Wintery Knight has a great post about an unfortunate development amongst young people in evangelical circles, today. Unfortunate, because it basically amounts to surrender and capitulation, and going along with the zeitgeist…
And Laura Grace Robins has an excellent post about one St. Louis church’s appalling enabling of young evangelical women’s princess fantasies… As if Disney wasn’t bad enough on its own; now churches are promoting such a mentality.
When will the vast majority of evangelicals wake up? Alas, they seem content to retreat from the real world, into a dream-world of fairy-tales and fantasies…
Patriactionary 
Bwana Simba
June 11, 2012 at 9:38 pm
Holy shit. Those princess videos. I believe 1 of the churches in my town and campus crusade for christ played those at a seminar for the ladies. There are pictures of the ladies all with princess banners wrapped around them on facebook. Although the other churches and church group here my college town don’t have a quite that bad they do have princess mentalities and princess books like redeeming love.
Will S.
June 11, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Oh yeah? IOW, different churches have put on this program, eh? Not surprising… Sad, but not surprising…
zhai2nan2
June 12, 2012 at 2:15 am
I was hoping the links would point to a vast influx of Christians to Dungeons & Dragons.
Man, was I disappointed.
Then again, when the real world sucks badly, most people will flock to the most accessible forms of escapism.
infowarrior1
June 12, 2012 at 3:38 am
OMG my eyes and ears.
Will S.
June 12, 2012 at 8:21 am
@ zhai2nan2: Ha! 🙂
@ infowarrior1: Those videos were painful, weren’t they?
Will S.
June 12, 2012 at 8:39 am
Here’s a pitch-perfect parody of a modern evangelical megachurch service:
Sunshine
June 12, 2012 at 4:52 pm
The church service parody…too funny! It’s missing is the interpretive dance, though.
Will S.
June 12, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Oh yes! 🙂
Elspeth
June 13, 2012 at 6:56 am
I for one, am thinking that retreating from the culture wars may not be a bad idea.
However, the princess videos were revolting. Who comes up with this stuff???
Will S.
June 13, 2012 at 8:55 am
@ Elspeth: How do you envision retreat from the culture wars? Here’s what one young person in the original story had to say:
That sounds more like surrendering, even joining the opposite side OF the culture war, than just not participating, to my ears.
Now, for my part, I have said here several times, I see voting today as pointless. But that doesn’t mean I’m not political, of course, or I wouldn’t be blogging here. 🙂
I think we have a duty to speak out against evil, and can still be quite effective at the local level, e.g. confronting local Wars on Christmas, i.e. bans on nativity scenes in the town square; or rallying people to ban musicians who promote lasciviousness from performing in concert in our cities, etc.
As for the princess videos, they were made by, or at the instigation of, one Pastor Nicole Crank; she came up with that weekend program for women, at her church. This is what happens when women get authority in churches…
Elspeth
June 13, 2012 at 9:48 am
Actually Will I have a post on the issue the church and the culture war. It’ll likely be on Breathing Grace later this week.
I wish I could take credit for the insightful thoughts that inspired the post, but that will have to go to my pastor who broached the issue on Sunday.
Never heard of Nicole Crank, and I am frankly not interested in anything she has to say if this is her idea of encouraging women to be more like Christ.
Will S.
June 13, 2012 at 9:51 am
I look forward to your post, Elspeth!
I hadn’t heard of her before, either; she’s co-pastor, along with her hubby, of a church in St. Louis. But yeah, I don’t intend to pay her any more attention, either.
electricangel1978
June 13, 2012 at 10:07 am
Wow! Entitled overweight chix in those princess videos. Gluttony really does travel as the partner of Lust.
Will S.
June 13, 2012 at 10:09 am
Isn’t it amusing, as well as pathetic, the inflated sense of self-worth that accompanies so many of those with inflated bodies? I suppose it’s due to the connectedness of body and soul – fat body, fat pride. 😉
SunshineMary
June 13, 2012 at 10:44 am
I have noticed that husband/wife pastor teams tend to get up to all kinds of mischief. The Bible clearly prohibits female pastors. It is amazing to me that people wish to attend churches where you go into it knowing that they don’t follow the Bible.
electricangel1978
June 13, 2012 at 1:00 pm
@Will,
That just might be an aphorism of the manosphere! “An inflated sense of self-worth accompanies so many with inflated bodies. It reveals the connectedness of body and soul – fat body, fat pride.”
Will S.
June 13, 2012 at 1:40 pm
@ Sunshine: Such abominations are indeed awful; no wonder such wickedness and insanity result…
@ EA: Ha! Thanks! Actually, I think it’d go best in our own Patriaphorisms, which is where I’ll put it; best to leave the aphorisms of the manosphere to just those from others, since we already toot our own horns at the Patriaphorisms link. 🙂
samsonsjawbone
June 16, 2012 at 9:42 am
I hardly ever believe these “young people today…” articles anymore. Everyone ought to know by now that “young people” change their minds as they get older.
On the culture wars: there’s no way the church should retreat from them. Becoming politicized saved the church, and in contrast to what many of these “young people” seem to believe, a faith that stands for something will last much longer than one that stands for nothing.
samsonsjawbone
June 16, 2012 at 9:46 am
The Spectator article is pretty good, by the way. Some of those old “culture wars” show exactly why the homogamy question isn’t going away: mainstream “scientific” evolution is as questionable as ever. Liquor stores are ubiquitous, but hardly a church anywhere approves of drunkenness. Etc.
Will S.
June 16, 2012 at 8:28 pm
@ Samson: Indeed, people do change as they get older…
I also agree, we ought not to retreat from the culture wars. We have a duty to fight; we’re called to it. Whether or not we get directly involved in voting or politics, we still have to stand for what is right, and oppose what is wrong, as we feel Spirit-led / driven, by our faith’s imperatives.
samsonsjawbone
June 16, 2012 at 10:28 pm
We have a duty to fight; we’re called to it. Whether or not we get directly involved in voting or politics, we still have to stand for what is right, and oppose what is wrong, as we feel Spirit-led / driven, by our faith’s imperatives.
And the point is not necessarily to win, by the way. That would be nice, but it’s secondary. The main point is to be a witness to the truth, so that no one may say, “Uh, gee, I didn’t know!”
Will S.
June 17, 2012 at 12:07 am
Exactly, Samson.