#LifeWithWife and Christianity

Before I start this post....I'm going to give you a warning. I'm EXTREMELY to the point and direct...blunt is a good word. I tell it like it is. If you are easily offended I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE you to turn away from this post and this blog and its entirety. Like ENTIRE. WEBSITE. I say what I say because frankly, I can and I have that right but its also an opinion. SouthPark of all shows said it best. "Whatever, Whatever, I do what I want." Tracey also encourages us to remember "Whate'er.......just whate'er." So here we go, doing what I want. 


{sn: you've been warned so if you get offended be mad at yourself, not me}

OK! so today I came across this article on someone else's blog who like me, is a wife and a woman and can say whatever she wants to say because she can do whate'er. The title of the article was called Magic Mike Who? and it was her take on what she thought of the movie and what it means to society and how it distorts good Christian views of good Christian men. *whew* that's a lot to tackle in a blog post but I'll admit, it was done fairly decently. The one point I would absolutely 100% agree with hands-down is the fact that if the situation was reversed and it was men who were going on "guy's night out" to watch a movie about women stripping to their panties, the wives would be LESS than thrilled about the scenario. But honestly? Women have a double standard. Whether any woman wants to ever admit it or not, we find it ok to see a movie about a man stripping and dancing but if my husband wanted to go see a movie about a woman stripping the answer would be not only "HELL naw" but "have you lost your damn mind??". I'll admit, when the preview came out, I was intrigued. I mean come on. This CHANNING.TATUM. we're talking about here. Do you see the image above? He's gorgeous. I'll admit, he's one of my movie star crushes. And my husband has admitted to me that Channing Tatum is a decent looking dude. Although he also admitted that his man crush is Robert Irvine because he's such a badass ;-)


OK! So Channing Tatum is a stripper. Clearly from the photo above, this is not hard to believe. But seriously, who cares? Ok so they made a movie about it. They also made Showgirls and Striptease too. This is the first woman focused movie about strippers. I know that women were up in arms about it b/c I remember watching it on the news as a kid. Let's face it people, there is an ENTIRE society of women and men who are strippers for a living. Is it the most honorable and glorified job to have? Certainly not. I can't imagine little girls and boys running around the playground at camp shouting "I wanna be a stripper when I grow up". What people fail to realize is that strippers do it because they have no other real option. Or if they do have other options, they feel as though they don't because they are so psychologically and physically broken inside that they can't function and are disparately seeking attention the only way they know how. People who criticize this kind of stuff have NO (read ZERO) idea what its like to be abused and hated on by someone who's supposed to love you. Yes, in the ideal world women should be cherished by amazing men. But the reality of life is that, that shit doesn't always happen. Prime Example: a young girl, from a middle class family, grows up with loving parents who support her musical talents and gifts and give her an amazing life. She hooks up with a boy in highschool who is bad news and she winds up in a horrible 9-year abusive relationship with this man who constantly cheats on her, hits her, and tells her she is no good. This girl could be the one you are now so carelessly judging. 


I've gotten concerned and frankly disgusted at the way that some people who shout the Bible from the rooftops have acted. I mean, I'm a Christian. I believe in God and that Jesus died for my sins. I follow Biblical principles in my marriage. I believe that my husband is the head of my household but I don't believe that means that he is the dictator of it. We're equal. Eve was created from Adam's rib for crying out loud. She's apart of him. Flesh from flesh and bone from bone. There are things that men do better than women and vice versa. What's wrong with a little gender equality while still being apart of a Biblical marriage. Or as my husband likes to say "a Bible-y marriage". I think its awesome to finally have a man who cares about my opinion. Does this make him LESS of a Christian husband? Nay, I say. 


I know that some people that will read this will wonder how exactly I can call myself a Christian. I guess because I'm so "bold and brassy" (two extremely judgmental words used by a Pastor of a local church during my pre-martial counseling and yet had no idea that not only was my husband adopted but that he in fact had an older brother). What scares me the most is that people are afraid of me and yet not afraid of those who use the Bible to brainwash people into thinking that what they say is the ultimate truth about God's word and his teachings. I learned the hard way, read the Bible yourself after ever sermon. Read what the pastor spoke about and the verses he/she referenced. I learned the hard way that I was taking what these people were telling me in church as factual truth. I know that they probably didn't do this on purpose. They perhaps sincerely want to educate others about God and the Bible and becoming a Christian. Which is of course a worthy cause. But berating them, not caring about them, not listening to them, and other things will get churches into trouble one day and will be a problem for those who are truly lost and need guidance. The point isn't to drive people away from God, the people who are lost need God NOW. 


I guess I have a deep seeded feeling for this because I am in fact, mercy driven. Having the spiritual gift of mercy in the church means that I have compassion for others and a deep empathy for those around me. It also means that I am easily offended because mercy in the natural world to me means "you're extra sensitive". As if being a woman isn't enough, I'm blessed with mercy talents and extra emotions. So I can cry at the drop of a dime, or I can cuss you out. Either way, its emotional and dramatic. Would I change it? Hell no. It's the way I am. And I love it.


Stay tuned......my blog post about the Fifty Shades of Grey book series is coming up next!