God is everywhere, but mostly in America
My friend Fiasco da Gama recently lent my the first "Brio Girls" novel I've ever read, "Good-bye to all that". Here is a description from Amazon: "Tired of dating jerks, Solana vows not to date until the right guy comes along but when he does, she faces the decision of whether she's ready to go all the way, amid objections from her Christian friends."*
You will not be surprised that she does, knowing teenagers and all, but as the only "non-Christian" in her group of friends, they were VERY SAD. Of course, she was left feeling odd and strangely empty. If I was naughty, I might say the problem was she should have been left feeling odd and strangely full, but let's leave that there.
Anyway, it got me thinking about the pervasiveness of evangelical Christianity, and the desire to move only within a community of one's own believers. Which, of course, brought me to the Christian tattooing community. Yes, Ink for Jesus!
As you might expect, there is a corresponding "tattoos are evil and ungodly"movement. I recommend that you do what the guy on that last link says, and follow the segments of the article sequentially. They DO build on each other, and it IS worth it. You'll see things like this:
and this:
which you wouldn't want to miss, would you?
* If you are indeed a Christian of this genre, you may prefer to shun this book. Here is a rather marvellous reader review from Amazon which explains why:
You will not be surprised that she does, knowing teenagers and all, but as the only "non-Christian" in her group of friends, they were VERY SAD. Of course, she was left feeling odd and strangely empty. If I was naughty, I might say the problem was she should have been left feeling odd and strangely full, but let's leave that there.
Anyway, it got me thinking about the pervasiveness of evangelical Christianity, and the desire to move only within a community of one's own believers. Which, of course, brought me to the Christian tattooing community. Yes, Ink for Jesus!
As you might expect, there is a corresponding "tattoos are evil and ungodly"movement. I recommend that you do what the guy on that last link says, and follow the segments of the article sequentially. They DO build on each other, and it IS worth it. You'll see things like this:
and this:
which you wouldn't want to miss, would you?
* If you are indeed a Christian of this genre, you may prefer to shun this book. Here is a rather marvellous reader review from Amazon which explains why:
Christian Parents BEWARE! -- Soft porn for teenie boppers, March 24, 2004
Reviewer: A reader
I read this book this evening because my teenage daughter was concerned about the content after hearing some of her friends in Youth Group talking about it. From my perspective -- as a Christian mom of two teens -- this book was really not much more than soft porn wrappped in "Christian" garb. A few morals thrown in doesn't undo the loss of innocence a young girl could experience from reading this book. Fortunately, the book leaves out the graphic details of the main character's multiple sexual encounters with her boyfriend (who she's only been dating for a month or so when they start sleeping together). But what it leaves out in details, it leaves up to your imagination ... and I honestly don't want my teenage girls "imagining" what's going on in this girl's boyfriend's bedroom when his mom's not home. Once innocence is lost -- whether it's physically or just in your heart and mind -- it can't be restored. Shame on Focus on the Family for promoting this book. I'm going to read some of the other books in the series to see if they're of the same ilk. I suspect the other books aren't nearly as risque' because the main characters in the other books are Christians who believe in waiting until marriage for sexual intimacy (unlike the main character in this book). But as for this particular title in the BRIO Girls series, steer far away if you value your teenage daughter's moral innocence.
posted by Zoe at 2:08 pm
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