#christian white girl

[the-expose-on-girls]

21st Century Pharisees

First of all, let me be clear that I normally do not feel comfortable criticizing people from a Biblical standpoint. "Let he who is without fault cast the first stone" and "judge not lest ye be judged" and all that. Honestly, I don't know how pastors can preach "thou shalt not:_____" every week without feeling awkward, as a fellow sinner, in front of their audience. Thus, the criticism this blog focuses on is mostly in a non-religious context. HOWEVER, there are sometimes religion-based situations that peeve me to such a degree that I cannot look the other way.

(Warning: long religious rant ahead, continue at your discretion. Happy scrolling, if this isn't your cup of tea.)

During this morning's daily social media check, I was greeted by a reel/story/short/tiktok from a girl I used to go to church with that made me cringe then sneer in disgust. She sat on the beige floor in her beige romper in front of a beige crib, praying in dramatic "altar call" style with eyes closed over diapers and placing them carefully into a beige baby bag. A wall of cursive text over this video described the laundry list of things she prayed for on her newborn daughter's behalf, while an equally long caption/description detailed the other inanimate household objects she held during her daily petitions. Super emotional live worship music played in the background, a subtle underscore to the performance of it all. It looked like she had spent at least half an hour putting this thing together, taking time to carefully set up her iphone before sitting down to pray and far longer than the activity itself typing out all the cliche buzzword phrases like "comfort in the Lord" and "place of worship".

This is not the first time this week I have cringed over local (small town) acquaintances putting a ton of time and effort into attempting influencer-level videos of their daily lives... just for friends and family to see. First it was a "get ready to move with us", an attempted spin-off of "GRWM" that was almost fatal levels of cringe. Now, it's this weird Instagram-aesthetic-moodboard-meets-cheesy-Hillsong-music "peek" at this local girl's prayer habits. I wish these small towners, who are one clunky Romeo step above rednecks, would chill out with their "keeping up with the Joneses" influencer attempts on social media.

It disturbs me for a number of reasons and now we get to the preachy part, my least favorite part. Firstly, it's SUPER performative and attention-seeking. It's on the same level as anyone who goes to the trouble to set up their camera to film themselves crying, except worse because she's literally "performing" her religion for the camera, for the views, for the likes, for the validating comments. I'm no expert, but I don't know of any religion, Christianity or otherwise, whose doctrine places a VALUE on performative attention-seeking. Except for cults, which are often very performative.

"2 The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are experts in the Law of Moses. 3 So obey everything they teach you, but don't do as they do. After all, they say one thing and do something else. 4 They pile heavy burdens on people's shoulders and won't lift a finger to help. 5 Everything they do is just to show off in front of others. They even make a big show of wearing Scripture verses on their foreheads and arms, and they wear big tassels for everyone to see. 6 They love the best seats at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues. 7 And when they are in the market, they like to have people greet them as their teachers." -Matthew 23:2-7 CEV

Secondly, in her grand, aesthetically pleasing performance, she is---intentionally or unintentionally---trying to paint a pretty picture to cover up or distract from her past actions. Things like participating in a super exclusive "cool, holy girls" church clique, backstabbing her friends, and leading guys of all ages on for fun. Sinful? Not specifically by the "letter of the law". Christlike towards the church family? Definitely not. But now that she's not a player anymore, and is settled down with a family of her own, she's a pure, wholesome, righteous housewife. Nobody look behind the curtain! Just watch the pretty beige "day in the Christian life" videos with sweet-sounding buzzwords smeared all over them and forget all about her past.

"27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." -Matthew 23:27-28 CEV

Thirdly, there are many aspects of one's walk with God that are meant to be personal, almost private, while others are fine to be public. Some forms of worship are public and others are private, so it's not a hard rule across the board. But this... daily prayer sessions for your family... just feels like something that ought to be personal and not shared with the poor fools who signed up to listen/watch. (“Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”) Somehow, posting it on the internet feels incredibly fake, insincere, and desperate for attention. It gives me an icky feeling.

"3 So when you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know what you are doing." -Matthew 6:3

Fourth, making religion, any religion, into an "aesthetic" like a tag you'd search on Tumblr doesn't feel right to me. Religion, no matter which one, is a way of life, not something to be picked up and enjoyed because it's pretty, until you get bored and find something prettier. First it was the hipster Christians who obsessed over cuffed jeans and Bible verses plastered on photos of foggy forests. Now it's the sad beige Christian girls (*cough*former bullies*cough*) putting cliche, righteous-sounding Christian phrases over videos of their sourdough bread project. "Aesthetisizing" religion just trivializes it. No Bible verse for this one, because I don't remember any passages that talk about #aesthetic. But I don't think I need scripture to back me up on this one.

FIFTH and finally, you know that idiom "if a tree falls in the forest and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a sound"? Translate that to 2023 and it basically equates to: "if something happens and you don't post it all over your social media, did it REALLY happen?" Many girls and young women have been conditioned to a point where they genuinely believe without even realizing it that moments in their lives aren't valuable, special, valid, or even happened unless it gets showed off on their social media for likes and comments. Unfortunately, that now carries over into their religious activities as well. It's not worth their time to sit down for a good reading/journalling session if they can't make an unrealistically aesthetic tiktok of it. If they spend some quiet time in prayer and don't make an Instagram reel with some inspirational worship music, HOW will everyone know what a Godly Woman(tm) they are??? It's both sad and disgusting that they think their worship time, charity, acts of service, and everything else about their walks with God aren't VALID unless people hit that "like" button on social media.

