For an example of how this might play out, consider a not-so-rare scenario of a somewhat undersexed husband who loves his wife, but also looks at pornography against his wife's wishes. He is probably attracted to the fantasy of sexuality that is offered by the porn, rather than lusting after the women or actually wanting sex with them. He may actually be trying desperately to fight the conscious or unconscious urge to find a new mate, attempting to use pornography to keep that urge from becoming irresistible. The wife, who has also suppressed her own sexuality, will usually interpret this in some personally demeaning way that justifies a deep feeling of being wronged by her husband. She might see her husband's behavior as tantamount to cheating, that she's "not enough", that she "can't compete with those perfect bodies". She will probably naturally settle into a pattern of punishing her husband by further reducing sex or sexuality. This forces him to hide his behavior from his wife, further relying on porn or some other activity to satisfy his needs, ultimately disassociating his wife even further from his sexuality.
2. Remember Todd Bentley? Tattooed across his sternum are military dog tags that read "Joel's Army." They're evidence of Bentley's generalship in a rapidly growing apocalyptic movement that's gone largely unnoticed by watchdogs of the theocratic right." "Joel's Army" shows up a lot when you're googling Christian Fundamentalist blogs--most of the references I saw on CF blogs, I should add, were warning against the movement, not promoting it.
[This is, oddly, topical, as now "Joel's Army" is showing up in the Daily Kos with reference to Sarah Palin, although I haven't had time to sort out WTF the DK is saying, exactly.]
Which brings me to 3. The Call.
Two years after the inception of this dream, a woman approached Lou Engle and asked if he had ever considered putting young people on the Mall like the Promise Keepers did in 1997. Taken back and amazed, Lou replied that two years prior he had been burdened with a dream to see the youth of our nation gathering at the National Mall. He confessed he actually prophesied this coming gathering would be a sign from God that there was still hope for our nation. The woman promptly wrote a check for $100,000, setting into action a whole chain of supernatural events that would eventually result in the TheCall DC on September 2nd, 2000. God’s blessing was clearly manifest throughout the day as the presence of the Holy Spirit infused the prayer, worship and intermittent words of encouragement from our nations spiritual leaders. The result of one man's obedience to the God-given dream was an attendance of over 400,000 young people.
And also 4. The JCC.
ground//zero is not a place, it's not a time, but it is a movement transported by people that will impact this generation with a message that instills hope and a purpose. The movement meets Wednesday nights.Why can't I find something like that only for some movement comprising the best bits of Fogeyism, etiquette manuals, retro fashion, and Aristasia? Le sigh.
5. Higher Love: What Women Gain from Christian Romance Novels.
Simply, women know the difference between what they read and what they want in real life. They do, however, use the books to change their individual realities. Critics do not measure this, though, because they do not grant readers agency, seeing them as passive consumers, swallowing novels without intelligent processing.
Posts
