Blog finds 88% of Christians just want young people to go to church and not have sex

The article below managed to find it's way to my in box the other day. It's another article about how young people are leaving the church. I think it may have taken from the Australian prayer network. For me it is always disappointing to see Xns entirely fixated on sexual morality and church attendance. The article has these quotes "100 percent of the youth group graduates had since used alcohol", "69 percent had a sexual encounter" "88 percent had left church". It's disappointing because it is almost taken for granted that these two things alone are the two things that define whether you are Xn or not. It sometimes feels like pretty much any other sin is something you can struggle with as a Xn but when it comes to something sexual then you've given up your faith. Similarly, church attendance also seems to be considered the sure fire way to measure someone's spiritual health.

What's goes beyond disappointing and into the realm of hilarious is the reasons for young people abandoning the church. They are "youth culture", a lack of "parental involvement", and "biblical illiteracy". "Youth Culture" is something which is obviously not going to change by definition young people will always be involved in "youth culture". Also "parental involvement" is something which naturally diminishes as you become an adult, so that's not going to change either. But they make great scapegoats because they are both unavoidable. Finally "biblical illiteracy". What does heck does that mean? It could be another scapegoat... Does your child know the major themes of Habakkuk?!!! What teenager has a comprehensive understanding of the Bible? I’m 33 have studied theology and am only starting to get there. Perhaps what is more missing is "Life Illiteracy". For example when it comes to Drugs we tell young people drugs are bad, they screw up your life, you'll become an addict and the bible says your body is a temple so don't use them. Then people leave their sheltered church world find friends who use drugs enjoy the experience are not addicts and have not destroyed their body. So they not only end up using the drug but end up chucking out their whole faith as well.

My feeling is we need to be honest. We need to say drugs can be fun and sex can be fun, but there are still reasons not to take drugs and not to sleep with everyone you meet. Similarly we need to be honest and say church can be very boring, but their are still reasons to go, one of those reasons being that if you find church boring we as church want to work with you to see if it is possible to make it more meaningful (NB I didn't say fun).

Seriously though most disappointing of all this article doesn’t even seem to entertain the possibility that someone might leave church, drink alcohol have a sexual encounter with someone they are not married to but still have a relationship with God and still be looking to better understand that relationship and continue to discover what God is like. Maybe if we spent more time helping people encounter God and less time counting their sins, we might spend more time together wrestling with life and what it means to be Xn in our world right now less reading surveys about how “youth culture” has corrupted young people who no longer follow their parents and how only a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible could have prevented this.

SURVEY FINDS 88 PER CENT OF YOUTH LEAVE THE CHURCH IN ADULTHOOD

Leaders of church denominations, youth pastors and parachurch organizational leaders recently gathered to brainstorm ways to keep college students from falling away from the Christian faith, and how to correct the dysfunctions in youth ministry. Mission America and the National Network of Youth Ministries convened the meeting in Orlando. "A significant majority of our church's youth are leaving the foundations of their faith when they transition from High school," said Paul Fleischmann, president of the National Network of Youth Ministries. Research has shown that 69-94 percent of Christian youths forsake their faith after high school, while one study found that 88 percent of youth are leaving the Church. A pilot study of 69 college students conducted by Fuller Theological Seminary was presented during the meeting. Results found that 100 percent of the youth group graduates had since used alcohol, 69 percent had a sexual encounter, and 20 percent had 20 or more sexual encounters in the last 12 months. The study also found, however, that the greater their faith maturity, the less likely the students were to engage in risk behaviours. Fleischmann cited youth culture, a lack of parental involvement, and biblical illiteracy as major contributors to the issues at hand.

Source: Christian Post

A Universal Theory of "Who’s in with God" - Or - The definition of a Christian

Thought I’d tackle the big topic of what’s the definition of a Xn for this post. Now since the word Xn is so loaded I’m going to use an expression I like which is “who’s in with God?” When it comes to who’s in with God, it can be a little confusing. At times Jesus says “follow me”, at other times “repent and believe”, at other times (like the sheep and goats parable) people who don’t know Jesus are in with God and those who do aren’t. At other times still there are people like the thief on the cross who is in but seems not to fit either of these previous categories. So to make things easy it would be nice if we had some kind of universal theory about who's in with God.

