by 
How did you choose to raise money for your church this year? Some choose to do bake sales, some choose to have car washes and others choose to have special offerings. Other churches use vices to raise money– gambling (bingo anyone?) and pornography (nude calendars).
The Bangor Daily News reports on the latter:
In the 2007 Matinicus Island calendar, the props are not chocolate chip cookies and brownies. They’re lobster pot buoys, a guitar, and garden flowers. The calendar is titled “What Do You Women DO All Day?”
Ms. February is depicted standing in a wooden outhouse and is strategically covered by The New York Times. Ms. April has two lobster pot buoys masking her bare chest. And Ms. December is behind a guitar she is strumming on a sandy beach.
The site has a picture of the woman with only a guitar blocking her from revealing all. It was the Slice of Laodicea that brought my attention to the subject– after all it is a sign of the spiritual decay, especially when one considers where this church came from:
The Congregational Church of Matinicus started out in the 1880s as a Baptist mission, Rankin said. During its formative years it became a Methodist-Congregational church and in 1906 was dedicated as the Congregational Church of Matinicus. Now, it is a United Church of Christ congregation, she said, but it is truly nondenominational.
“Everyone on the island is a member of the church,” she said. “We embrace everyone.”
And there is the downfall. Christ called us to a life of separation. He preached that He alone was the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Now we have people who claim that everyone is part of the church, that pornography for the cause of Christ, and that it’s all good and not over the line.
I can remember being taught as a child that the ends do not justify the means. I believe these ladies need to learn this lesson.
This is too incredible. What’s next? I shudder to think what they’ll be selling in fifty (or less) years!
If history is any teacher, they will soon be selling things that will make it obvious who they serve.
This is completely over the top. There was no need to create such a controversial calendar. This sends terrible messages to the lost world. What were they thinking would happen from this? Incredible.
The state of the world makes me ill… “come Lord Jesus COME!” oh please oh please….
Mrs. Meg Logan
There is nothing wrong with loving your body and showing it off! These women all over 40 love their bodies and their church enough to take off their clothes in order to make money for it! And I would like you to know that it has been quite lucrative. A bake sale is all well and good, if you are looking to raise 600 dollars, but when you really want to raise money for your church you need to think outside the box. I shudder the think what the world is coming to if people are so offended by people showing off the beautiful bodies God gave them to raise money for a cause they believe in. I also seem to racal many many many nude and semi nude figures in religious art. They are also showing so much less then most bathing suits. I happen to have one of these calendars and love the artfull setting and lovely women.
So try to be more open minded and embrace the body you were blessed with!
I’d also like to say that once you do a semi nude calendar it doesn’t mean your next job will be in a whore house.
On that note there are many things out there worse then a simi nude calendar, for example porn.
~Lousie
And as a great musician once said:
‘I’d rather laugh with the sinners then cry with the saints the sinner have much more fun’
~Billy Joel
If it makes you feel any better, Louise, I am consistant. I’m also against people using Bingo to earn money for the church because it’s gambling.
The question, as I see it, is why can’t the church support itself without taking advantage of these women?
taking advantage of these woman? They thought up the idea and loved doing it!
The first woman to do this calendar were in England, and they made at least a million for their church, and got so famous they ended up going to America.
You see the church is on small island, and it needed running water, and in order to do get running water a well needs to be dug and all the plumbing installed, which is not a cheap thing to do. So to raise money they could have done 30 bake sales to the 87 person population and 20 or 30 vacationers, or one extreamly tastefull calendar. I am assuming you haven’t seen it, because in the pictures they are not making seductive poses, just sitting behind flowers were 6 inches of their sholders are showing.
p.s. calendar girls is a wonderful movie
You neo-religious men and women are the very people who turn others away from your religion. You push and push and push your religion upon people and it makes people not want anything to do with you or our God. I am a Christian. I love this calendar. I don’t approve of many things and I believe that Jesus is the way to heaven but never do I patronize just because someone believes differently than I do. The way to encourage people to come to Christ is to be accepting and cause them to say “Wow I like this God guy. His followers sure do have a good head on their shoulders.” Do what God would do. He would accept everyone. Show people that god doesn’t discriminate. Make people feel welcome. Be kind and people will see God working through you and will want to be a part of that, too. By insisting that your way is the only way, you only show that God is arogant and discriminatory. Please do the right thing for you and for God. And accept that not everyone believes the same way as you do. Have an open mind and an open heart. It will do more good than what you are doing now.
Just be nice.
I agree with louise. God gave these women their bodies, so I do not believe that God would not want them to love them. And what better way to show thanks to God for giving these women their bodies than to use them in a way to help the church? After all, it’s not as if they’re whores who are going the full monty in the name of the church to raise money. They are showing how far they are willing to go to support their church and I admire them for it!
(Calendar Girls is very good)
George Foreman, per your request your three comments have been deleted– the two that were inappropriate and your warning. This is a family friendly blog and we appreciate good discussion and even dissent. Thanks for the warning!
As for your point, Jesus was actually very radical. He didn’t accept the Pharisee’s hypocrisy. He said that the way to follow Him was narrow. He said that He came to set families at odds with each other. This kind of Jesus drew crowds because He was different, not because He was the same as everyone else. He loved everyone, but He had conditions and a standard– a standard that made even thoughts to commit sin into sin!
Louise, I don’t think what was displayed is as offensive as the thought behind it, though. This calendar does not sell because it’s women that really want a well dug– it’s the thought of naked women on a calendar. As Christ pointed out in Matthew 5, it’s just as important to think about what is going on as it is what is thought about. Clearly these women (as you say) thought about what they were taking advantage of: the fact that there’s popularity in these women claiming to be naked behind things. They knew they were tapping into a culture of sex and trying to cash in.
Ella, God certainly did create their bodies, but He also created them with shame and provided a covering after the fall. I certainly doubt He would approve of appealing to the flesh when He could certainly pay for it another way.
The point here is that the ends do not justify the means, and there were ways that this money could have been raised other than this calendar.