Christian Celebrities

Christian celebrities are a real inspiration to me. I think that it is really wonderful that there are many Christian celebrities in Hollywood and in the spotlight. Many are not in the mainstream, but they are still doing many things for God.

The celebrity that has touched my heart is Brian Littrell. He is an ex-Backstreet Boy. So, his band was not Christian, but he has turned down the opportunity to be on the cover of Rolling Stones magazine. The boys appeared in a very sexual fashion on the cover. Brian refused to be a part of this photo shoot. Time and again I have pondered Brian; something told me he was saved. I felt a certain connection to the artist- especially when I found that Brian has a heart problem. I remember hearing about surgery in the 90s. Brian now emerged into the Christian music industry with his talented vocals. He also founded Brian Littrell’s Healthy Heart Club for Kids. My favorite Backstreet Boy was the Christian I suspected he was. J

Another celebrity I adore is Kirsten Storms. All through middle and high school, I loved the movie Zenon: Girl of the 21^st Century. Kirsten Storms is a Christian; she was featured in Brio magazine in the late 90s.

Stacie Orrico is another interesting pop star. Switching over from the Christian music industry to the mainstream in hopes of ministering to nonbelievers, Stacie believed in making a difference to others. Interesting enough, fans bashed Stacie. They said she was a crossover, she was a hypocrite, and that she dressed immodestly. Reports of Stacie at Ashlee Simpson’s birthday party caused a ruckus on the message board as well. Stacie obviously stood her ground because she still released her second record bearing a mainstream label; making a total of 3 CDs. Stacie is an inspiring artist with a lot of talent to do a lot of good in the world. It makes me wonder though why her CD was not promoted more.

Other artists that have been inspiring are Martina McBride and Randy Travis. Both are awesome and talented singers.

Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains, Full House, and the Left Behind movies. It is truly inspiring how a celebrity can stay true to God while holding an acting career. Kirk was an atheist, but is now a Christian. He has several ministries, one of which is a camp for sick children and their families.

It is so wonderful how these celebrities are using their talents for good, instead of hiding behind a rock. I would love to see more Christian celebrities out there doing the work of God. There are countless Christian bands and singers, but they are hiding under a Christian music label and the world does not know what they are doing to make a difference.

Nudity in Manga

Where is the point where a person draws the line with nudity?

This has been a question among many anime/manga fans on the Christian Forums. But the question should be, “What is the context of the situation that the person losing clothes is in?” I believe that it is important to be able to discern whether or not something is appropriate based on the context of the situation.

Elfen Lied is one anime with a lot of nudity in it. The whole beginning of the first episode shows the main character, Lucy completely nude. She walks around a lab filled with men and women with white coats on, who aimed guns at her. Everywhere she walked, people just fell dead. Lucy is an alien, a violent alien captured by a science lab. She was naked because she had been chained to a wall, with no clothes worn.

Later, Lucy escapes the lab. She falls beneath a cliff, landing on a beach where she is rescued by two college students. Lucy is given a home, but she is no longer Lucy. She is a child-like alien known as Nyuu because it is the only thing she can say. Now, the series takes a new turn with the nudity, showing “Nyuu” in various states where she forgets or is trying to put on pants or a shirt.

Another example of “innocent” nudity is Chobits. This is series is a human-like computer who malfunctions. A college boy finds the computer, “Chii” and tries to revive her. It is about the love they start to feel for each other and how Chii learns simple things a computer should know. She learns to dress, how to speak and “shop”.

Like “Nyuu”, “Chii” must learn everything too. She cannot think for herself, because she does not even know how to think. Her feelings confuse her, and she must learn what they mean. The “nudity” in Chobits is there to remind the audience watching that Chii is a human computer that does not know that she should be wearing clothes. When her “master” goes to finds a shirt for her, Chii just sits there with a rather confused look on her face.

Of course, not all animes are innocent and bear confused characters that lack common sense. Other episodes of Chobits include wacky scenes where Chii is sent to buy panties.

In Midori no Hibi (Midori Days), Midori wakes up as the right hand of her crush- literally. Midori’s crush gets the bright idea to go to her house and try to merge her with her real body in hopes of Midori returning to normal. He lifts the covers to find her body naked. He puts “Midori” (what looks like his hand) on her body, but of course Midori’s mother walks into the room. I ask myself the question, “Why was Midori naked?”