Usually we tend to think in two ways about wether people are in with God or not. The first category are those who identify with Jesus in some way. That might be people say a particular prayer, ask for forgiveness or believe a particular set of beliefs. People who show some kind of internal indication. The second category might be people who go to church or do good things. People who show some kind of external indication. Well, I’d like to propose a third way of looking at things. Here’s my definition…

The people who are in with God are those who are becoming more like Christ.*

The beauty of this definition is that is always context specific. So, someone who has never heard of Jesus but may still be becoming more like Christ in the way they treat people and would be “in”. But someone who is an important church leader and treats people badly (becoming less like Christ) would be “out”. Of two people living identical mean (to others) lives with one who wants to change (become more like Christ) and one who doesn’t. The first one is in the second one isn’t. So, someone who rejects the church or religious establishment because it is hypocritical won’t be out (Jesus didn’t exactly embrace the religious establishment of his day either). Neither would someone who hadn’t said the right prayer – if you believe in one of those.

The second great thing is that because it is always context specific. It means there is no all applying universal measure by which someone (apart from God) can judge who’s in and who’s out. So what becomes important is our own journey not judging the journey of others.

So there you have it my definition of a Xn… Someone who is becoming more like Christ.


*I am aware that this is a Christ centric view of things. Non Xns might think of it as becoming more like God or more human.

"God's plan for your life"

As someone who has somewhat aimlessly but none the less sincerely meandered through life it always strikes me when someone talks about "God's plan for your life". It's a phrase that tends to be used a lot in Christian Circles and one that can really erk me. Often what is behind this statement is a belief that God has our entire lives already planned out for us (with no consultation from us) and it is up to us to try and work out what this plan is an then to follow it. Apart from sounding pretty awful I think there are two major misunderstandings behind this thought. (1) God and Time (2) Paul and predestination.

Firstly, God and time. Plato and the Ancient Greeks were the first to think of God as not being restrained by time and able to be outside of time. This is not an idea found in the Bible. In fact quite the opposite, God changes his mind in the Noah story for example, something that you wouldn’t do if you knew the future (I may flesh out this argument in another post at some stage). Instead God makes a plan and then chooses to carry out or not carry out that plan.

Secondly, Romans 8:29 and the whole predestination thing. I think Romans 8:29 and predestination can be summed up like this. As a Xn you are predestined to become more like Christ, and that’s it (I may flesh this out later too). You are not predestined to marry a particular person, do a particular job or wear a particular shirt. You are predestined to become more like Christ, and you can probably do that wearing a variety of t-shirts. In fact I would go as far as to say that the definition of a Xn is someone who is becoming more like Christ. (oooh that's a bit of a radical throw away line... I'll definitely expand on that in a later post)

Now when these to misunderstandings are combined it means that when people say “God has a plan for your life” They usually mean God has every moment of my life set out. Which means that God has my t-shirt for the day etc… already planned, but I just think that there is no evidence for this thought in scripture and it doesn’t really make sense anyway if humans have free will. So when someone says “God has a plan” for your life I usually politely agree thinking to myself yes and that plan is that I become more like Christ.

God has a plan for your life it’s a big general kind of plan so go fill in the details the way you like. See this post for an illustration of this.

Maybe now faith will mean something?

Ever heard people talk about lots of people leaving church and giving up Christianity like it's the end of the world? I guess I've always felt like these have been kind of exiting time to be alive as a Xn. Well today a priest on Phillip Adam's late night live said this about the decline of Xy in the west.

Maybe for the first time in the history of the west we’re coming to the point where faith really might mean something rather than just be a cultural inheritance.

For me this nicely articulates why I'd rather live now than early times where every one went to church.

New Skin

I'm trialling a new skin for a while. Let me know if you know anywhere I can get something better.

Some Kind Of Monster

I’ve just watch the Metallica documentary “Some kind of Monster”. It was a fantastic. What other band could release an album that what just black and release a tell all documentary? I always find music documentaries somewhat inspiring but this was inspiring enough to get me out of an 18 month music slump (I started writing some decent music for the first time since my old band broke up). The band’s honesty and passion for what they do was engrossing enough to make a good rockumentary but it is the journey through band tensions (including old band tensions with Dave Mustaine and Jason Newstead also being interviewed) and band members own demons that made it truly compelling. Well worth it even if you don’t like the music.

Church Surf Update 2

Well I've definitely stopped church surfing for now. I have pretty much since the Church Surf Update 1. Although what I'm doing has kind of changed since that post. I am now doing a slightly altered three prong approach consisting of the emerging church, a D.I.Y at home church and the "a bit too far away church".

