From Fox News:
A Texas college campus is locked in a fierce debate after a group of students launched the “smut for smut” campaign, trading bibles and other religious texts for porn, MyFoxSanAntonio.com reported.
In an earlier post today I argued that being non-judgmental does not mean we suspend moral judgment on behaviors and practices. Apparently, however, the leaders of the University of Texas San Antonio have done just that (read the article for context). Either that, or they fear being sued over first amendment rights, which from a legal perspective is understandable, but from a moral perspective is regrettable because in remaining silent the leaders forfeit any moral authority they might have been able to exert in this matter.
So what is an appropriate Christian response to this campaign (and I emphasize this is one of several possible responses)? First of all, the atheists who are pushing this are entitled to their opinion and we must respect their freedom to form opinions, grievous as their opinion about religion and pornography is. I have no doubt that this is a publicity stunt designed to stir up the pot and it is apparently being very successful at doing just that. Hence, part of me wants to simply ignore this until they get tired of engaging in this nonsense and it goes away.
But another part of me knows that pornography is not some benign thing. It is highly addictive and destructive to relationships. It demeans people and perverts the God-given purposes for sex. To equate God’s word with pornography is frankly ludicrous and would be laughable if porn weren’t so destructive. But because it is so addictive and destructive, what we are confronted with here is evil dressed up in the guise of the post-modern notion of moral relativity and any Christian should be concerned.
I suspect the atheists who are propagating this malevolence would like nothing better than to provoke Christians into losing their cool so that we act with anger, spite, and malice toward them. Then they could say, “See what hypocrites these folks are! We told you all religion is just a bunch of baloney!” But I am not angry with them. I am sad for them because they are clearly on the road to perdition and they are trying to get others to drink their kool-aid with them.
It is not our job to “fix” people. Only God can do that. This doesn’t mean that we should necessarily remain silent on this issue of pornography or this wrong-headed business of moral relativism, either (and here I am thinking of the broader conversation about religion and sexual morality, not just this cheap publicity stunt). If we do speak out, we must speak out against the evil perpetrated, which in this case is pornography distribution and equating it morally with God’s word, not the people committing the evil.
Believers must use the moral authority of Christ to try to persuade others why this is an act of evil and a bad idea. That means we must have firmly in our minds the Christian vision for human happiness, dignity, and sexuality (among others). We must be able to compare and contrast things that lead to life and things that lead to death, and why we have chosen life. In other words, believers must be prepared to tell others why having a relationship with Jesus has been a good thing for us and invite them to come and see.
Whether we speak up or remain silent about the evils of pornography and moral relativism, believers must pray for these atheists and all other enemies of the cross. It is heartbreaking to watch people engage in the culture of death. Just because they do not believe in God does not make God non-existent, and the last time I checked, porn and/or moral equivalency cannot give life or raise someone from the dead. The atheists would deny that God can do this, of course, because they do not believe he exists. But that really is beside the point (as I said earlier, they are entitled to their opinions, misguided as they might be). The point is that believers should never underestimate the power of prayer to transform spiritually dead people, ourselves included, and we should always desire their good, not wish them harm.
So pray that God might be pleased to pour out his Spirit on these atheists and others like them, to do what is necessary to convert their darkened hearts and minds so that they might turn their lives around and find the One who loves them and gave himself for them. That would be such a sweet thing! In the process, you might find that he is calling you to help him in this endeavor in some way. As both Jesus and Paul remind us, we are to pray for our enemies and persecutors and to show them kindness. Let us do just that so that we might bring honor and glory to our Lord.
And as we engage the enemy in this manner, we must be prepared to be reviled and ridiculed for doing so. Evil never likes to be confronted or challenged, especially when it is done legitimately in the name of Christ. We will likely be called every epithet in the book: bigoted, nazis, prudes, moral police, narrow-minded, ignorant, stupid, hateful, etc., etc. As that happens, remember that this is simply a ploy to shut us up and so pray even harder for those who persecute you. Remember too that Jesus tells us we are blessed when we suffer for his name. That is a badge of honor. Wear it with gratefulness and thanksgiving.