An evangelical pastor and his wife will spend 24 hours in bed on the roof of his church in Texas this week in an effort to underline the importance of regular sex between married Christian couples.
Ed Young, who leads the Fellowship megachurch in Grapevine, near Dallas, will not be practising what he preaches during the event, which will be streamed live on his website.
Instead he and his wife, Lisa, will be "doing interviews, answering relationship questions and teaching about God's purpose for intimacy in marriage", he said.
Young's book Sexperiment poses a "seven-day sex challenge" for married couples. After having sex every day for a full week, he advises, couples will be able to "experience the power of marriage done God's way".
Young, whose other books include The Ten Commandments of Marriage and Rating Your Dating While Waiting for Mating, first called for his flock to systematically reinvigorate their sex lives several years ago, and has developed his programme into a self-help guide.
On Young's site one commenter, Cori, said: "Good on pastor Ed Young for talking about this in the church – for too long we've been embarrassed to talk about sex, and the devil has had a field day – time for the Christians to take back what belongs to us!"
Lisa Young, who co-authored the book with her husband, told CNN: "For far too long the church has been silent about a subject God was not silent about. He certainly is the author and creator of sex, so why would we not, in the context of church, speak about something that he was not bashful about?
"We believe very strongly that the family unit is the number one place to talk about sex and the church is the second best place to talk about sex."
Young's stance on sex applies inside heterosexual marriage, which he describes as "the only relationship on planet Earth that's analogous to God's relationship to his people". He has in the past made his opposition to gay unions clear: in 2007 he wrote that "to allow gay marriage means to redefine marriage as it has been in the social structure of humankind since the very creation of man and woman".
Recent estimates of the Fellowship church's size put its congregation at about 20,000. Young is the son of Homer Edwin Young, leader of Second Baptist Houston, one of the 10 biggest churches in the US.
Ed Young, who leads the Fellowship megachurch in Grapevine, near Dallas, will not be practising what he preaches during the event, which will be streamed live on his website.
Instead he and his wife, Lisa, will be "doing interviews, answering relationship questions and teaching about God's purpose for intimacy in marriage", he said.
Young's book Sexperiment poses a "seven-day sex challenge" for married couples. After having sex every day for a full week, he advises, couples will be able to "experience the power of marriage done God's way".
Young, whose other books include The Ten Commandments of Marriage and Rating Your Dating While Waiting for Mating, first called for his flock to systematically reinvigorate their sex lives several years ago, and has developed his programme into a self-help guide.
On Young's site one commenter, Cori, said: "Good on pastor Ed Young for talking about this in the church – for too long we've been embarrassed to talk about sex, and the devil has had a field day – time for the Christians to take back what belongs to us!"
Lisa Young, who co-authored the book with her husband, told CNN: "For far too long the church has been silent about a subject God was not silent about. He certainly is the author and creator of sex, so why would we not, in the context of church, speak about something that he was not bashful about?
"We believe very strongly that the family unit is the number one place to talk about sex and the church is the second best place to talk about sex."
Young's stance on sex applies inside heterosexual marriage, which he describes as "the only relationship on planet Earth that's analogous to God's relationship to his people". He has in the past made his opposition to gay unions clear: in 2007 he wrote that "to allow gay marriage means to redefine marriage as it has been in the social structure of humankind since the very creation of man and woman".
Recent estimates of the Fellowship church's size put its congregation at about 20,000. Young is the son of Homer Edwin Young, leader of Second Baptist Houston, one of the 10 biggest churches in the US.
by David Shariatmadari taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/09/texas-pastor-church-rooftop-bedin
No comments:
Post a Comment