Hi.
Come here often?
I do, but I’m new to contributing.
I’m Mary.
Mary DeJesus.
A quick bit about me before we move on to more exciting things.
- I consider myself a Christian in the sense that I follow the teachings of Jesus, do believe he is the son of God and was the ultimate sacrifice for brokenness on the earth.
- I do realize how absolutely insane that sounds, but I believe it.
- I’m also intensely overwhelmed with how the “Christian Image” is portrayed in modern culture. While I am an extremely open-minded individual and try loving everyone, try understanding everyone, and definitely respecting everyone, I often have the most difficult time doing that within my own faith community.
- I’m here to talk about real questions that go through my head. Real criticisms I have and maybe (maybe) blow the whistle on some serious stuff that just isn’t right within the Christian community.
- With that said, people who know me could call me on my own mistakes and flaws. Nobody is perfect. I don’t pretend to be. That’s where the issue comes in. (Hypocrisy much?)
- I’m a responsible and intelligent adult. Because of my job in the Jesus industry, I’ve met most of the “famous” Christians out there. A couple of them may have even tried to get in my pants. And no, I’m not kidding.
So, hi. Nice to meet you.
Let’s move on to other things, shall we?
I saw this video, “Sh*tuff Christian Girls Say” on Facebook yesterday, and Hemant emailed me the link the other night, asking, what does this say about Christianity and women?
Here’s my play by play.
“God is leading me to break up with you.”
OHmyWORD.
As much as I hate that there is yet another parody in the “Shit ____ Say” series, this is likely the most common phrase spoken by unmarried Christians. I have never said it to anyone before, but I kid you not: the last guy I seriously dated pulled this out of his escape bag the day after he said he was my best friend and was always thinking about me being his potential future wife.
I could probably write an essay on how God is the Christian’s best cop-out for when we don’t want to hurt someone else. In the codependent lineup, he’s The Scapegoat. I mean, who’s to argue with what God is “leading” someone to do?
Back to the video.
“I’m just ready for my Boaz… Where’s my Samson to tear down the pillars of my loneliness?”
To clarify, these are two men in the Old Testament. Boaz was a rescuer to a mother and her widowed daughter-in-law (eventually marrying the DIL, Ruth). Samson is a super strong guy in the Old Testament who tears down buildings and reveals the source of his strength to a woman who betrays him. Hot.
She continues making references to Biblical characters (Jezebel, Esther, Potiphar’s Wife, and Sarah…to begin). Then, off to the pop-culture races we go.
Maybe you’ve heard about the mid-nineties book sensation “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” which asks readers to turn away from the painful dating scene and let God work.
From Amazon:
I Kissed Dating Goodbye shows what it means to entrust your love life to God. Joshua Harris shares his story of giving up dating and discovering that God has something even better — a life of sincere love, true purity, and purposeful singleness.
(Spoiler: It should be noted Harris got married shortly after the book’s release to the girl he was “courting” and, yes, they are still married today and even wrote a book together.)
A few more Christanese references later and our sweet hero(ine) is off encouraging others with her Spirit-filled lovey dovey words. On Twitter. Hashtag #Boom.
I give this little video four stars for its accuracy. If you’ve ever spent anytime in the Bible Belt, drop in any coffeehouse and I assure you 75% of the time you will hear at least three lines from this video.
But you won’t hear them from me.
I’m assuming I’m not the only person who thinks this video is a great example of how sheltered, isolated, and out of touch people in the Jesus Bubble can be. Even as a single Christian girl, I had to Google a few things, and I lived my life in the center of The Bubble. When I’ve heard these conversations take place in my own cafe-Bible-reading-journal-sessions (I kid…I do those things at home), I’ve often wanted to walk up and ask these girls if THEY even know what they’re saying.
“So, you want a Sampson? You want a strong hottie who gives in to a girl and loses all of his power? How romantic. And really? You’re enthralled? Who says that word? And that album is ‘anointed?’ Show me your iTunes playlist and I can point out almost every Christian artist and tell you about how this one singer slept with the drummer’s wife and broke up the band and how this other band doesn’t even really believe in God and how I saw the guy that wrote all those worship songs you think are so ‘filled with the spirit’ passed out drunk at the airport when I was on vacation. That ‘anointing’ is pretty much a clever trick played by the music industry so they can manipulate your emotions and take your money.”
But, alas. I refrain.
Why?
Because I am a Christian and I have made dumb decisions and tried to use Jesus as my PR schtick. I’ve name-dropped God to get my own way, I am no better or worse than the oversexed musicians, and I’ve even been drunk in an airport like the worship leader dude.
Insert confusion and angst.
Yes, these things make me mad, but maybe because they’re only truths about myself I don’t want to accept. The deeper question for me is why don’t I want to accept them? Is this some shame-based guilt complex of just living a flawed life? Is this some high-level awareness of a socially imposed morale code? I think that tension exists in a lot of people… maybe not only in Christian girls who say Sh*tuff.
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