I Will Never Understand…
…how people raised in Christian homes take that heritage and throw it away.
Today I was listening to Janet Parshall’s America and she had on a former porn star who I will not name because I don’t want to give her publicity. However, what I will say is that the MAJORITY of her testimony was all about her stupid and deviant mistakes.
I will never ever understand how someone raised in a godly home - although there is no perfect Christian home - willingly chooses to deny Christ, make very stupid choices that ultimately cause their own pain.
In this woman’s testimony Janet lauded her testimony and declared that “God raised her up for such a time as this.” Well, I wonder what her life would’ve been like if she didn’t have this spectacular testimony of becoming a prostitute, having numerous children out of wedlock, contracting STD’s, and starring in numerous porn movies. To say that that was God’s plan for her so that she could have “a ministry” now is ludicrous….and I’m not saying Janet said that, but it’s implied.
My point is that I get so sick and tired of hearing these self made testimonies that really have nothing to do with Christ, but are more about the persons idiotic mistakes. In other words, it seems like the testimonies that get glorified and are made great in the public eye, are those where the person was just plain stupid and disobedient towards God. They willingly spit in His face, deny all they were taught and have to learn the hard way.
What would her life had looked like if she hadn’t been so stupid with her choices? How could God have used her if she didn’t become a prostitute, get addicted to drugs etc? Why glorify that?
So the testimony is that “I saw the light and God healed me.” Yes, this is good - God healed you.
My point however is that God wouldn’t have had to heal you if you were obedient in the first place. Imagine a world where Christians raised with a godly heritage actually lived their lives as God intended. Imagine THAT testimony.
Who says that one has to go through such trauma to be used of God in order to glorify God’s healing and love.
What would her life had looked like if she hadn’t been so stupid with her choices? How could God have used her if she didn’t become a prostitute, get addicted to drugs etc? Why glorify that?
Her life would have looked just like the rest of the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club.
Let’s see…if she had been a member of the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club, she could have served tea at the leadies luncheon. She could have organized the golf tournament. She could have led a women’s study group.
But she’s not a member of the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club. She can look at the users and abusers - she can look them right straight in the eye and say, “God helped me conquer what you have not conquered.”
She can look a prostitute straight in the eye and tell her, I was where you are now. God rescued me and he can rescue you, too.”
I lived for years in the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club. I served tea, I got all nervous at feeding at the local mission (Lord, thank you that I am not like them). I took the shopping trips, went to the “fashion show” fundraisers, etc.
Then - I wasn’t in the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club anymore.
I can look another person in the eye and tell them, “you shouldn’t do that - I know the spiritual price that you will pay if you do that.”
A good friend recently confessed that she had had an abortion (just before I knew her). She had not told anybody else - just me.
She told me because she know of my time away from the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club. She told me because she knew I understand spiritual prices to be paid.
She knows that I extend much grace, because I have received much grace.
I know that before I left the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club, I was not graceful to those who were not “in the club”.
Now, I have no desire to be in the club. I strive to be right with God, but I’m not going to join the club that says there is a second class citizen in the family of God - and ex-porn stars (among others) are part of that second class.
In a much smaller way, I intentionally take part in the second class on purpose. I am a widow - there is no sin in my return to singleness. But I don’t advertise that. With two teenagers, most people assume that I’m divorced - and they treat me accordingly.
I’m not part of the “I’ve lived a better life than you” club - and that’s ok with me.
While I appreciate your thoughts, I think you’ve missed the point of my rant. It’s not about living a better life or being apart of a false club of people who don’t have problems. It’s about throwing away an upbringing that she was given as a gift and then glorying in the fact that she became a slut, hurt herself and made stupid choices.
God cleans that up, and of course that’s what He does and He did it for her. But imagine just imagine how much better a testimony she could’ve had if she had just obeyed Him in the first place, by not only honoring her parents, but doing what He told her to. That’s my point.
Some of us were given a very raw deal in life and didn’t get the benefit of that blessing. Some of us had a lot of things happen to us because of other’s sin and evil and not because we did anything to deserve abuse, and we did the right thing and obeyed God and watched Him heal us because our parents or whoever the abusers were were evilminded.
