More evangelical couples — once embarrassed and prudish about sex — are now leaving their Christian inhibitions at the bedroom door.
For this growing group of younger, more progressive Christians, guilt is out and pleasure is in.
“We discovered that God’s word is holy and hot … filled with invaluable wisdom for our sexual relationship,” says intimateissues.com, one of the most popular Christian Web sites. It is based on a 1999 book by the same name.
The Christian wife has come a long way, baby, as a variety of sex advice books with titles like “Intimacy Ignited,” “Gift-Wrapped by God” and “Satisfy My Thirsty Soul” are emphasizing the earthly as well as the heavenly side of love.
Pastors are sermonizing and sexologists are offering conferences to help couples overcome their guilt about a once-touchy subject. And, they offer new translations of scripture to give biblical clout to their message.
“People carry a lot of guilt from parents who said sex is bad,” said the Rev. Kerry Shook of the Woodlands Church outside Houston. “We help them to have a healthy sex life. One of the things we cover in scripture is how to meet each other’s needs in bed.”
As pastor of the 15,600-member, nondenominational church — one of the largest in the nation — he recently delivered a popular sermon titled “How to Make Your Marriage Sizzle.”
Shook and his wife paired culinary tips with a sex talk “just to grab their attention,” he told ABCNEWS.com. “We were cooking beef burgundy with a reduction sauce with cameras from the top of the church. We had a real talk about intimacy and marriage and the problems that come between couples.”
