God has sex? Great sex? How does God have sex? What’s God’s favorite position? Is it missionary?
These are the kind of questions raised by a church billboard in rural Alabama. And while some are deeply offended by the ad campaign, I say kudos to the Daystar Church and its pastor, Jerry Lawson. In a world too often divided between those who think that sex is dirty and those who think it’s just one more bodily function devoid of real meaning, the folks sponsoring this billboard remind us that sex can be sacred and fun at the same time. And they are right. What other act causes so many people to shout, ‘oh my God’?
Many will not agree with the church’s definition of sacred sex as being limited to “one man, one woman, and one marriage” but that’s beside the point. This is a wonderful example of taking real life seriously and telling people that what they claim to believe most deeply is tested at least as much between the sheets as it is between the pews. In fact, the real issue for any faith is not what it tells people on Sunday, Saturday, or Friday, but how those lessons actually shape the lived lives of the faithful as they go through the rest of their week.

We can also nitpick about the church’s claim that what they teach is the only God-approved way to make love, but wouldn’t it make more sense, if we disagree, to simply offer alternative understandings of what we understand as divine wisdom or guidance for our love lives? At the end of the day, there will always be disagreements about God’s will. But as a husband and as a father of three girls, I am certain that when sex is seen as sacred everyone involved is going to be treated with greater love, gentleness and dignity. That works.