This woman did it to herself - she had no one to blame but herself. To me, that’s just plain stupid. She deserves her STD’s. She deserves the hardships of single parenthood and she deserves every other thing that comes with her stupid choices, and to say that God is happy with her stupid choices and chooses to use her now for a ministry is insane.
She’s still glorying in her past sin and using it to give glory to herself because she was so stupid in the first place.
People like Twila Paris are my heroes. She’s a woman who had a great heritage given to her, and she used it to glorify God by living a great life - and she didn’t need to do something stupid that caused harm to herself, or others in order to be used of God. That is my point, and it’s a total shame this former prostitute did what she did to herself and continues to promote herself that way. It makes me sick.
your language tells how you feel about her (she’s redeemed, right?) she’s repented, God has forgiven her - now - will you? (sounds like NOT)
On the other hand, the only place that you even infer that she had a Christian upbringing is in your opening sentence. Other than that - I understand that you’re sick of the lost getting redeemed and then telling others what they were rescued from
I thank my God that He forgives.
“…he who has been forgiven little loves little.”
This isn’t an issue of me forgiving her, and you still apparently don’t understand my point, but your judgement of me is interesting. Guess you need to learn to forgive a little yourself don’t ya.
You didn’t get my last point, “didn’t ya”?
You haven’t sinned against me - I have nothing to forgive you for.
This woman (you didn’t give her name, but did name her “a slut”.
You also said that “she deserves” what she got. I’m assuming that when you go to your knees each night you ask God for what you deserve. Or do you ask for grace and mercy?
Unless you ask for what you deserve each night, you might consider being when joyfully proclaiming that somebody else got what they deserved.
One of my best friends has a “past” and she spent a lot of time away from God because of those who look down on her, telling her that she was just getting what she deserved.
(shrugs) I won’t bother you again…I have a bit of a past as well…
Everyone has a past, but like I said before, you have missed the whole point I tried to make. Instead you made this all about you…interesting.
My original point was that this woman chose to willingly deny Christ and her Christian heritage to become a slut. She called herself that in her own testimony. It’s not about God redeeming her. That wasn’t my point.
Again, so you get it - my point was how could her life had been different if she didn’t spit on the heritage that she was given. She didn’t need to become a prostitute to have a ministry to prostitutes, and you saying she gets it because she was one, isn’t the issue.
Jesus didn’t have to become a sinner to get our sin.
However, if you have a past as you say, enter into therapy and deal with it and then move on and start listening to what people are saying instead of reading your garbage into it like you did with my post.
Sorry I’m back (a friend told me you had replied to me).
I found the radio archives. The “Christian upbringing” you are so offended that this woman turned away from included sexual abuse at 9, a family that quit church at age 8, a mother that allowed her to dress up as a playboy bunny (and took photos) and the fact that she was kicked out of the home at 18.
By the way - my “past” (excuse me - “garbage”) was as the forgiver. I was in a marriage with a husband who commited a grave sin (he was the son of a pastor and had a Christian education). I’m not open about the circumstances because our children don’t know the circumstances). Because my attitude was one that a person who left their “Christian upbringing” can still be forgiven, I stayed with him when many people were telling me to leave.
My past taught me that even those who walked away from God once are worth loving and sticking with.
My past taught me that an attitude of grace gets you way farther than a “you deserve what you get” attitude.
My “garbage” is mercy and grace. I don’t regret anything I did in my marriage. Mercy and grace, repeat as many times as needed. And then mercy and grace some more.
that’s all.
Thanks for replying again. I don’t doubt anything you say, but to me you don’t sound very merciful or graceful towards me. You’re coming off very angry just because I made my point.
And regardless of the circumstances of this woman I referred to, she was raised in a Christian home and willingly chose to leave God and His precepts, so like I said earlier, her STD’s etc she deserves. You reap what you sow.
We all do, don’t we?
I’m very sorry that I’m coming off angry, I’m simply trying to make the point of a merciful God that can use the vilest sinner.
