[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Marian Jordan’s life was much like the four characters on HBO’s hit show “Sex and the City,” characterized by casual sex and expensive fashion.
“Sex and the City became the show that defined life for modern single girls,” Jordan writes in a new book, “Sex and the City Uncovered,” released by B&H Publishing Group. “These new [role] models taught us that sex wasn’t sacred; it was simply a biological function. It was ‘just sex.’
“I’m just a girl who believed the lie that the deep longings of my soul could be fulfilled in the lifestyle portrayed on Sex and the City,” Jordan admits. “Rescued from the emptiness, I’m here to tell other women the rest of the story.”
Jordan was a single career woman living a life focused on fashion, sex, alcohol and approval.
When a friend invited her to Second Baptist Church in Houston, Jordan met the love of her life — Jesus. She began to see the misconceptions portrayed by Sex and the City and set out to share her new understanding with viewers of the show, which remains in syndication.
“The girls of Sex and the City are no different from the rest of us,” Jordan writes. “They, too, have a deep thirst that only God can quench. They crave real love….
[2]“They long to feel acceptance and to know the security of unconditional love. But what they don’t know is what this real love is and where it is ultimately found.”
Jordan dispels the myths of finding love in all the wrong places; seeking the approval of others instead of God; and achieving fulfillment in a hook-up or during happy hour. Based on personal experience, she tells readers that love and fulfillment cannot be found apart from Jesus.
“There is a vicious cycle that results from the Sex and the City lifestyle,” Jordan writes. “When a woman goes looking for the love her soul craves in any source other than God Himself, she finds herself more confused than ever about her real worth as a woman.
“Over and over again, women give themselves away at the altars of approval, sex, relationships, food and fashion. We turn to these substitutes in hopes of finding and receiving the unconditional love our souls are searching for. But in reality, we walk away empty.”
Jordan writes frankly about the culture’s attempt to mask the physical and emotional consequences of casual sex. She combats the “sex is just sex” theory by citing statistics about sexually transmitted diseases, medical research on the emotions involved in a sexual relationship, and by sharing a personal testimony of a friend who experienced an abortion.
“Sex outside of God’s design — one man and one woman for life — has devastating emotional and physical consequences,” Jordan writes. “Despite what our favorite television shows and movies might teach us, there are real-life consequences that real women face, which don’t resolve at the end of a thirty-minute program.”
Jordan includes biblical stories interspersed with scenes from the show to expose mistruths communicated through the lives of the show’s characters.
“Today, many women, like Eve, are deceived — believing the lie that the love we hunger for is found in the alluring lifestyle portrayed on Sex and the City,” she writes. “Masked behind the couture fashion, clever writing, and beautiful people is a life of searching and desperation. I know because I have been there myself. The lure is clever, but the promises don’t deliver.”
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Jenny Rice is a corporate communications specialist with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.