Hello all readers! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our savior! :) I hope you were able to spend it with family and friends and that it was perfect no matter the circumstances! :)
Now! I need to rant a bit.
Have you ever been to the "youth resources" section of a Christian book store?
If you answered yes then you will totally understand this next line.
ahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahaha! Oh! That just makes me laugh to tears!
If you answered no then continue reading for an explanation. (Then you can refer to the long line of laughter with understanding.)
Okay! The youth resources section of the Christian book stores is lacking so much! It is usually the smallest section in the store. But that is only one of the problems. Most of the books do not reach the heart or life of teens in any way! I can't speak for the books written for guys,
but the books that are written for girls almost all start out with something like this...
"This book for teen girls is to help you come closer to God in this stage of your life when you are growing up, your body is changing, and you are stuck between an adult and child."
Okay! Let me start with the obvious. Your body is changing? ew! What the heck! This is really how you want to start the book? And almost all of them say this! That limits your audience to twelve year olds. And even when I was 12! No one wanted to read that stuff! Really. No part of me has "changed" in years. I am the same height and weight I was 4 years ago. And was growing up some horrible experience for the adults that write this? Because seriously, I was moody at 12 but that is about it. What about growing up traumatized these writers? There is something totally wrong about that. And here is the other thing wrong with this. Most of the time we teens don't feel "stuck" between an adult and a child. I have seen some parents that make their kids feel this way when the expect them to act like adults but treat them like children. So I totally get that! But that is not every teenager in America.
Moving on.
There are a few books for teen girls that don't start with stupid things like that. But they tend to focus on staying pure until marriage. And that is great! I totally agree! I think that sex should be saved for marriage because it's Biblical and in my own personal life I have decided to wait for marriage because I want my little sisters to do the same thing. But that is not the only trial teen girls face! What about drugs? What about the age old question of 'how far is too far'? What about friends who have different beliefs than you? What about building a foundation of your faith? What about when your personal convictions differ from your parents, and staying respectful to them with the differences? They seem to just breeze over these things.
And the things that so many of the books tell us girls things that just aren't true! In the Christian world dressing modestly is a HUGE thing! And I totally understand it. But please, do not explain the reason to dress modestly with stupid things like "The things you wear will affect guys thoughts." and "Cleavage revealing tops will only draw eyes and thoughts to one place." and "Men will not be able to control their thoughts and desires." What in the world! And I have heard this spiel so many times! So lets boil these reasons down to the source. You will get raped if you wear revealing clothes. You have got to be kidding me. And they don't say this outright but it is still instilled in so many Christian girls! I have been to the mall with Christian friends and heard these words "Oh you are just asking for trouble with that skirt." Come on! How about we look at the Biblical perspective of modesty and stop treating teen guys like monsters.
The view the Christian world has seem to taken on about teenage guys is so extremely unbiblical that it is scary. Men have their place, they think differently, they were created differently, they have a different purpose that God created them for. There is no double standard! They are just different standards! Making them out to be evil is honestly just plain wrong!
Teenage men are not horrible. They are not evil. They are not out to get you. And yet that is so how they are portrayed! I have had many teenage Christian friends of mine say they don't ever want to go on a date alone with a guy because they want to make sure that the guy doesn't take advantage of them. Really! Let me point out the obvious. If you have met a guy that you really think would rape you, DON'T GO ON A DATE WITH HIM! Most guys aren't going to do that! They are not all evil! (And this is why courting has become such a big deal. It really doesn't need to be! It is totally a person conviction thing.)
So really! What we need are resources that truly will affect the average teen. We need sources that don't become legalistic about dating. We need sources that don't belittle men! The Bible says over and over about going to fellow Christians for advice. And these writers have the opportunity to do this on a mass scale! But writing legalism and even some things that aren't Biblical it is just wrong!
If you have found something that is a good resource please email or comment and let me know!
I would love to read it!
ugh! There is so much more I can add! I believe I will blog more on this subject soon. This is just my opinion on my Christian teen girls resources. I will get into youth resources in general in another post.
(Now refer to the line of laughter. You get it now, don't you?)
The view the Christian world has seem to taken on about teenage guys is so extremely unbiblical that it is scary. Men have their place, they think differently, they were created differently, they have a different purpose that God created them for. There is no double standard! They are just different standards! Making them out to be evil is honestly just plain wrong!
Teenage men are not horrible. They are not evil. They are not out to get you. And yet that is so how they are portrayed! I have had many teenage Christian friends of mine say they don't ever want to go on a date alone with a guy because they want to make sure that the guy doesn't take advantage of them. Really! Let me point out the obvious. If you have met a guy that you really think would rape you, DON'T GO ON A DATE WITH HIM! Most guys aren't going to do that! They are not all evil! (And this is why courting has become such a big deal. It really doesn't need to be! It is totally a person conviction thing.)
So really! What we need are resources that truly will affect the average teen. We need sources that don't become legalistic about dating. We need sources that don't belittle men! The Bible says over and over about going to fellow Christians for advice. And these writers have the opportunity to do this on a mass scale! But writing legalism and even some things that aren't Biblical it is just wrong!
If you have found something that is a good resource please email or comment and let me know!
I would love to read it!
ugh! There is so much more I can add! I believe I will blog more on this subject soon. This is just my opinion on my Christian teen girls resources. I will get into youth resources in general in another post.
(Now refer to the line of laughter. You get it now, don't you?)
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