A church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, is turning heads along Route 309 with its mischievous, actually-kind-of-accurate billboard.
The Restored Church’s message? “I [Heart] Sex.”
The entity who said it? God.
The Church is touting a series of sexy September sermons focusing on the Song of Solomon. Solomon is one of the Bible’s best-known hits, primarily because it contains some of its most lustful, arousing passages.
Here, for example, is how it opens:
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
for your love is more delightful than wine.
Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the young women love you!
Take me away with you—let us hurry!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.
Said the Restored Church’s Pastor Dan Nichols, “What we want to do is let people know that the Bible is relevant to everyday life. When it comes to sexuality… God is the the inventor, author and creator of it.”
The Church’s full explanation for its Sexy September, which doesn’t quite fit on the billboard, is a bit more thorough:
Sex is everywhere, but churches typically communicate indirectly on the subject at best. That’s tragic—especially since God dedicated an entire book of the Bible to sexuality. God is the author of sex. He loves it, and He has a very specific design for it. The gravity and overwhelming reach of this topic warrants a direct and honest response from the church. Join us in September for our new sermon series on the Song of Solomon.
And, according to Nichols, gay couples are quite welcome at the Restored Church. “God designed [sex] and created us to be sexual beings,” he assured potential parishioners. “Just because we disagree doesn’t mean we can’t have relationships. Disagreement doesn’t mean hatred. We love everyone, just like God loves everyone.”
If nothing else, the people running the Restored Church are some savvy marketers.
