Sex God by Rob Bell

I'm not usually one for scintillating titles and the "oh my gosh" factor. I can usually give or take the latest fad (unless it's Taylor Swift's new album).

But when my church started talking seriously about the book Sex God by Rob Bell, I found myself getting pretty interested.  I thought it would be about what "typical Christians" have to say about sex. I was a little put off at the idea of that, but if the off-balance or somewhat nontraditional people of Jacob's Porch wanted to read it, then it was probably worth checking out.

There are two things you should know about Sex God:
1. It is not what you think it is
2. Everyone should read it. Everyone.

Those might seem like pretty bold statements. Maybe they are.

But Rob Bell does something fantastic with this piece of work. He takes sex, as an action and as a gender, and brings it out of the "taboo conversation" category. He puts it side by side with spirituality. Who does that?

With witty chapter titles and anecdotes about himself and others, there's virtually no way you could get bored with this book. I have friends who would rather pull their eyelashes out than read and they read this book in a single night.

Why do I like it so much? It's real. This isn't a sex manual or a long-winded explanation about why having premarital sex is evil. Bell understands that, frankly, we (modern society) don't want to hear that. Just because I am a Christian, doesn't mean I don't have the same pressures and urges as anyone else. I don't want to be told that I "just have to deal with it." I want to understand what God thinks of sexuality and I want reasons to keep my body (and other people's bodies) sacred for God.

Christianity Today has this to say about his book:

"While most books about sex for dating Christians begin and end with 'don't,' Bell outlines the bigger picture of human relationships and what they can teach us about God's character."

Give teenagers a health teacher that says, "Don't have sex or you'll get pregnant and die," and they will be completely turned off by anyone who wants to talk to them about sex.

Give teenagers a book that says, "God created you in His image and is, therefore, a part of you" and they will think twice about having sex with the first person they get alone with.

Bell doesn't throw theology down your throat and expect you to swallow. He simply puts it in front of you and says, "take what you want." And that's what gets through to people.