The emerging church is moving slowly with myself and another member having babies it has put things on the slow a bit, what's more we both couldn't be at the next Passover meal gathering the church did as our monthly meeting. In the Church Surf Update 1 post I mentioned I'd be going to a local church, well this just didn't quite work out. It just means I'm spreading myself way too thin and not really working on my own spiritual practices just contributing to and critiquing that of others. It's been a while now that I've been going to the "a bit too far away church" as regularly as I can (work commitments often interrupt) and am looking forward to see what may come of this.

I now feeling like I have a solid tripod underneath me. (1) A regular looking church that is established and won't be moving anywhere soon and over which I don't have lots of influence (which is not a bad thing) . (2) An emerging church where I get to wrestle and stumble with others as we try to create something new. (3) My own thing where I can try out stuff before inflicting it on others.

Kevin and his shadow

Kevin Smith of Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma but definitely not Jersey Girl fame has been blogging about his long term friend Jason Mewes' addiction to drugs and Kevin's battle to help him. It is the most compelling thing I have read yet on the web.

If you want to read it go to http://silentbobspeaks.com/

Like many Kevin Smith has a special place in my heart. I can still remember seeing Chasing Amy and Clerks as a double at Newcastle's the Regal Cinema. Clerks is often heralded as Kevin's best work but Chasing Amy has a special place in my heart, Jason Lee is excellent, and has remained as one of my favourite sleeper movies (a good movie most people haven't seen). Sleeper movies are great when you're out with a bunch of new friends and you either don't have enough money for a new release or at least one person in the group has watched every movie in the new release section and no one wants to see the movie they've already seen again. This when you say "hey has anyone seen - insert sleeper movie title here - ?" They all say "no", you take it home watch it and all your new friends are impressed that you knew of a great movie that they have never even heard of. So one night I was at the video store with my new girlfriend (who would later be my wife and is still really yet to see the funny side of this) and three of her friends and we were searching for a movie. All the movies they wanted to watch I thought were awful or I'd seen and all the movies I wanted to watch they thought were awful or had seen. We were at a video store impasse so I trumped everyone by going to the weeklies and asking "has anyone seen Chasing Amy?". Now seeing that the cover touted Chasing Amy as a modern day love story and all my girlfriends friends were all from a conservative religous school and had never had a serious boyfriend and who had been brought up at a school and church were the sex education went kind of along the lines of "don't even think about it" (it was quite a sheltered upbringing all round). Any way they all thought "modern day love story great lets watch it that sounds very romantic". Now (relatively speaking) being a little bit more of a man of the world shall we say that not once did it occur to me that these good conservative religous girls might actually find some of the content offensive. That was until the scene when Alyssa and Banky started trading stories of injuries they'd received whilst giving someone oral sex. Instead of laughter there was silence in the room. If I had a camera on top of the TV I could have taken a photo of everyone's epiglottis. There jaws had hit the ground. Needless to say the film did get more graphic and laughter did not in sew. None the less as time passes my recollection of this day gets funnier and funnier. Thanks Kevin.

To "Passion" or to "McPassion"?

Easter is approaching which means that many churches will be getting out their DVD copies of Mel Gibson's "The Passion" and doing screenings for all. I for one have not seen the film all I know is that it is incredibly graphic in it's portrayal of Jesus torture and death. David Straton from the movie show described it as "the most relentlessly violent film I've ever seen" in his review of the film. So I guess I'd like to ask why would a church show this movie? What is the point of such a graphic account of what Jesus went through? Particularly without any of the context of his life of resurrection? I get the feeling that Mel and fans of the movie feel that the book version just glides to lightly over the pain and suffering Jesus went through. I think those original authors did so because Easter is not about the pain and suffering, which can often make people feel guilty, rather it is about the gift that Jesus is and gifts can only bring joy (socks are an exception).

So, if you're stuck in a church insisting on screening the movie maybe you can suggest that they also embrace McPassion meals and toys for the kids. (stop reading watch the movie on the site then come back) I hope insisting on the embracing of McPassion meals and toys for the kids may at least bring some joy as you watch "The Passion" fans squirm through an explanation of how inappropriate it all is for kids but not for adults. When they say "But the movie shows what it is really like and what Jesus really went through" you can say "But the McPassion toys show what it is really like and what Jesus really went through" eventually they will relent and say look "the violence makes kids cry and we're hoping it'll make adults feel guilty and then spend more time at church". If that doesn't stop them showing the movie maybe you'd like to try reading here, here and here.

