Posts by writingjoy
Stress Weight Gain and Loss and Finally Getting Healthy ~ Life:Unmasked
I’m telling a very personal story today for this month’s Life:Unmasked link-up: about my weight. (If you are like me and forgot, I decided to change things up and only host this link-up once a month on a Saturday. I forgot to do it last month and realized today that this is the last Saturday…
Read MoreOn Turning 37
I’m 37 years old. I’ve been telling people I’m almost 37 for a couple of months now, but today I can say it officially. For some reason, it seems significant to me. Maybe it’s because 37 is within spitting distance of 40. Maybe it’s because I never once thought “Hey, one day I’ll be 37.…
Read MoreI Should Know Better: On Faking It, Cynism, and Putting People on Pedestals
This is the story of the internal conflict between two different painful church experiences I’ve had. On the one hand, I remembered vividly how difficult it was to live out my flawed life in front of a group of people with high expectations of me. On the other, I had peeked behind the curtain so…
Read MoreIf Not “Sola Virginity,” What Do We Teach? Part 1 of 2
Many articles in the past few weeks have critiqued the damaging messages about sex and marriage passed on by conservative churches. They emphasize virginity alone so heavily it a sixth “Sola” – Sola Virginibus or “by virginity alone.” [The Protestant Reformation rallied around what we call the “five solas:” “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Alone); “Sola Gratia” (Grace Alone); “Sola Fide” (Faith Alone); “Solus…
Read MoreWhat’s Wrong with Virginity? Nothing, Unless You’re Obsessed with It
Today’s post on sex (I’m writing a bit of a series on sex this month.) is featured on The Guardian’s US op-ed page, Comment Is Free. Here’s a sneak peek: I could be the poster child for the merits of abstinence before marriage: I am a member of the US evangelical Christian community and remained a…
Read MoreOn Virginity: What I Did and Did Not Mean
Earlier this week, I wrote in a post for A Deeper Story that the probability of marrying a virgin is low, but that this should not lead anyone to despair. I talked about three myths perpetuated by the Virginity or Purity culture about the supposed benefits of abstinence and the supposed consequences of premarital sex.…
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