Have you ever had those times when you just have to say to yourself, “What were they thinking?!” It happens every once in awhile and usually never goes much further than a quick mention during a light hearted conversation, accept this one. I have to say this was just a little more than I could keep from sharing. (just for giggles)
I spent six days recently doing some remodel on a home at Sun River, in central Oregon. If you’ve never been to central Oregon that’s to bad, I would hope you would have at least one opportunity to see and enjoy this area. Truly beautiful! My wife and I had actually considered moving there shortly after being married. Anyway, prior to heading to central Oregon I was sitting in my wife’s car listening to the Christian radio station she had on which was promoting a Christian men’s conference to be held in the very city in central Oregon I was going to be working. I didn’t really listen to the commercial because I’m not into men’s conferences, they rarely produce much beyond the emotional covenants and oaths everyone binds themselves together in just before the conference wraps up on mid day Sunday.
For this particular conference one of the topics presented was going to be pornography, really! (big surprise) this is pretty normal as far as men’s conferences go but this one had a little twist, the speaker who was to address the gathering on this issue was a former porn star. Ok, that makes sense, except for the fact she was a woman.
A former female porn star speaking at a Christians men’s conference because the church is willing to boldly admit, “men tend to struggle in the area of pornography“.
Here comes the line ……….”What were they thinking??!!!
How many times have we heard from the pulpit, the statistics reflecting men’s inability to control their sexual fantasies thus leading them into the slavery of darkness …… blah, blah, blah?
Let’s face the facts, it’s true, right? Ok! So heck, let’s throw this woman in front of them.
Let me establish a scenario if you will. If I were listening to a guy sharing with me his experiences of being in WWII or VietNam how is the best way for me to get the full effect of his story? I have to actually visualize this guy in a battle situation in my mind, (images) I have to, I can’t help it, it’s how we process information. It’s just the same as if someone were describing to me their trip to Hawaii, I have to imagine them in a setting with a clear blue ocean, sand, palm trees and of course a cup of freshly roasted Kona coffee. It’s just the way it is. If my son-in-law is sharing a story about his deer hunting experience I don’t imagine him strolling through the local shopping mall smelling scented candles, I imagine him in his hunting gear with a rifle slowly slurking through the woods, shooting, gutting and skinning a steaming deer carcass. So….. what do you think is the advantage of having this woman standing in front of a bunch of men sharing about the porn industry and her active role in it as a former porn star?
Oh, I’m sure these guys are going to look directly at her and imagine her in hunting gear slurking around the woods with a rifle, of course they are! They’re going to imagine her pushing a shopping cart through the local Safeway filling it with bread and milk. NOT! You can’t tell me someone could carry on a lunch or dinner conversation with this lady and not imagine her storming the beach at Normandy in full military gear taking on enemy fire during WWII. (oops, wrong scenario).
Let’s say she shares her real name, Sharon but says, “my porn name actually was “Candi Sunshine“. So after the conference what do you think could be a potential temptation?
“Hhmm, I wonder?”
Off goes the search and bingo!
“Wow there she is, the same lady at the conference…so that’s what she looks like. Whoa!”
“Hey honey, come here quick, look, this is the lady that spoke at our men’s conference!”
(“…… lead us not into temptation?”) Lead us …. Lead us ….. Lead us NOT!
(Unless of course she looks more like Rosanne Barr these days than say, Beyonce).
Couldn’t it have been just as easy to find a guy who used to be in the porn industry, let’s say the guy behind the camera who filmed people’s daughters being subjected to doing this stuff and get his take on the harsh reality of the industry and the effects it has on people’s lives? I mean he was a first hand “observer” after all, and a guy to boot. Why not go for the “guy-to-guy” perspective, letting those gathered at the conference know that, “their participation feeds an industry that ruins and destroys people, making them just as guilty as the people who run it”. Have him share the progressive downward spiral that occurs in the life of a young girl who was willing to do just about anything to support her kid, make rent or eat. Now there’s a good idea, of course the amount of men the conference could potentially draw by headlining “Chris the former porn industry camera man” may be a little less, but what the heck.
This was a little blip I just had to share.
Oh, one more thing ……. are you ready for this? The location of the conference? Ready?
The Hooker Creek Conference Center
I KID YOU NOT!
All together now ………
“WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!”
