Pastor Collins Edebiri of Port Harcourt-based Christian ministry, One Flesh Ministry, has responded to social media bashing over the theme of his ministry’s Valentine period programne.
Many social media users had described ‘Libido’, the theme of the ‘Sex, Power and Soul Conference’ of Edebiri’s ministry as “immoral” and “weird” in a church setting.
But Edebiri’s response as reported by Saturday Punch is: “There is no need pretending. If this was a night club event and I say ‘libido ’, everybody would say it is normal . But the truth is that we are dealing with the same human beings . It is the same people who go to club that have problems .
“We used to do things around Valentine but never gave it a name . We have done ‘Marriage is Possible Conference ’ in the past and nobody said anything , but as we prepare to do ‘Sex , Power and Soul ’, some are saying why should church talk about sex ? I teach on the subject of sex and I can be very open and vulgar about it. We have come to a point where we have to be realistic and address problems whether we are talking about church or ministry .
“I went to a church once and the pastor told me to come talk to members about sex in marriage. A lot of them were shy . I asked many of the women at the event if they had ever experienced orgasm, instead of responding , they hid their faces. While I was teaching them , I noticed two women ran out of the church . They said they could not listen to such a thing in the church .
“By the time I finished , I told them that some of them were actually pretending. I told them to go home with their husbands and hold on to each other . I said if their husbands did not take them to that ‘mountain top ’, they shouldn’ t leave them until they experienced orgasm. Many of them went home and practised it.
“At about 4am , my phone rang; it was one of the two women who ran out of the church while I was talking . She was in tears . This woman had been married for about 18 years as at that time and had never experienced orgasm even though she and her husband had been having sex. That is punishment. She would have died without even realising what she had missed .
“So , we teach couples these things from the Bible, making it clear that God does not forbid such .
“We have seen marriages collapse before our eyes , so why shouldn ’t we talk about libido when we are having incidents of low libido . There are those who have just become prominent on account of their very strong libido and they are creating havocs and wrecking homes ; and you don’ t want us to talk about this ?
“Sex was created by God but the devil has manipulated it. But sex can be pure. We are teaching people how to approach it. I am ready to spend the whole of next week after the programme counselling people , even if they are 200 .
“Next year , there is going to be another outrageous theme until people get to understand the fact that there is the need to talk about this . They are even lucky that I have not started a television programme to talk about sex. People are not used to it, but we are going to make them get used to it.”