Biblical Truths in the Least Likely of Places. April 15, 2010

Okay, so I have been thinking, especially since Brad Harper speaking in chapel this morning about Biblical truths being found in the secular world. You may laugh, but I really believe that their are some Biblical truths that can be found in fairy tales. Now, I am not saying that as Christians that we are supposed to get our theology from fairy tales, but that the beginning of some truths can be revealed in the least likely of places. After all, the stories written by the Brother’s Grimm, Aesop and Hans Christensen Anderson were originally told and written to teach lessons.

A question that often comes up in today’s society is “Does a Prince Charming Exist?” I was thinking one day….what if in some form this is true? That there really is a daring prince that will risk his life to save us. At least for Christians. I’m not trying to exclude non-Christians, but I don’t think that my hypothesis would really be accepted amongst non-Christian philosophy. Now, hear me out, because my answer to this question is yes. But let me explain my reason behind this.

Prince Charming is that man that comes riding in oh his white horse, wielding his sword in defense of the fair maiden’s honor. Right? There are so many books and movies and television shows, where this same basic concept is portrayed. Disney movies, The Indian Jones movies, the legends of King Arthur…and the list goes on.

I realized that Prince Charming could be viewed as a metaphor for God. Here’s why, in books and movies, Prince Charming (God) rides in on his white horse, to save the damsel in distress (us) from the evil dragons, and evil step mothers (Satan).

Let’s look at the parallels again.
Prince Charming is Jesus
The Damsel in distress is humanity
The Apple in Snow White and other things such as that in stories is sin.
The dragons, evil step parents and wicked witches is Satan.

And what does this valiant knight in shining armor usually say to his fair maiden? It’s usually something to the effect of a promise to love her unconditionally, and to protect her for all time. Which when you think about it is exactly what God promises to us.

Revelation 19:11-16 & 19-20
The Rider on the White Horse
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS…
…Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

So, yes, there is a Prince Charming. But He is so completely better and different from the one that girls decide they need to find. He is the King, and so much more than just a mere man, that is going to ride in and valiantly rescue not, just one damsel in distress, but everyone who wants love from Him and believes in His love. But the best part is that God really can rescue us from the dragons and evil step parents in our life. And He will take care of us forever, no matter what.

“Fairy tales are more than true. Not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us they can be beaten.” G.K Chesterton

Recent Speech for my Public Speaking Class. March 11, 2010

Introduction:  From early television sitcoms such as “I Love Lucy”  to modern day movies like “The Ugly Truth,” television continues to sustain gender role stereotypes because  it reflects dominant social values.

I.  How many of you are familiar with the movie Mulan? And the song “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.”  It portrays in one song, stereotypical gender roles of both men and women. The men are told they need to step it up and be tough and show their strength. While the men in the song sing about how they just want a woman who is beautiful and can cook and will “adore their battle scars.”

A. Gender Roles in Children’s Media
1) The roles of men and women are even seen in children’s movies.  Britain, in a recent study found that in television shows 70-85% (generally) of the characters are male and portray  the ideals of men active, aggressive, rational and discontented, and the women in the shows carried about typical representations of occupational roles or that of nurses and talking on the phone, reading and helping with the housework.

2)   A study done in 1975, which professionals still refer to as accurate, consisted of “forty boys and forty girls, sampled at four age levels: 4-6, 8, 10, 12 years of age. Their viewing time was measured, and then the children were administered the ‘it’ scale. This is where the child is given a drawing of a stick figure (it), before being asked to select what objects ‘it’ would prefer, from a host of pictures of objects which have associations with stereotyped sex roles.”  The study suggested that the more television that children view, is directly related to the child’s view of gender roles.
3)   According to Kevin Durkin’s book “Television, Sex Roles and Children” there is evidence showing that girls ages 8-12 tend to find a male newscaster more believable than a woman newscaster.

(Transition/signpost): Gender roles are not biologically determined and vary depending on the culture. Gender roles may even change for an individual during the course of their life.

