New Name — Same Old BAD Idea.
“Friends with Benefits” (Uncovering Relational Myths). This is the title and tagline of our next series. I know. I know. pallen@southbrookchurch.com
Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you why we are doing this. There are many reasons:
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I heard this discussed the first time a good while back on a radio show and I, like you, couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Are people really this naive? Because if they are (and they are), that’s a serious problem.
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On that same radio show they were taking call-ins and asking people if they were in favor of this or not and, if so, how it was working out for them. In a word? LOUSY! There were at least 10 separate callers before I arrived at my destination and 9 of them were left heart-broken at best and devastated at worst. Simple polling should have answered the radio hosts (dishonest) question but they kept right on touting the “benefits†(no pun intended) of this horrible idea anyway.
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After this initial introduction to this latest packaging of an ancient, bad idea I started to hear this “Friends with Benefits†theme everywhere—not just radio, but on TV, in the movies, internet, magazines, etc. People are really thinking they’re are on to something here—that they are on to a harmless way to get around God’s ideals. They’re whistling all the way off the cliff!
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We usually do some sort of relationship series at this time of year anyway, and it’s vital that we address the things people are actually dealing with from a biblical perspective—good or bad. And the fact is, a lot of churches talk about these issues all the time only they use Christianieze so that they can feel good about it rather than terms that are relevant. To be real blunt, I could always have a banner put out front (and flyers sent out) that read, New Series: Your Fornication and God’s Judgment! But somehow I don’t envision a very good response form the unchurched community. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong.
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We are, first and foremost, a church reaching out to the unchurched, de-churched, agnostic, atheistic, curious, hurting world—not a place to rally the “already convinced†for a time of naval contemplation. I know what some of you are thinking, but YES, discipleship of the believers is also what we’re called to do but the church doesn’t need to keep sacrificing one for the other. In short, we are a hospital for sinners rather than a country club for saints.
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The church needs to be the one tackling the tough issues and the supposed taboos of society rather than the ones hiding with our eyes closed, hoping things will return to the good ole days (whatever those were).