But still, we think it’s easier to follow rules than to try to live in the reality of grace. We quickly forget Paul’s warning to the Colossians: Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:20-23

Rules will get your nowhere fast. How many Christians have said “this is the last time I’ll commit this sin”, and it really wasn’t? And they certainly won’t help you to understand God’s character.

And sanctification is another story. Christians are afraid to get their hands dirty (yes, I’ve read “The Gutter” by Craig and cried all the way through it). I think of the story of Lazarus in John 11. When Lazarus came out of that tomb, he was smelly, dirty, and tightly wrapped in grave clothes. But Jesus saw through all that, knowing that Lazarus was once dead but had been made alive, and that underneath those stinky grave clothes was a new creation. He asked those present (Jews, who were forbidden to tough a dead person) to see past the grave clothes to the new person underneath and unwrap him. Christians often expect that when someone gets saved, they are instantly supposed to be a new creation. They don’t want to have to get their hands dirty.

Keep sharing your thoughts and esploring them. And don’t give up on Christians.

Goodluck, don’t give up!
-Arenda

You’re a cool guy. The letter was pretty good. Well good luck buddy whatever you decide! You too Belinda!
Nothing wrong with a little nude photography here and there!

I think we have much to learn from you, and your letter to Pastor Tom is a letter to many more than him. I don’t know Tom, and I haven’t yet listened to the radio shows or podcast, so I can’t speak to his specific words or spirit. All I can say is I think you’re right. I think the xxxchurch folks are right to be in and among their Jerusalem, and I think you’re right to testify to the grace they demonstrated to you and how it turned your world upside down.

Like you, I get angry with Christians (and I’ve never not claimed to be one). We can be a difficult lot, prone to fear and impatience with people and things that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable for us. The 20th century gave us a Christian subculture which prized insulation and separation at the expense of incarnation and contextualization. We should know better, but the gravitational forces pulling us further away from the realities of a broken world are very, very strong. Religion lurks on the outskirts of faith, counterfeiting the real thing and competing for converts. Strange as it may sound, leaving the apparent security of that world is as daunting to many (most?) professing modern American Christians as is your exodus from the porn world. They (we) need no less grace than you.

Don’t misunderstand me – it’s right for you to speak the truth and speak it clearly. I don’t know you, but I suspect your anger is righteous and justified. As I said, we have much to learn from you, and we don’t need you to sanitize the reality you know. I pray we’ll receive from you, you from us, and that we’ll all extend one another grace along the way. Peace.