Even though a show is not generally bad, there will be quirks and parts to dislike from it. I have come to the conclusion that anime is like that. I am not justifying nudity; I am merely saying that in come cases “innocent” ideas can be presented from it if it is done in the right way. The majority of it is just there for the sake of being there.

New Kind of Bible: Manga

As a Christian I am unsure of how I feel about a manga Bible. This was interesting to me as I was reading the manga and anime section of the Christian forums. I had completely never heard of this, but in Japan and Korea, manga is the big thing. Maybe it would spark an interest to some about the Lord.

My worry about this is the accuracy. It is Today’s New International Version, which makes me not want to read it. My denomination uses the New Kings James version of the Bible. Although I do have a magazine Bible that is the New Century Version, But the NKJV is the most accurate version of the Bible.

Different types of Bibles are sweeping the nation. People still want the book bounded original Bibles, but there is something new and exciting about reading a comic or a magazine that intrigues young people.

Is Fantasy Evil?

One of the things that have interested me as a young girl was always fantasy things to read and watch. My favorite movie was the Little Mermaid and Sabrina the Teenage Witch quickly became my favorite television show. Though I did not like Peter Pan, I did love Tinkerbell. It only made sense that I would still hold an interest for stories similar to these.

Of course as a child, my mother did not seem to mind my taste in movies and television, but my tastes expanded as I grew older. I embraced the world of fantasy, not even once asking myself if it was evil. I saw television for what it was- television. My mother saw it as the Devil.

I had begun watching Roswell- a show about teen aliens living on earth and Charmed, which is a show about three witches fighting evil. What harm do these shows bring to Christians? I believe there is no harm, however not all Christians believe the same way I do.

Shows such as Charmed and Roswell, are said to pull a Christian from God rather than bring he or she to God. Of course this makes me question whether people have a tendency to take television as reality. I see fantasy for what it is- fantasy.

Christian Music fading?

Christian music seems to be fading into the background, even to many Christians. Through the years,
and with the love of Christian music, I have noticed that many artists are disappearing to "do their own thing".
Don't get me wrong, these are passionate artists- but they are moving to dreams much much too big for a Christian
label's grip.

The first artist I would to mention is Stacie Orrico. Recognize this name from MTV? She is good, but she seems to be
keeping her profile low in the celebrity world. Her audience seems to be mostly Christian, but why are so many atheists
drawn to her message board? As a member of this forum, I can say that alot of members haven't even heard her name before.
Either way, Stacie quit Christian music to be a missionary in the real world of music. I remember a few years ago that
Stacie wanted to reach others who do not know about God. Being in a Christian contract meant that she would have to sing
what her label wanted her to because of guidelines. Also, how was she to reach others when an unbeliever is not likely
to pick up her CD in a Christian bookstore?

Another band to name is Everlife. They wanted to reach out and sing from their hearts. Restrictions from their record label drove them to land a spot with Disney. An already young audience, Everlife tore into the hearts of many more; but they managed to keep their old fans from the days of TRI. A strong leash from the record label seems to drving Christian music to death hole... but not the message.

Switchfoot was a Christian band who now wants to be called "a band that sings Christian music". Why? These bands want to remain "cool" enough for teens to pick up and listen to their music. It seems to work, as far as I know Switchfoot was rather popular a few years back. Although it cannot be dying out as much as one may seem to think. Former Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell just recorded a Christian album last year and Country star Randy Travis (my all time favorite country singer) recorded several albums.

This is the main problem with Christian music. It is isolated into its own genre and own place. Missionary artists like
Orrico only hit it big with a few songs and then fade out. Has Orrico lost her touch? Why don't I see promotions for her new album? I cannot answer any of those questions, but I can say that I do not know many Christian music fans- even in the small church world I had grown up in.

In high school, it was easier to see many other Christian music fans, mainly because alot of these kids were not allowed
to listen to much else. It's status? I would call it unpopular. Why is my music unpopular, you ask? Hmmm... I have been the odball, spending money on Christian Cds while my little sister spent hers in American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch. People around me don't fancy Christian music. I have just begun to figure out why. Christian music rarely has a message other than praise God.Teens and young adults my age tend to not like the lack of differing messages in the lyrics. My sister once told me, "It sounds stupid" But why? Really

Christian music offers every style I can think of. Audio Adrenaline offers fun and serious Rock N'Roll, Stacie Orrico has a few pop albums and a new R&B one. Randy Travis offers country, The Benjamin Gate and SuperChik offers a totally different style of their own.There are more artists I can't even begin to name out there, so why don't know very many fans? People label Christian music as unreal. Its not music to people. My sister has told me that its all about the same thing- God. Well, what excatly do people expect it to be about? The world calls for sex, love, money and drugs... in todays music, I only see a handful of artists who acually sing from the heart. People tend to not want God in their music... or in their lives. But to me, God is life.

