Bethany's Blog

Greetings from late night motherhood! I have Friends Season 2 streaming in the background, my husband is snoring and has to wake up in 4 hours to go to work, and my wet hair is tied up in a slightly mildewy microfiber towel. Our house just went on the market and my kids are both potty training. My husband and I are alternating work hours and childcare, working about 75 hours a week between us these days! So it's a perfect time to write a blog entry. Culturally, that is! I don't know about you but my heart is stirred almost daily by sad or touching stories, or shows like Parenthood re-runs and This Is Us. News about war on other continents or heroic stories of people with disabilities overcoming amazing odds. Raising a child on the autism spectrum and being hormonal from having two babies definitely softens my heart. I can barely shop at certain stores because I know they take advantage of horribly underpaid factory workers across the ocean. I'm amazed at how empath...

As I mentioned in my first post  in this series, some Millennials who have left Church or God or both have taken great pains to advertise their apostasy online. Many claim that Church is their biggest reason for leaving Church, the worst offender being conservative evangelicalism. Here's what they have against Church: They are not diverse enough. They are culturally irrelevant. They have no respect for the arts. They allow for abuse to go unchecked. Their music is outdated. They prooftext and distort the Bible. They worship the Bible over God. They have failed the LGBT community. They are anti-woman and sexist. They make an idol of family. They alienate singles, single parents, blended families, divorced people. They are all Republican. Nobody is authentic about their sins. They judge and compare each other. They focus too much on sin. They are only about keeping up appearances. They turn dogmas into doctrine. They are hypocrites. They spank their kids too mu...

Consider this the first in a series of blog posts about apostates and their teachings. What is an apostate? An apostate is someone who renounces a religious or political belief or principle. Specifically I will be blogging about Christian apostates and their teachings. I may also write about "big" or "small" apostasies: some people say they are no longer a Christian. Others say they are a Christian but don't believe in traditional, orthodox Christianity.  There are many Christian apostates in my generation (the Millenials). At least it appears that there are many, as they are very vocal in social networking. They are the ones about whom the Boomers are all up-in-arms. They are apparently leaving the Church in droves. Boomer parents feel like failures. They are torn up and hurt over it.  What about the other Millenials? The ones who are staying in Church. Who call themselves Christians, even evangelicals. Some of them have children of their own. Will ...