Men4God Weblog

Wow, it’s hard to believe I have gone three whole months without posting to this blog. I must apologize to any readers out there, and to myself, for not pushing myself to make time and challenging myself to use my brain to write something worthwhile. Most importantly, as this blog is a part of my dedication to serving the Lord, it is my hope and prayer that this will serve as some repentance for my slothfulness.

So, what has brought me out of my hiatus? last week I was listening to a podcast of a radio show called Crosstalk, which is a daily broadcast call in show designed to spread the gospel over the airwaves and the internet. This particular show, entitled Barnes and Noble Hits Children with Gay Porn featured guest speaker Brannan Howse of Christian World View Network, a ministry seeking to teach people how to have a Biblical world view.

Now the best way for you to get the whole story on this podcast is to simply listen to it. But I will give you a brief synopsis. A few weeks ago Mr. Howse went into his local Barnes and Noble store with his 11-year-old son to pick up some DVD’s they had ordered. As they were walking down an aisle they passed a table with a display of books. One of the books on this table, which was laying open, was displaying pictures of homosexual acts of fornication, right out where anyone, including his 11-year-old son, could see them.

Outraged, Mr. Howse closed the book and went and found a manager to complained too. When he found the Assistant manager he brought her to the table and showed her the book in question. She informed him that this was the second time that day that the book had been put out like that, presumably by a customer, who one could only assume was watching to see who in the store would look at the book in order to approach them!

There are several issues here that need to be addressed. Obviously, as a Christian I believe that homosexuality is a sin, and personally do not think these kinds of books should be in my local store. Neither should any other kind of pornographic material. And I choose to boycott B&N because of it. However, as an American I treasure the First Amendment, which provides some protection for the production of pornography but does not allow it in all circumstances (the Supreme Court ruled that it is not always protected speech).

If these materials are deemed legal then B&N has the right to carry them. But it is important to note that many counties, cities and towns have ordinances which require materials such as these to be sold in an area that is off limits to minors. This is when you go into some video stores you have a room in the back, often with a curtain over the doorway, where the adult videos are kept. If a county or town has these ordinances it is illegal for stores to put this kind of material out where children can get to it. B&N was asked about their compliance with these laws and they basically said that they didn’t care. So not only are they willing to sell materials that an insult to God, they don’t care if they make them available to children.

It is for this reason that I have chosen not only to boycott Barnes and Nobles, but also to sign a petition on Christian World View Network stating this intention. I urge everyone who reads this blog to prayerfully consider joining me in these steps, and as always I welcome all comments on this topic.