Condemned for Shopping...

Valentine's Day this year was run over by a snow storm. A day later though, my boyfriend bought me an Amy Brown fairy. I was so excited as it was the one I had previously seen in the store. The store that he bought it from- Spencers. A store loathed by Christians.

My mother asked me where my boyfriend bought my fairy, and apparently it did not sit well with her that I had entered the store before. She had told me that I should not be supporting such a store because of the things that it sells. Of course, the other day I went into the store and bought a fairy to sit next to the gift my boyfriend bought me.

An online friend calls this compromise, though I simply call it shopping. Where else am I to buy my fairies?

I am not one to really care what a store sells as long as they have something to sell me that interests me. I do not care what they support, nor do I care much about who the people are unless I am there enough to get to know people. This doesn't make any sense to me. All I wanted to buy was a simple fairy collectible...
Condemned for shopping?

Christians and music

Music has always been a part of my life, but I really became attached to it somewhere around sixth grade when the Spice Girls were popular. Around that time, my mother hoped that she could draw me away from secular music by introducing Christian music to me. She was wrong- it only added to my collection of Cds. Later on, Christian music did become my favorite genre. I became bored and sickened by most secular bands- until Country. I became entranced by Country music like Reba, Randy Travis and Shania Twain. Recently, foreign music has become my favorite.
Over time, I have heard many views on music from Christians. It has boggled my mind in many ways, because it is not like music will make a person sin- at least not in my experience. One day while in youth group when I was in high school, a pastor once told me that a person should only listen to hymns and that any other music, including Christian music is evil because of the beat of it. My mouth dropped open and I argued with him because no one was going to tell me that something godly was evil. Many Christians tell me that secular music is wrong because we are not supposed to listen to anything that doesn't praise God. I believe that the song "Happy Birthday" falls into the category of "evil" then. Here's my philosophy on music: ask yourself these questions-
*Does this bring you away from God?
*Have you stopped praying?
*Is this all you think about?
*Are you still devoting time to God?
*Is this music making you sin?
If the answers to these questions are "No", then I would say that you are fine. I do
While I definitely believe that some Christians are right to think that secular music is evil; it is not evil for everyone. For some people, there is a certain lifestyle of sin that is associated with it to them. So listening to this music brings it back to them. For other people, it distracts them from God. Inherently, most secular music is not bad. Excessive swearing and sex in a song is not something that I would listen to though. Not only is this type of music explicit, but I tend to draw my line right there. I think that that ruins the music.

Suffering

This entry is much more like a devotional than anything else- including some lyrics I wrote today. My heart feels that I should post it in this way....
(I am aware that not all of you believe in God- but I hope that you will read this with an open heart and mind. If not, just for a fun read!:))

Suffering

A pixie wanders the forest haven all alone at dark
The flowers look faded and lonely
Gray in color
Tainted in the moonlight
The forest is spooky
Trees seem unfriendly
The sky is black and starless

All alone in fear
The fear of death and dying
Pixie shudders in her spirit
Dying with every step
She suffers fear and loss
Tears seem to move in
Pixie cannot fly
To a place filled with happiness

Unable to move from the dark forest
Pixie stares at the starless sky
Wondering why fear has swallowed her whole
She seems to shake inside herself
Fear and death consume her mind

Pixie wanders around, looking for God.
She asks, “Where are you?”
“Why are you taking the young away?”
Pixie asks before the tears take over again

The sunlight shows through the darkened trees
The flowers appear with color
The forest no longer looks spooky
Trees appear friendly
The sky is light blue
But this is a façade
Pixie flies with hurt and pain
The fear never seems to fade
Through all this time.


Many times we all put masks on our faces to cover hurt, pain, and fear. The "forest" around us is dark and lonely. Life just does not seem inviting, but instead of facing everything; we shut it out and pretend it is not there, while crying in the night. We don't stretch out our wings to the heaven and reach for God to pull us up. We forget that God is there for us.

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. (Psalm 61:1-4)

We forget that God is calling us into His arms, we forget that we do not have to bear the weight by ourselves and hide it like "Pixie" and the "forest" does in my poem.

