first paragraph of this article is an awesome description of my experience at multiple churches here in southern california. made me laugh. would love to hear some other peoples thoughts on it. is this true for the midwest? b/c...it's been my experience out here. my guess is that it's more difficult for some of the bigger and more established churches to change... that's why church planting is much more popular now. you are able to create whatever atmosphere you want... and not have to deal with the more traditional peeps. though, tradition is now hip too. hmmm.... so interesting.

it's hard for me to sometimes believe the passion of people comes from a place of incredible love for the earth and people... and it's not just some form of retaliation of how they grew up. but, what is pure passion? do they vote for obama b/c they like his policies? or b/c he's not republican...? my inclination is that they began to explore the more "liberal" side b/c it went against what was stuffed down their throats... and they began to realize that issues aren't as cut and dry as they were made to believe in their more formative years. they began to see the rationale and importance of the "other side," and so swung in that direction... b/c it's slightly cool to rebel. especially in ways that are socially acceptable. it was all under the impression that, 'you're now enlightened...and your parents remain in the dark ages unable to see correctly or without the lens of conservatism." but, i just raise the question on if they are indeed really thinking for themselves now, or if they are just being reactive.

and .... perhaps the answer to that question doesn't really matter. and this is just where we find ourselves now.

i do however, embrace the idea of doing stuff for oneself. the article goes on to talk about how hipsters seem to be getting sucked into "worldly things." i would venture to offer that individuals are just being a lot more healthy with themselves. not putting undue burdens upon themselves and finding enjoyment in life. for me...i felt my experience in church was much more about guilt, and an especially big heap if one enjoyed anything outside of church (unless of course it was for the sake of evangelism). i'm not sure if that's what they were preaching EXACTLY....but that seems to be what a majority of the kids picked up on. lame. and it makes me angry. so much pressure to attend services...and so much concern if it was skipped for incredibly worldly reasons... 'serve God now, enjoy beauty later in heaven' seemed to be the message. and..i know i heard something quite similar come from the mouths of pastors i sat under. makes me cringe...and be incredibly grateful i escaped from some of that thinking.



i do wonder how this impacts the way we look at doing youth ministry and children's ministry. what does it look like to provide developmentally appropriate ways to teach children and kids about God without leaving them feeling like it's being stuffed down their throats? how can we let them discover God in their lives...w/o letting the fear overide us that they aren't going to give their lives to Christ? maybe people parent reactively too.

we are just all so reactive!

and this post...is just my reaction against past hurts i have from the church, other believers, and this state of california i currently live in.

if you are unaware...i have become to strongly dislike this state and all the culture within it. i cannot wait to move far away. silly me for marrying a native of this state....but at least he's a northern cal person. b/c they are definitely far superior to those that grew up in this socal place! i really do think california should be split into two states...yup yup.

that's my rant. now back to homework! shall i ever be out of school!? no. probably not.