Before anyone tries to argue this one with me, saying that this content can teach and inspire other Christians... no. Just no. It's a night and day difference between teaching and showing off. There is nothing educational about these girls' photos/videos, which only serve to scream in everyone's faces, "LOOK AT ME, LOOK HOW RIGHTEOUS I AM!"

Narcissism is characterized by a focus on "me, me, me", while many religions are supposed to be a focus on their higher power. While they try to make it look like the focus of the videos and their activities are on God, it's very clear that the subject of the videos is themselves for the sake of flattering their egos.

[angsty-art-ist]

and G-d made Eve to bear the curse of blood

[tomicscomics]

05/27/2024

Continuing from the previous cartoon, St. Joan of Arc's sleepover scheme ends in DISASTER?! (Yes, this still really happened.)

___

JOKE-OGRAPHY:

1. The Source: This cartoon is based off of characters and events mentioned in St. Joan of Arc's trial. Here are the relevant passages (translated by W. S. Scott): "Asked what [Catherine de La Rochelle] said to her, [Jeanne the Maid] answered that this Catherine said [...] that a woman appeared [to her], a white lady, dressed in cloth of gold [...]. [Jeanne] asked Catherine if this Lady appeared every night; and if so, [Jeanne] would sleep with [Catherine to see her]. And [Jeanne] did so, but kept awake till midnight; saw nothing, and then went to sleep. And when morning came, she asked if the Lady had appeared. And [Catherine] answered that she had come, but [Jeanne] was asleep, and [Catherine] had not been able to wake her."

2. Explanation: Continuing from the last cartoon, St. Joan arrives at Catherine's for their sleepover. She wants to stay awake to see if Catherine's telling the truth about her nightly apparition, but she only stays awake until midnight. The next morning, Catherine tells her the White Lady appeared sometime after Joan fell asleep.

3. Historical / Fiction: The main gist of this story -- Joan's sleepover / stake-out with Catherine -- is historically accurate, based on Joan's account during her trial. In this cartoon, I fill in some gaps and take a few artistic liberties for fun's sake. Here are some of those liberties:

Pierronne: The third wheel in this rivalry, Pierronne the Breton, is not mentioned in the actual sleepover story, but I included her in this cartoon because I wanted a third character to offset the tension with a positive naïveté.

Midnight: In the original account, Joan says she stayed awake until midnight, saw nothing, then went to sleep. This could mean that she chose midnight as her limit and deliberately went to sleep after that, or it could mean that she meant to stay awake longer but could only manage to stay awake until midnight. In this cartoon, I went with the second interpretation, because it flavors Joan's failure to stay awake as a failure of ability, not a failure of judgment. To me, that makes Catherine's claim that the White Lady appeared shortly after all the more devastating, but I really could've gone either way.

Catherine: At the end of Joan's account of the story, Catherine tells her that the White Lady appeared after Joan had gone to sleep, and that Catherine had even tried and failed to wake Joan when the Lady arrived. Though it sounds like a weak lie in the actual story, in this cartoon, I flavored it as cruel gloating, which I think feeds into their rivalry a little better.

[newwavesylviaplath]

[muslim-dadd-ydo-m]

Be his porn

Be his whore

Be his

[cutieeeszn]

[saintofdolls]

🍓A list of coquette-ish movies that aren’t Girl Interrupted, Black Swan or Jennifer’s Body 🍓

[scallopi]

i felt a chill in the air this morning.. its time for white girl autumn

[goticarrka]

I know you told me 'break their hearts'

But it's you I wanna take apart

[peachylalita]

White Dior Heels ~ A classic shoe

[aestermeadow]

🤍🦢💍🐚⚪🕊🕯

[dwaintydoll]

i pray about u in church

†

[gxlden-angels]

I love getting validated on small things that I didn't even consider like it's always a treat and this time it's Gender

The Fundie Baby Voice™️ has been popping up a lot in ex-christian spaces lately and I actually had one in middle school and part of high school! I learned when and where to use it and how to turn up my southern accent just enough. I can still do it but it sounds weird after 3 years on T. The main place I used it was at church cause it made me sound sweet and polite. I used it for old ladies when I worked at a grocery store too. My family didn't like it when we were just all together cause they said it sounded like baby talk, but loved it when I used it at church cause everyone would tell them how sweet and soft-spoken I was

My therapist said it actively made him feel uncomfortable when I used that voice. He couldn't quite put his finger on why it made him uncomfortable (other than him only knowing me on T) but he very much did not like it and he's so so right for that

[peachyiskeen]

Vanilla is the best scent hands down ✨

[pinnkchampagne]

This is all I need

[crownndprincess]

Today, I’m thankful for being rich. I might not have a million dollars, but I’m much better off than so many and I thank God. I have food in my house, I can afford the heating, I can afford to travel, I live with a husband who loves me, and we have the spare money to spend on the little things that make life fun! So many people pray for the things I have in my life. I thank God for what I have, and I pray for those who don’t. This holiday season, think of others, and try gifting those fun things that you never use. Someone else might be so blessed by the things we just keep around!