Tuesday, November 4, 2014

The Misadventures of the Modern Day Christian Girl

Sometimes I get so tired of hearing about how "messed up" my generation is. It's literally all I hear people talk about. And every once in a while, I have to stop myself from doing the same. I find it very funny how some adults, (not all of course) just talk badly about today's teens like its their job. It makes no sense to me. I mean think about it; all adults have been teenagers before. They've had rebellious phases, missed curfew, or failed a math test. I wish they would just remember those times and be able to relate and guide us from their experiences. I mean,  we've all made mistakes. We're only human.  And we learn from our mistakes. We all go through those crazy years of being a know-it-all tween, and we all go through those weird, fun, and slightly uncomfortable teenage years. And we all have had different experiences. And in this blog post, I will tell you about my experiences not just as a normal teenage girl, but as a Christian girl.

*cool, upbeat, and totally epic theme music*

These are the Misadventures of the Modern Day Christian Girl

*music fades out because its about to get serious*

"Hello. My name is Gabrielle. I'm 16 years old, I love listening to rock music and I'm home schooled. Oh and did I mention? I'm a Christian, too."

I can only imagine the kind of reaction I would get if I introduced myself like this. There are so many questions; if you're Christian, why do you listen to rock music? There's the whole home schooled questionnaire. And of course, the facial expression will read, "gasp, not another crazy Christian. She's going to pull out her bible on me or something. oh no, someone save me."

When that's not even who I am.

Let me just say this; I was raised reading the word of God, watching Carmen videos, listening to mostly K Love,  (i know none of my friends know what the heck that is. guys, its a radio station) and making daily visits to Family Christian Stores. Actually, looking back, the fact that I felt so close to God, was probably the best part of my childhood. That, and PBS Kids.

Then came middle school (dun dun dun) and my life seemed to get worse then. I was trying so hard to be someone that I just wasn't. And somewhere along the way, I lost my way, so to speak. I stopped listening to K Love, I stopped praying all the time. Instead, I started listening to pop radio stations that played songs with sexual lyrics. Which WAS highly inappropriate and life scarring for a 11, 12 year old Christian girl, let me tell you. Of course, neither one of my parents knew I was listening to different music, at first. I was actually talking to my mom about it the other day, and she said that she was "horrified."

Well alright, Mom.

 I can handle different lyrics and meanings now, since I'm older. So yes, I listen to rock music. I love it, it's entertaining, and it's just normal since I'm a teenager. 9 out of 10 teens listen to rock music, just in case you didn't know. It's just so fun. And a lot of the time, it's very easy to relate to.

So how am I doing today religiously? Well to be quite frank with you, that's not for you to know. It's between God and me. That's just how it works.


I'm not really your average Christian girl. I drifted away from everything religious for a long while. Until one day, I realized; I need God more than ever in this world we live in. God knows, its getting pretty insane down here.

Most, or more like all of my friends or teens I know are Atheists. I didn't really mind, until one girl I know said something against Christians. My friends were having a discussion about homosexuals, and how awful Christians have been to them. This one girl, Anne, (as if im going to use her real name) said,
"Christians literally need to burn in hell."

Awkward.

Now, these "friends" of mine had no idea that I was not one of them. I allowed them to continue expressing how they feel about Christians for a while.

And then finally, one day I say, "You guys know I'm a Christian, right?"

They were sooo embarrassed.

Then of course after that, I discovered that there is a Christian girl questionnaire. It includes questions like, "You're a Christian, so you hate gay people right?" or stuff like, "We're doing something Sunday, but you'll be in church so we assumed you couldn't go." like wow. I just can't even sometimes.


Even though I don't discriminate against religion, race, gender, or anything like that when it comes to my friendships, I soon began to long for friends who shared the same beliefs as me. I met these Christian girls who were actually around my age, thank goodness. Everything was alright at first, until I brought up a personal problem I was facing. I told one of the girls my problem. I told her that I liked two guys at the same time, and I wasn't sure which one I should go for. Do you know what she said to me? She told me that God does not think it is healthy for me to be thinking about boys at my age. And I was 15 at the time. Like what? Then why did He give me these NATURAL teenage feelings? Explain that to me. And get this, while this girl was telling how "unhealthy" it was for me to be liking boys, she was preparing to go out on a DATE.  Huh, that sure is strange...

Then we have the whole thing where they feel like its their responsibility to comfort me when they find out that my parents separated. If I'm not broken down and bawling my eyes out saying that I am not okay, then there is literally no need for you to try and give me "advice" or give me random hugs and say "I'm so sorry. I still have both my parents living with me."



 Don't treat me like a charity case, because you have just as many flaws as I do.



And the final and most prevalent topic: homosexuals. Boy, this sure is an interesting thing to talk about. Especially since I'm a Christian, everyone just assumes I hate gays.



I remember when I told one of my very best friends about my religion. She looked so threatened, at first. You know, she gave me that whole facial expression. Like, "oh no she's going to judge me and hit me in the head with a bible." then she asked me this question. At first, I thought, why is she asking me this? She asked me, "So do you hate gay people?" Literally, she said it in the most sweetest voice, like she was hoping I wasn't crazy or something. I told her that of course I didn't. And why should I?


I'm not the kind of girl to just hate someone based on their race, religion, origin, sexual orientation, whatever. I honestly like everyone, unless they try to hurt me, my friends, or family. If I have a friend that just decides to come out to me about their sexuality, I'm not going to stop being their friend just because of that. I'm not going to throw you a "yay you're gay!" party. But I totally accept you, and treat you like all my other friends. And on behalf of all the Christians, I would like to apologize for all the horrible things people have had to go through because of their sexuality. Just because some may be uncomfortable with it, doesn't mean they have to make others feel awful. Honestly, I used to not really have any feeling towards the matter, but it's really getting out of control.

And Christians, I know I might get some hate for this, but you might want to think before sending me a nasty message or something. 'Cause first off, that's cyber bullying. Second, please hear me out:





A lot of us are doing the whole Christian thing wrong. Instead of throwing stones at someone for something as simple as not going to church every Sunday, being gay, or anything else, think first. Think, is this really going to make anyone come back to your church or except Jesus into their hearts? We're supposed to be shining God's love on the world. We're supposed to be lights in darkness, not judgment people. God is the only one who should be judging. I mean, if you think about it, we're so imperfect. All of us. No matter what kind of car you drive, no matter what degree you may have, we're always going to be just cute, little silly,  mistake making, human beings. And for some reason, God loves us anyway. Even the ones who haven't found him yet. Weird, I don't even love me half the time. But He loves me all the time.



I really do wish with all my heart, that Christians would just think before they act on something. I mean, really. Just because you go to church, read your bible, and pray, doesn't mean that you have the right to look down on the people who don't. Instead, help them see how much better life would be if they were to do these things. Show them love, not hate. If you really think about it, Jesus was out there with the sinners; not in the church. He was out there with all the crazy people who were doing crazy things. He was out there with the people who no one else wanted to be bothered with. And what did He do? He showed them love. So all I'm saying is, we could do better. Okay, I feel like this has been a team meeting or something. I hope to see some improvements out there on the field. Alright, that was a lame joke, I don't know why I wrote that.

So now you have a little taste of what it's like to be like me in today's world. I really hope that someone out there someplace got something out of this post. No matter if that someone is a Christian, Atheist, Buddhist, Black,White, Asian, Hispanic, old, young, whatever.

This has been the Misadventures of the Modern Day Christian Girl

*epic theme music*