Sometimes a writer just knows he's going to get a lot of impassioned mail. I suspected my last column would be one of those times.

Indeed it was.

The column involved a ministry, spearheaded by Pastor Larry Gross, focused on reaching professionals in the porn industry. Some of its tactics have proven controversial, including one which I addressed in my column: Going among pornographers at conventions and handing out Bibles (actually not Bibles, but the biblical paraphrase The Message) with covers prominently proclaiming "Jesus Loves Porn Stars."

Some Christians are concerned about that approach, and I counted myself among them. Whatever the intention of the ministry, I feared the message they were sending would be received as approval both by most of the target audience and by the larger culture, in which porn is increasingly being mainstreamed. Though Gross clearly sought to get beyond such a notion, I thought that the tactic would more often backfire: Most people would never get beyond the surface. And I made a broader argument that, in our desire to reach the culture by stressing an affectionate Jesus, Christians today often risk underplaying God's Law.

And then the mail came, much (though not all) of it in objection. Strongly felt, occasionally even angry mail — some of it from people in ministry, and in one case from a colleague of Pastor Gross. This wasn't ranting hate mail. It raised serious issues which deserve a serious reply.

The arguments tended to cluster in a couple of categories, so allow me to sum them up.

One objection was that I'd done an injustice to Pastor Gross and his work. His co-worker (Annie), in particular, wanted it known that Gross et al. don't take sin lightly. And she complained that I didn't cover important aspects of what the ministry did — the details of how its people work with porn professionals to lead them out of their lifestyles, and their greater emphasis on porn addiction among the greater public, especially "helping non-Christian men to see the immorality of their addiction."

But Annie read more into my column than I had written, perhaps (understandably) because she was so close to the matter. I wasn't writing primarily about Gross's ministry. Someone else might, but each writer has his specialties, and one of mine is language. In this case, I was writing on the effects of one prominently displayed, attention-getting phrase: "Jesus loves porn stars." In fact, I made a point of saying:

I don't mean to suggest that Gross himself never confronts the people to whom he's ministering with their sin. For that matter, I'm not attempting to evaluate his total body of work: I'm just focusing on the wisdom of some of his tactics. And the trouble with those attention-getting tactics remains this: Some words just unavoidably tend to overwhelm the rest of the message.

As it happens, Annie defends those very words: "Jesus Loves Porn Stars," she says, shows the ministry "knows their audience," and challenges me to come up with an alternative. But the alternative seems to me obvious (in part; we needn't be restricted to a few words): "Jesus Loves You." After all, Jesus loves adulterers and thieves and murderers, but it wouldn't be wise ministry to make any of those into slogans — much less to use the glamorized word "stars" to describe people engaged in decidedly sordid activities. True, "Jesus loves you" may not be sensational; it's been said so much. But it's personal, which is what's most important. And it leaves no doubt in those who hear it that the basis for His love has nothing to do with approval of their activities.

That point, however, brings us to the other chief objection I heard from readers: a disagreement over how to present God's Law and Gospel. And that, I think, is the issue that calls for the most thought and attention.

I'd written: "Most of us want to lead by talking about God's love, not God's Law. The trouble is that we can't really understand God's love without first understanding something about God's Law — including how thoroughly we've broken it."

But Fred, a seminarian, said:

In a postmodern era where tolerance and a nonjudgmental attitude are elevated, even idolized, expressing unconditional affection for someone is one (only?) way to cut through the churchianity scar tissue that cripples Americans.... I'm not sure the first message we want to give to them is disapproval. For me, it is God's love and grace that brings recognition and acknowledgment of my sin.

And Annie said:

You need to understand the way to bring Christ to the secular crowd. I promise it is not effectively done by exclaiming first and foremost the high expectations of Christian life, complete with how difficult and painful (you and I know) it can be.... As far as industry professionals go, the porn stars we reach at these conventions want to know first that they are forgiven by a God Who loves them and desires their faith, then the life that follows that.

I see their points: I even agree with some of them, to a degree. Certain Christians have done their share of damage to evangelism through an emphasis on legalism or through sheer clumsiness in how they express themselves.

But here are a few other points to think about.

Precisely because we live in "a postmodern era where tolerance and a nonjudgmental attitude are elevated, even idolized," we need to go out of our way to challenge the idol of the age. Of course we must express unconditional love. But that very love means taking a strong stand up front.

Of course we mustn't proclaim the Law with an attitude of personal superiority. Proclaim it we must, however — letting it be known that the lives being lived by "porn stars" stand in perverse violation of God's will. We must quickly let people know that we're speaking as sinners ourselves, for "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." But knowing the tendencies of the current culture, we must just as quickly make sure we don't let them get away with interpreting that statement as "nobody's perfect, so we're all OK compared to one another." We must let them know how seriously God takes sin. That's when it becomes meaningful that He has paid so dearly for their sin.

The very point that some people "want to know first that they are forgiven by a God Who loves them and desires their faith, then the life that follows that" presupposes that they know they need forgiveness. As I noted in my previous column, a currently popular notion of Jesus' love boils down to "Jesus thinks pretty much all of us are cool, except the nasty judgmental people." (As the womanizing Sam Malone of the 1980s sitcom Cheers put it: "Hey, it's OK; God's a sport.") That's why we need to be so assertive in challenging the notion.

I wouldn't want to oversimplify the nature of ministry, especially in this area. I know that (as Annie pointed out) there are a lot of factors in play with pornography (its producers and its consumers alike), including often-deep emotional wounds and any number of addictions. And I know relationships need to be built, frequently beginning with simple kindnesses and genuine expressions of interest and caring for the people in the "industry."

The greatest temptation for Christians today, however, is not to be too harsh, much as some may be guilty of that; it's to be too soft. In the name of being winsome, we're pulled to go along with a live-and-let-live society that seeks nothing so much as freedom from moral strictures and hard truths. And even when we may not intend to do so, we have to realize that society around us is all too eager to find the only "true" Christianity in a religion that fits comfortably into that worldview.

In the ears of most who hear it, "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" fits the bill. And that's why, whatever else may be said for or against the people who've chosen to lead their witness with those words, it's simply sending the wrong message.