Youth Ministry Stats

Andrew Hamilton who often replies to posts I make (thanks Hamo!) posted this on his blog

Here are some stats I am sure you have heard:

1. 80% of young people make a 'decision for Christ' before the age of 18 therefore this is where we ought to invest a huge amount of our resources. I completely agree that this is a time when people are usually most open and receptive to new ideas.

2. Of those young people who make 'decisions for Christ' around 80% will dump their faith altogether when they get a car, go to Uni and are exposed to the world outside of the Christian youth scene.

Hmmm what is going on here?

These 2 often quoted stats got Hamo thinking his full post is here (includes loads of thoughtful replies), has a follow up post here and a really funny post that reminds me of a stand up routine I did at a church gathering is here (The stand up routine resulted in an audience half horrified and half in stitches the two fuelling off each other). I'm not sure how accurate they are but anecdotal evidence would suggest they are not far of the mark.

These two quotes get close to the heart of what is wrong with many churches. I'll now break down and analyse these quotes too show you what I think they actually mean.

1.a. 80% of young people make a 'decision for Christ' before the age of 18

Now this statistic could either be reflective of (a) importnat life decisions and values are made by people before the age of 18 (b) the church is in almost no way attractive to people over the age of 18. I don't think it would be shocking take to say that most adults above the age of 30 do not make every important life decision or value before the age of 18. Before the age of 18 is when we start to make life and value decisions and these values and decisions get refined or thrown away and replaced so that they are congruent with what we experience in life. That "80% of young people make a 'decision for Christ' before the age of 18" I think reflects more upon what church's tell young people about Xy and how it fits with life rather than the nature of people once they turn 18.

1.b. therefore this is where we ought to invest a huge amount of our resources.

Now this is starting to get to the heart of what is important, recruiting people. Purely and simply the thought here is that resources should be used to expand the numbers in the pews, everything else is secondary. This accounts for so little of the richness of what it means to be Xn. the deatils of which I won't go into now. (Perhaps this might be the basis of some later posts.)

1.c. I completely agree that this is a time when people are usually most open and receptive to new ideas.

It is true that people below the age of 18 are receptive to new ideas. It is also true that people with less life experience and knowledge will be less likely to be critical of these new ideas and that younger people, in general, have less life experience and knowledge. Then, as I mentioned in 1.a, decisions and values we make when we are young get refined or thrown away and replaced when they are no longer congruent with what we experience in life.

2. Of those young people who make 'decisions for Christ' around 80% will dump their faith altogether when they get a car, go to Uni and are exposed to 'the world' outside of the Christian youth scene.

Put simply this statistic shows how obvious it is that the robustness of the faith churches impart to young people is so flimsy that it doesn't not even stand up to a young person's first major life change.

In Conclusion what we have is a situation much like that if a band that decides to put all of its resources into marketing their music to teenagers. They almost spend no time trying to make good music just marketing it to teenagers. You can easily picture exactly what this music will be like, and you would be quite able to understand why the band’s popularity with teenagers will not translate into sustained popularity with those same people once they are older. This is exactly what we are doing with Youth Ministry. What we need to do is play good music.

At last "A Churchless Faith" makes it

At last my Blog has "made it". The only standard by which I measure this is simply that (a) someone other than myself has read it (b) some one has posted a link on there Blog to mine. To my Mathew 25 re-write post to be exact. Here is what the glorious discovery looked like...

So thanks to Digger!

Emotionally Exhausted

I am emotionally and also physically exhausted. Fortunately one of the reasons for that is because I've been working a lot so I've taken today and tomorrow off work for a retreat. I'm thinking that there is too much I'm trying to cram into my life. Work, part time uni, wife, music (I play guitar) friends, family, inlaws (who I like), this blog, churchy type stuff which is now in three parts and I'm about to be a Dad. Others might be able to deal wit this quite adequately but for me it just seems too much. Reflecting I've discovered 4 things.

1. I can't work with my feelings very well. I work well with behaviours and ideas but not so well with feelings. I just push them down in to tiny little ball and hope they don't spring back. However they always do.

2. I find people draining. Even people I like I find draining and after a while I want to run and hide in my cave where I can build guitar pedals or do gardening. Lately this cave period is taking up more and more time.

