an ancient book. We shouldn’t really be too surprised, though. Paul tells us: “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17).The Bible has the power to awaken faith in a sceptic, a seeker, a sex addict or a porn star. Has the ABS lost sight of this?