This post is from the archives and it’s really good and you should totally read it.
I attended college, but I’m not quite sure why. In America, many young high school juniors and seniors begin the search early for the perfect college. They fill out their applications, write their essays, attend their interviews, all in the quest for…
For what? A guaranteed salary upon college graduation? A better life? Or a cushier life? Power? Position? Prestige?
After graduating college, I wondered what I had really learned in class anyway? Maybe you’re like me and are wondering if you should skip college? Continue reading Top 5 Reasons to Skip College
Christians are really good at creating and using language that is non-existent in the Bible.
We construct rules for ourselves, like “quiet time” and “devotionals.” We use phrases that are out of touch and inexplicably alienate non-believers.
We are also really good at taking a concept in scripture and attaching so many restrictions, rules, and regulations to it that it becomes impossible to follow. Or we water it down so much that it no longer resembles the original design.
The term “mentor” is a perfect example, in my mind. I am not sure how this word has penetrated the Christian lexicon, especially since it has no Biblical basis.
I used to attend a church service catering to a younger crowd. It was energetic and always somewhat reminiscent of a college party. Everyone was cool, young, and hip. No one was over the age of 35, not even the pastor. Only a few people within the congregation were married and absolutely no one had children.
I enjoyed being there, yet I could never shake the feeling that church was not suppose to be comprised of only the young.
We had no one over the age of 35 attending service on purpose. We had no discipleship taking place. We had no one older and wiser to look to or lean on because, well, no one was older or wiser.
I eventually moved on, but the questions never left: Why have some churches begun catering to a younger generation? And more than that, should they? Continue reading What's Age Got to Do with it?
I met her at my old church. We were both about to graduate form high school and looking for some kind of direction. We met once a week, with one other girl and our female youth pastor.
We would share our praises or prayer requests every week. It seemed I was always sharing something “more sinful”, darker, more difficult. She always seemed fine. Her sins were nothing compared to mine.
Yet, one day we were asked to share our testimonies–tell each other how we met God and what He had done for us. She froze. She fumbled. She wouldn’t talk. Then, after a few moments of silence, she said something that totally shocked me…
Over the last few weeks, I have been feeling this pull, push, nudge to start writing about race–as in skin color. I have avoided this topic entirely on Modern Reject, except for one small mention here and there.
Since I’m no wallflower and I also don’t stray away from a bit of controversy, I haven’t been able to figure out why I absolutely don’t want to write about race.
Love Wins has led many in the Christian community to question whether or not the wildly popular pastor Bell, is in fact, a universalist. I’m not going to guess.
Bell’s recent interview on MSNBC, however, begs the question. I, personally, take great issue with his answers or lack thereof. I thought I’d throw it out to you all. What do you think of his answers? How would you have answered the questions posed? Or did you feel he answered well?
I did not grow up in the Church. I mean, I went to church occasionally, but I was not surrounded by a community of believers. I was, therefore, not exposed to the Christian phenomena of the “Proverbs 31 woman” until much later.
It seems that, for many young Christian women, the ideal placed before them is a woman who looks like this: She is Godly, yes, but perhaps more importantly she is married, with 3.4 children, stays home to tend to the needs of her family, and bakes loaves of bread and apple pies for kicks.
This is a nice picture–a lovely one, in fact–but is this God’s only picture of a Jesus-loving woman? Can a Christian woman be seen as Godly without having children or without <gasp!> being married? Is the single Christian woman blessed or doomed?Continue reading The Single Christian Woman: Blessed or Doomed?
My daughter is going to turn 5 in a few short months. Yesterday she placed an enormous, glittery, pink , princess, backpack on herself and loaded it up with junk. She said, “I’m going on vacation,” but all I could think of was her eventual first day of kindergarten.
She is going to need to attend school and that scares me, for a few reasons. For one thing, I don’t want her to get bigger. I’d like to invent a child “pause” button for both of my children.
Secondly, the decision of where to send your child to school can be a daunting one. I have friends who have struggled, prayed, been put on waiting lists, been rejected by schools they liked, only to start all over again.
There is also the issue, however, of homeschooling. This word used to sound like a dirty word to me. Homeschool. Still sends shivers down my spine. My husband and his brother were both homeschooled through high school and all things considered, are two of the most normal, healthy, Godly guys I know.
But I’m no homeschooling mom. I imagine all homeschooling moms wear denim jumpers and have hair down to my butt. I don’t have a baseball team worth of children or drive a mini-van. Do those things automatically disqualify me or is there more to this homeschooling thing than I assume? Continue reading My Homeschooling Nightmare
I’ve done it. I’ve committed this sin in hallways, over telephones, even at family functions.
We have all committed this sin, I suspect. We practice this offense against God so often and so causally, I wonder if we even think of it as anything but accepted or normal.
You know what I’m talking about…gossip. The accepted Christian sin. Gossip is so commonplace among believers that we forget to mention it in the list of “real” sins. How, though, do we justify this sin of the tongue and what does God really thinks of it? How has gossip become the sin on everyone’s lips? Continue reading The Sin on Everyone's Lips
The issue of Christians and money gets a lot of people’s pantaloons all in a bunch. We think of negative stereotypes: Television evangelists trying to swindle widows, prosperity preachers selling you a shinier, prettier Gospel, rich Christians who spend generously… on themselves, that is.
On the flip side, some people think believers are called to a humble, pious, and decidedly broke life. While others see no harm in rollin’ in dough, including driving a fancy car or owning a shamelessly large house. They say you can, of course, still love Jesus and be wealthy.
Alright, so Christians can be rich. I know a few (I covet their shiny SUVs and their expensive looking handbags). But should Christians be rich? Are you already forming your response? People have visceral reactions regarding the topic of money, including anger, guilt, or shame. Here’s what I think about Christians and money…
Maybe you’re like me and are wondering if you should skip college? Continue reading Top 5 Reasons to Skip College