3. I'd like to change the world and make it a better place (in some even small way) but I'm just not sure I have the stamina or energy to do that.

4. I've realised that I haven't ever really built on anything that I've done in the past. Be that Music, Youth Ministry, Church consultancy, Expressing Christianity in a new and fresh way or pretty much anything. These are all things that I do well but I don't have people asking me "hey are you still doing church consultancy type work" or "are you still doing presentations about Xy?" Even though every year since doing those presentations I have had kids come up to me and tell me what they were about some 5 years after I'd made the presentation. It seems that every three years or so I just go in a completely different direction almost completely unrelated to where I was. This is frustrating and I'd like to work out why this has happened or why I have let it happen.

So as a result I'm dropping out of my uni course and I'm just going to sit do some self reflection for a while.

What I think about Faith and Street Work

As I previously posted I had a bit of a misunderstanding with Father Bob

For those of you new to this blog here is some background:
1) I call myself a Christian (Xn for short in this blog). But that probably doesn’t mean what you think it means. See possibly here, perhaps here and maybe here for example.
2) I categorically don’t believe that helping people in anyway should be used as a vehicle for telling people what you believe. I believe that helping the poor is in and of itself is what Xns are called to do (see Matt 25:34-36 if you’re the kind of person who likes to look at those kind of things. Also I lampooned how I think many Xns wish this verse would read here)
3) I really like Father Bob and in a previous post I described as my new hero.

I think there were basically three comments I made that Father Bob took the wrong way. I have outlined what I said what I think Father Bob thought I meant and what I meant but didn’t explain to well.

Problem comment 1

Really enjoy the questions to Bob about how he thinks we might solve some of the problems in the world (and how his faith informs that)?

When reading this I think Father Bob thought I was saying that faith is the base from which we do street work.

What I think: Ok this might be a bit lengthy. Firstly my aim in life above anything else is to pursue truth. What is true and what is right. So I want to pursue what is right about God and what is not. What is right about how we live and what is not (granted that to some extent this maybe relative Eg: on one hand “the white stripes” may or may not be a great band but on the other hand murder is wrong). At the moment with 33 years of searching I hold the beliefs that I currently hold (this blog representing a small slice of some of those beliefs) as a result of this ongoing search for truth about God and life. I am always wanting to have these beliefs challenged because I think that is the only way I will grow as a person. What’s more, I want to have my beliefs and ideas challenged by people I respect. So this is why I want to know what motivates Father Bob (someone who I respect). Including how is faith motivates him to do what he does and why I don’t really want to know what Slobodan Milošević (someone I don’t respect) thinks about treating other people.

Problem comment 2

“whoever is not against you is for you” ;).

Listening to Podcast 19 I think Father Bob thought I was saying that he (and others) should work with preachy type Xns because they are not against the work he is doing

What I think: This comment was a quote of Jesus from the book of Luke. Luke 9:50 to be exact. I stupidly assumed that Bob would instantly spot it as such. None the less Jesus says this when the disciples want Jesus to tell off some people who are casting out demons in his name. Now I know that’s not something you see on your average street corner today but it was certainly something a bit more common in Jesus day when, I suspect there were a few more unknowns about how things worked. (An example might be the disciples and a crowd mistaking what we all now would recognise as an epileptic fit as (see Mark 9:17-29)). So, perhaps rather than reading it as casting out a demon for the sake of this argument it’s probably sufficient enough to say that there was someone who was doing something good to help people and he was not part of the group of the disciples (the Xn religious establishment if you like). My reading is that by Jesus saying “whoever is not against you is for you” he is saying it doesn’t matter if you are part of the right religion or group or not. It is what you do that is most important. In fact in Matt 25:37-40 the bit straight after the passage I referred to earlier we have Jesus welcoming people into the kingdom of heaven who have no Xn religious allegiance what so ever. They have only done what is right – help the poor. So I’d say anyone does this kind of stuff it makes them in with God, and those people who ignore this kind of stuff to do say evangelism are not in with God. So with this in mind I’d say that to be preachy is to not be Xn. In podcast 19 Father Bob said that he would tell people what he believed if he had a gun to his head. I think that this is a great image for what I think about telling people what you believe. That is, I think I might have something worth believing in and therefore worth sharing with others only if what I believe causes me to act in such a positive way that people around me, metaphorically, hold a gun to my head and ask me what I believe. What is more I’d only share it when they ask in that gun to the head style. That is if someone asks me why I helpt someone I wouldn’t take it as a licence to launch into a diatribe about what I believe, because I know that’s not what they want. I might answer in the same way that I’d answer a friend at school asking me if I liked a girl I had a crush on at school. If I felt I trusted them I’d give them little bits at a time until they stopped asking. Anything less than that and I’m an annoying Amway salesman selling ice to Eskimo’s.

