Hi Raelene

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Jonathan Brink
Provoketive Magazine

You posted the following comment:
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Maybe I'll write a post, then. : )  In the meantime...

"Why not turn to God?"  I hear ya.  That is the ideal objective...and one that I treasure; but, there is a large population of women who don't wake up thinking, "my husband hasn't touched me for years and when he does, it does nothing for me.  Let me pray." Ideally, God is exactly where the answers are, but sometimes it takes something else--in our own language--that leads us there.  

Maybe this book is written in a language and context that is a familiar language for some women.  Whereas, maybe the Bible, prayer, etc. is a "foreign" language to them.  If a women is drawn to an erotic novel, the very mention of God (had I brought it up) would most likely steer them away, or cause them to feel shameful.  What if God positioned this book in the right spot for some women to pick up and read because he knew it would lead them to comfortably talk to me about it and then it opens up the environment for comfortable dialogue?  In those kind of moments, I would never mention God because it would most likely close the conversation.  But weeks after I had these conversations with these women, they asked me some questions, one being, "Why are you so comfortable talking about sex?"  And it gave me the opportunity to say, "because God gave us this gift and it's a freedom I cherish, and one that I have no shame."  They were more open to talking about God in this moment than any other moment.  My point being, sometimes what might appear to be so wrong, might be the very thing that opens up needed conversations.  Sometimes it leads to God.  Sometimes it doesn't. 

Even though it could potentially just be a short-term solution to sexual frustrations, I think it goes deeper than that.  There are more discussions among women talking about sex and their frustrations since this book that I think it's awesome.  It's healthy and therapeutic for them to get it off their chest. I choose not to stop that conversation, even if the initial objective was to find an out through erotic reading.  I think I tend to take this approach to most things in my life (just letting people be exactly who they are and comfortably expose their brokenness) because as people feel safe in that, they reveal exactly what they need.  Then, when I want to share  my relationship with God, and way of life, I can plug that in when I recognize it wouldn't be a foreign language for them.