You are my strong tower
Shelter over me, beautiful and mighty, everlasting king
You are my strong tower
Fortress when I’m weak
Your name is true and holy
And your face all I see
Your face is all I see
-Strong Tower (Kutless) Strong Tower Lyrics
I thought that these words were beautiful and encouraging. I thought of them when I chose the Bible verse. God is there, shelters us from the cold, dark forest. There is no need to run from His Tower, and hide the fact that sometimes we just need his comforting arms.

.......sometimes, i should take my own advice- perhaps thats why I felt the need to write this.

Angels

Most of the time, I've written songs about God and getting through things in life.

Recently, I have been thinking about camp. Heart Camp, it is a camp for kids with heart disease.

I wrote this song, Angels for a friend who passed on from a heart problem.

This is for Amanda....

Angels

You’re too tired to hold on any longer

You feel too weak from fighting your whole life

Ready to give in

To give up

It must be your time

To live among the angels

The porcelain angels by your bedside

They give you the peace as you lay there

Their beauty endures

While with love, you hold on

For someone special

A little longer you make life last

Afraid to leave loved ones behind

You’re aware of the pain they endure

To hold on with only alittle

You make a last wish

In hopes to see one last thing

Before you live among the angels

Things happen so fast

The very thing that beats inside you

Gives you the pain you’ve suffered

All of your life

It’s what makes you fight

But you want to give in

To live among the angels

Death is a difficult thing to deal with, especially when you return to camp, only to never see friends return. Nothing seems to make sense, why would God take a 21 year old girl away? Why would He let her suffer through a heart problem? Why was I born with one? It doesn't matter... what matters is my scar is a sign that I survived completely fine and my friends did not.
Some of them were not even my friends, either way, we were connected by the fact we all were at camp for the same reason. We have heart issues.
I used to deny my heart problem to feel better. Hey, i always assumed it didn't exist anymore anyways. Reality set in one day at a camp meeting. God really took away kids... young, only 17...
I could never understand it- but like a video; that day haunts me.
I feel better when i remember that Amanda is with God.... the Angels took her.

Sheltered Kids, Strict parents, Christian homes

Many times, Christian children are called "sheltered" because of their moral values and the fact they attend church on Sundays. So what does "sheltered" mean? Could it be that these kids do not want to take part in these things?
Christian families have expectations of the children. They are expected to behave in certain ways since they are taught moral values right out of the Bible. How do I know this? I was raised in moral Christian family. Of course though, we were by no means perfect. My mother was/is the Christian parent and we were raised to be like her. Would I call myself sheltered? In a way, I suppose you could say that I was sheltered. I only attended public school until right after sixth grade and even then, I did not fit in with my peers. It was the reason I left. My interest was music and finding cool new bands instead of learning to ride a bike and batting a ball. Yet, I was always labeled sheltered.
Now, I do not believe that my parents were as overbearing as I thought when I was a kid. My sister and I thought this because were not allowed to watch "bad" movies and listen to "bad" music.

Part 2 ----> "Because I said so"

Seriously, children really hate this answer. Why do parents always give it to their children? Are they just that lazy that they cannot come up with a answer for their kids? I deem this answer a horrible answer and it should never be given. I mean, I honestly think that a lot of kids would just respect their parents wishes if "because I said so" was not the answer to their question. Of course children should obey their parents, but this is overboard and not the answer at all. It is a cop out answer because a) there is no answer b) the parent does not want to think of one c) tis answer is good enough, the kid should accept it. I think children should be given some trust in terms receiving answers. I think that if they were "explained" not just "told" answers, they would be more likely to accept them. Of course, there will always be hard-headed children who could care less what their parents have to say.

Infant Baptism

Even Christians disagree on many topics regarding Christianity, and infant baptism is one of them. I strive to keep my beliefs as simple as possible, desperately trying not to get caught up in many things that tear Christians apart and cause arguments. Infant baptism is one of the beliefs that I disagree with.

I believe that since a baby cannot make decisions, they should not be baptized. An infant cannot choose to accept Christ yet, therefore what reason do the parents have to baptize them?

Why do I believe this?

Baptism is supposed to be a special day between only Christ and you. It is your proclaimation that you are a Christian. You are telling everyone in your church that you have become saved. Many people think that it is the act of being baptized that saves you. I, however do not believe this. As a born again believer, I believe that a person must accept the gift of salvation in order to be saved. If baptism were required, it would no longer be a gift. All a person has to do is take it. I believe that one should be baptized after being saved. This obviously does not include infants since they cannot make this decision.