He used a murderer to carry the Gospel, why not a whore?
But you don’t appear to think this woman deserves a ministry because of her (very) stupid choices. You don’t believe that God could choose to use this woman (you used the word “insane”)
I’m just reminded of two people in the Bible. One of them looked at the other and said, “Thank God I am not like him.” The other one beat his chest and cried, “Lord, have mercy on me.”
You reap what you sow. Remember the woman in the Bible (maybe just like the woman on the radio) who was forgiven much? She washed Jesus feet with her tears and her hair. Jesus said that those who are forgiven much, love much. Those who are forgiven little, love little.
Jesus used a prostitute (I know - insane) to make a point. The pharisee was horrified that Jesus would even let the whore touch Him.
Personally, I deserve hell. So does the woman on the radio. So do you. So does every human being. If we asked God to let us reap what we sow, hell would have a lot more inhabitants, because we’d all be there.
Blessing on you and yours.
I understand your point and don’t have any disagreement with it, but for some reason I’m not sure you get my point yet.
You may be unaware that I am a marriage, family and child therapist in my “other life”, so I work with people who have pasts like this woman. There is none perfect, no not one.
And I dont’ recall ever saying this woman shouldn’t have a ministry, I do recall saying that she didn’t have to become a slut to have a ministry to sluts.
I wonder though, what could her life had looked like if she didn’t deny Christ for a time, and do all those things. I think because I study the persecuted church daily I find excuses, stupidity and selfishness in American Christians more annoying then the average bear - and if you listened closely to the interview she did with Janet you will notice that Janet was the one who was bringing the conversation to Christ, not her. It was all about her, and what she did.
Like I said, I get sick of people like her being raised to positions of glory because there are faithful servants of Christ who do it right most of the time who deserve to be emulated.
We’ve all heard the drug, slut, addict stories. I would like to hear the faithful child stories once in awhile, which doesn’t mean that those who are faithful don’t sin, because we are all sinners, but you dont’ have to do drugs, be a whore, or do some vile action to have a ministry or testimony.
And I guess maybe that’s my issue because when I hear constant testimony from those saints being persecuted in other parts of the world, it makes American Christianity look pathetic.
(comment deleted due to a personal attack on my character)
Hey Stacy, I don’t know how I missed this post back on the 31st. But I understand your frustration.
It’s funny, my mind was on similar line yesterday and I read or heard something that answers in part the why a person raised in a Christian home can go off the deep end as it were.
I was thinking of PK kids mostly but the thought goes to other Christian homes too.
It could be that the focus in some Christian homes is on knowledge of the Bible and not the character traits we are supposed to have as those purchased by Christ.
Knowledge puffs up and leads to arrogance which leads to falling in sin.
If we would focus first upon the character traits of Christ at an early age and then get into the knowledge aspect secondarily I think Christians would find their children stronger in the faith.
Amen Hal. I agree and I’m beginning to see at this stage in my walk that our character is really the outpouring of applying God’s knowledge in our lives.
I know I might be late with this comment Stacy, but I do want to address this issue. I do not want to use my own understanding in this comment. I say that because the word of God lets us know: 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. (KJV) Prv.3: 5-7
So I try to take every thing I say from scripture when I am talking to another believer. It so easy for us to judge when we have never done anything stupid (as you so strongly put it) in our life or made a wrong choice but, here’s the real question are we really being honest by saying we haven’t. 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:(Rom.3: 10(KJV) and Rom.3: 23 Paul states: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Now I don’t want this to sound like a I know better than you speech but I do want this to bring some understanding because the title of this page is I will never understand and, I don’t know if its fair to say much with out understanding, for as we know: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
(KJV) Prv.4: 7
I encourage you to read these scriptures, and study them to get the understanding you are looking for. I know they will bless you also when you read Romans chapter 3 read it in its entirety if not the whole book so that you may receive the full understanding from Paul’s teaching. The Pharisees had the law and keep it but they still crucified JESUS. I also encourage you to read Luke chapter 15. There are many more things I could say but I leave you with this: Be blessed oh daughter of Zion and stay strong in the LORD and in His ways.