II. Media in Advertising and Non-Children’s Media

1.   In many ads women are told that their bodies are their best assets. They are a tool. “Ads within this category reflect the concepts of the Only the Body trope, namely, that a woman has only her body to offer.” (genderads.com). There is a current women’s perfume ad in  which it says “Apply to your neck, so he can smell the scent as you shake your head no.” In advertisements, men are portrayed as “symbolic capital, intelligence and power” (www.genderads.com) until they are placed into the role that a woman typically portrays, and that time, the men are shown to be weak and stupid and helpless.

2.   There was a television show in the 1980’s that drastically flip-flopped the gender roles traditionally seen on TV. The show “Who’s the Boss?” is about former baseball player Tony, who takes a job as live-in house keeper to career woman Angela Bower. Through the flipping of the gender roles, this show depicts that once the roles are reversed in a life has a hard to continuing “to go on as normal.” Angela’s son is shy, lacks self-esteem and in one episode starts listing off every country in the world to a school authority figure, to which the principal replies that he needs to “go play sports and stop reading books.” And in many episodes, the dysfunctionality of the household is blamed on the fact that the man stays home and does all the chores while the woman is out in the workforce.

Transition: I want you to ask yourselves. How much of an impact does the media play in your daily life and how you view you role in society? It’s interesting to think, that willingness to be vulnerable is viewed as emotionality in women and weakness in men. So society has turned not only gender roles, but the basic core values of human relationships has been overturned.  Jesus we saw a focus on relationships and a constant sacrifice of his pride and needs for others. why can’t society seem to do the same?

III.    Clearly the media has it’s own agenda. It has created a downward spiral that just keeps repeating itself over and over and over again. And with each revolution that the cycle makes the roles of men and women get more twisted and discomforting to all who are exposed to the media stereotypes.

Close: I’m not saying we can’t get entertainment from Disney films or get a laugh from movies such as “The Ugly Truth.” I happen to love all the Disney princess movies and “I Love Lucy” is my favorite show. However, we must be able to separate what the media and society is trying to tell us that truth is, from what is the truth. Regardless of whether or not someone is a Christian, the individual needs to be able realize that men and women are more than just sex symbols and stereotypes.

Growing. March 7, 2010

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” e.e. cummings

Plans…? March 5, 2010

So, I love how whenever I think I have everything in my life all figured out, and then God humorously (or not so humorously) shows me that I have absolutely NO idea what I am doing. It’s great fun. Not.
Sometimes, I feel like Elijah when God tells him to wait until the presence of the LORD passes by, and Elijah sees fire and earthquakes…and God is not in either of those. Or I feel like Bruce, in “Bruce Almighty” when he yells “God just give me a sign!!” And a sign truck drives by. Sometimes, I just want say to God “A sign…okay, I asked for one, care to be a little more specific?” And…God’s not specific enough…or rather not specific enough in MY timing, which usually in my mind is more important at the time, than when God wants to carry out plans. Sometimes life takes patience.

“Patience is the ability to count down before blasting off.” ~Anonymous~
I don’t possess patience. I want to have everything figured out and know what’s going to happen and when its going to happen so that I can plan my life accordingly.

John Lennon once said “Life is what happens when you are too busy making plans.”
I’m trying to figure out how a person can get through life without believing in God. I realize that in a previous post, I said that I sometimes wonder about this whole Christian thing…and that’s true. But at the same time, it all comes down to Faith. Sometimes, faith is the hardest thing in the world to hold onto, but when I choose to hold onto it, at the end of the day, my Faith is still there. And my God is still there. Even when I feel like He is being silent, like I feel as though he is being now. But when feeling completely lost, because of your choices or life’s circumstances aren’t going exactly how you had planned, and not having anyone to lean on. Or possibly only having yourself to lean on, but that doesn’t often work out when you are too torn down and ragged to carry on.

In Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.”~Jeremiah 1:5-7

God knew us BEFORE we were born, he knew us while we were growing inside the womb. He knew who we would be, and what we would look like, and who we would become before anyone else even met us. He made us each as special individuals, and set us a part from everyone else. The cliche` sayings “You are special.” It’s true! And not only that, God will always be there for us, when we become too frustrated with life and not knowing where we are going, and what we want, He WILL help us. We just need to tone down our pride and ask for help.

I need help.

A journey of a thousand miles… March 2, 2010

I found this entry in my journal from last year. Almost exactly a year ago.

“A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step.”

I feel as if this school year, I’ve been on a journey of many thousands of miles. That I’ve learned more in the last six months about love, life, God, family, friends and myself than I’ve ever learned in my life.

I’ve learned that “love isn’t about finding the perfect person, it’s about learning to see an imperfect person perfectly,” and that striving to be perfect for another individual isn’t healthy or what love is about. One should not require you to fit a set of standards, and tear you down when you cannot reach the sky with only one try. That the Corinthians definition of love “Love is always patient; love is always kind; love is never envious or arrogant with pride. Nor is she conceited, and she is never rude; she never thinks just of herself or ever get annoyed.She never is resentful; is never glad with sin, but always glad to side with truth,whene’er the truth should win. She bears up under everything, believes the best in all, there is no limit to her hope,and she will never fall. “ (International Standard Version) is true. I’ve learned that broken hearts, take time to heal and that the healing is different for everyone. I’ve learned that the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me,” is not true. At all. Words hurt. They leave a mark. That hurtful words, are not a part of love.

Life, that I’ve learned so far, is to be lived to the fullest. One should never be afraid to take chances, the worst that can happen, is that it doesn’t work out.

God is always there. Always. And he never changes. Other people may change, but He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever as the Bible says in Hebrews 13:8. God does not base his love and care for us on conditions. He does not work with the “I love you until…” or “I love you but you need to do this in order for me to love you more.” God loves, God cares, and God wants us to come to Him, even if we are angry.He wants us to share our feelings with Him. He will never turn His back on us.

I’ve learned that God gave us family for a reason. And that a family isn’t about being the perfect all American family with a never divorced mom and dad, with 2.5 kids and a dog. A family comes in all shapes and sizes, all colors and interests.

I’ve learned that true friends are very rare.That some friends are only friends until inconvenient for them. That if something happens that you don’t want to talk about, they won’t hold that against you. They will stand by you, when the rest of the world walks out, even if they don’t know what the bad thing was that happened. That when everyone else looks down on you, or says means things about you, to your face, or behind you back, true friends will be a shield to defend you, and a hand to pull you up. True friends will be the ones that drive an hour from their house to your school, because you called them on the phone crying, and even though they couldn’t make sense of your words through your tears, it doesn’t matter. They come to give you a hug. True friends are the ones that buy you pizza, when you haven’t eaten for days, and take you out to midnight milkshakes. They’re the ones that come to a family gathering, just for support, even if that means people they know will look down on them. They’re the ones that come to see you, because they know that you can’t come to them because of people you may run into. They are the people that offer the matches to burn somethings you need to let go of.

I’ve learned, that Dr. Seuss was a genius when he said “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those matter don’t mind.” I’ve learned to be content in who I am, and I will not apologize for that. I am your average girl, laughs when something is funny, cries when something hurts, lives for the next grand adventure.

I want to thank those that have been true friends through the past several months, Those that have accepted me as family. And apologize to those who I may have hurt.

It’s been almost a year since I created that entry.  And I realize even more so how much that is true.

February 19, 2010

Ever wonder why people like to watch movies or soap operas or “dramatic television?” I used to think “How could anyone come up with such a compelling story that captures so many people’s minds and hearts in such expressive ways?”
I have now come to realize that most of these stories probably come from a person’s life. Even the most incredible miraculous healing stories or he left me for another woman, really does happen.
When we watch these stories on TV or in a movie, our heart either feels for the heartbeak of the the gut wrenching tragedies or laughs at the absurdity of it all.
Or what about the website “FML?” Sure, some of them are probably jokes, witty stories people came up with just to entertain.
But…can you imagine walking a mile in anyone of those character’s shoes?