A few weeks ago I went to the Chapel where Lauren Winner spoke. She has written Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity and Girl Meets God. I just noticed she had a book coming out today too! Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Disciplines. Now that I’ve fully publicized her books (which I haven’t read, but want to), we can move on to the actual talk.
Here are some of the key points/interesting quotes
- “I’m a writer mostly because I don’t know what I think until I write about it”–I agree with this wholeheartedly! I can see my opinions and ideas SO much more clearly after I’ve written about them.
- The notion that if you have premarital sex or engage in sexual sin then you will wake up feeling awful is a LIE. This may be true for some, but not for everyone.
- Our feelings and epistemologies are DISTORTED
- Feelings have to be refined and checked against scripture.
- Lie # 2: If you’ve had premarital sex or other sexual sin you will be scarred for life, you’ve committed an unforgivable sin, it will haunt you, ect. Though, the lessons of sexual sin are long lasting and many find it hard to unlearn behavior.
- Jesus is the “master gardener”
- Be careful not to idolize marriage
- We can be quite prone to self-deception–especially in areas of sex, money and time.
- Repentance is not about pretending the sin did not happen–rather it is about turning and living faithfully
For me, the biggest part that hit close to home was the reminder that my feelings are distorted and that I am really good at deceiving myself. Eventually in the “Confessional” blogs I will probably expand on these thoughts.
b'ahava 