Problem comment 3

many of the helping agencies are faith based to some extent.

I think father Bob may have seen this as a further endorsement of the idea that faith comes first and then helping.

What I think: The fact that many of the helping agencies are faith based is something important to look at. What people believe has a big impact on how they act. For example according to the National Church Life Survey church going people tend to do more volunteering than non church going people. What the exact motivation for this is is another question. Belief affecting action doesn’t just go for church going people others might help because they won’t someone to change the way they live (eg: stop using a drug that is debilitating them). We all have motivations for what we do and I think that it is important we are fully open and honest about this. We need to be to work out if we will actually be a help to people. For example I have met people who have said their motivation for doing street work is to meet people in need and help them. This all sounds well meaning but often I have seen them meet a drug addict who’s addiction is causing themselves a lot of damage, they have correctly identified the drug addiction as the cause of the problems but the addict has rejected their help and the helper walks away feeling like the exercise was a waste of time. (A further investigation of the why this person wanted to help might have revealed that really they just wanted people to heed their advice) I say this to illustrate that all people have a motivation to do what they do and often it comes from a great place but we need to be aware of what that is, as often what people want and need is not what we were hoping to give them. This is also something that people of any faith need to look at particularly for those in more conservative or evangelical Xn churches as I think that declining numbers in churches has led to a push to preach the message at every opportunity (so to speak). Many have been turned away precisely because of this. Most people don’t want to listen to let alone become an Amway salesperson no matter how much they enjoy the product. I have met many people in these kind of churches who have good hearts and who I think have been mislead as too what living like a Xn looks like. I would love for people like this to hear a bit of how Father Bob’s faith informs how he lives, and hence the reason for asking Father Bob how his faith informs what he does. I think this would lead to not only and most importantly more people loving other people but would actually lead to more people being interested in what these people believe.

In conclusion I don’t want to have an agenda to push I want to have truth to seek. I want to learn from all who I can. I am happy to tell other people what I know, knowing all the time that I will probably learn more from them than they from me.

Also please note the following...

1) Any of the comments I have made on this and other blogs were purely my own views and not in anyway representative of the views of the organisation Drug ARM.

2) The link on the Father Bob blog is to the head office in Queensland for whom I do not work.

I have asked for the reference to Drug ARM to be removed from the Father Bob Blog but it hasn't been.

I will post again soon particularly after having resolved not to post comments on other people’s blogs and in e-groups for a while.

Peace and Grace to you all.

Have I found the limit of the emerging church?

Someone from the emerging church thing that I'm a part of has mentioned a few different examples of groups (churches) doing stuff similar to what we'd like to do. The Red Network was one example and Small Boat Big Sea is another. Both cool network / church things I'd like to be involved in. Now here is the limit I fear that I've found. Are there any groups like these that don't involve a paid worker? Can an emerging church emerge to something more than an wobbly underground gathering without a paid worker?

Have I found the limit of the web?

I think almost every e-forum, e-group or blog comments section that I have ever taken a part of I have been misunderstood, and have had someone go to great lengths to passionately argue against something that they think I have said but that I have not. Now I'm the first to admit that I am not the most articulate person in the world but I did manage to get a university education which involved lots of writing so there must be lots of web using people at least as inarticulate as me. The problem with web based discussions is that (1) you cannot put any emotion into what you write, as what you write is almost always very short (unlike an essay). So things written in jest, as self deprecation or sarcastically get missed (2) If people don't know you personally they can often put you into a box be that agnostic or extreme fundamentalist. I've been in both and I don't think I belong to either. What's more every time I read something written by a particular person it just sounds really aggressive and he's one of the most peaceful people I know!

So, I've decided to take a break from commenting on the web (apart from this blog).

Naomi Wolf

There was a period in my life where I'd give every girl I new having a 21st Naomi Wolf's "Beauty Myth". Now it seems that Naomi has encountered Jesus in some profound way. (See this Sunday herald article http://www.sundayherald.com/53663) Can't wait to hear what comes of this.