Are you ready to receive the coming Lord?

The world seems to be (perenially) on its way to hell in a handbasket, and yet sweet baby Jesus is taking his precious time to come back and make things better. In the meantime, however, there are people taking a more proactive stance. Here's something that you know could never happen in China, much less in Shanghai:

Over a thousand youngsters declared their commitment to be a pure and holy follower of Christ, saying "No" to gambling, drug abuse, violence and casual sex that have ruined the lives of many.

This movement was spearheaded by City of David Cultural Centre:

By quoting the bible verses from II Corinthians 11: 2 "I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him", director of The City of David Cultural Centre Rev. Paul Ng explained that all believers should be prepared to receive the coming Lord by keeping themselves pure in sexuality.

Snicker, snicker.

The reality, however, is that sex sells -- just ask the bloggers at Danwei and ESWN. The two bloggers, who it seems were speaking at a conference (or were just both interviewed for the article) said that their traffic numbers jumped whenever they had sex-related materials on their blogs. Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei says that his posts about transsexuals in China from several years ago were a real boon to the then new and not that well-known site. Of course, sex bloggers and slightly more chaste exhibitionist types have been part of this. Or as the novelist Yu Hua states:

If you want to talk about modern China, you must understand the Cultural Revolution," he said. "It's not only about money. During the Cultural Revolution there was no stage for the individual, just the government. Now there is a stage for everyone. And you can see a show every day.

And the oldest show on Earth is still the best.

Photo from Xiaming's Flickr page.