Glazed Eyes and Bored To Tears

"So, you’re a junior, right? What subject do you enjoy the most?” Erm… “Well, I enjoy many aspects of my education, but I’m most passionate about theology, actually.” Blink, blink. Say again? Theology? For a teenager? And a girl? That’s… interesting.

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A wizened old man sits hunched over a desk. It's strewn with scattered papers, and heavily laden with books by greats like Athanasius, Augustine, Luther and Edwards. In the flickering candlelight, he pores over Calvin’s Institutes of Religion with scholarly intensity. Mmm… he pauses, and scratches at his white beard. What a beard, too. It’s spilling over his chair and onto the floor. He looks almost as old as those texts he’s reading. Ah, that’s it! He snatches up his pen again. Far from an adiaphorous controversy, Simi Pelagianism undermines the efficacy of the penal, substitutionary atonement… he drones on to himself in a slow, flat voice, as his pen scratches noisily on the paper.

This… is a theologian. Right? Well, yes and no. Yes, he could call himself a theologian. Thankfully, however, the beard is not a prerequisite. (I’m glad. Frankly, I like my chin the way it is.) And just because he can spout off long words about free will doesn’t mean a thing.

The portrait I painted is exaggerated, but you get the general idea. There is a common, curious misconception floating around the church: Theology is dry, dull, inaccessible, mostly irrelevant, and far too difficult for the average person’s comprehension. Let the pastors and the teachers and the brilliant minds deal with it. The rest of us should read our Bibles, of course, but we can't all be expected to devote ourselves to the diligent, earnest study of theology.

This misconception is rarely stated explicitly, but it is shouted out, clearer than words, in the pointed silence surrounding the subject of doctrine. And so, a generation of Christians is being raised that takes more interest in lipgloss than wrestling with the holiness of God, and can boast more knowledge about their iPods than the salvation purchased for them with the Savior's drops of blood.

The consequences of this are not light. Wherever the study of theology is neglected, our perspective on God warps. Disillusionment and doubt settle in, because we misconstrue the character of God. We flounder about in a sea of confusion, because we have not cared to learn how to "rightly divide the Word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). We become like leaves, blown here and there in the wind by every stray doctrine, as Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4:14. This is a tragedy. Thus unequipped, how can we hope to triumph in the world, with a faith that we don't even know?

Wayne Grudem said it well.

“I do not believe that God intended the study of theology to be dry and boring.
Theology is the study of God and all his works! Theology is meant to be lived and prayed and sung! All of the great doctrinal writings of the Bible (such as Paul’s epistle to the Romans) are full of praise to God and personal application to life. Nowhere in Scripture do we find doctrine studied for its own sake or in isolation from life. The more we know about God, about His Word, about His relationships to the world and mankind, the better we will trust Him, the more fully we will praise Him, and the more readily we will obey Him.”

(Systematic Theology, pages 16, 23, 29)

Theology, dry? Try ineffably glorious, unspeakably thrilling, supremely delightful, utterly mind-blowing, and breathtakingly beautiful. Inaccessible? Not by a long shot. Irrelevant to daily life? It is far, far more applicable, life-transforming, and rewarding than anything else you could ever study in the world. I'm not a huge advocate of the white beard, but as Christian young women, we should all aspire to be theologians.

Click here to read Part 2.


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Speaking of theology, do check out our friends' new blog, Forthright Fixation. These girls are truly passionate about cherishing their Savior above all else--and it shows. It's worth your time, and a bookmark, too.

How To Waste Your Diligence

There's nothing like the winter blues. Cold weather induces feelings of lousiness and encourages hibernation with several blankets, hot cocoa, and pointless reading material. More feelings of lousiness then come with not doing anything. Enter rationalization and such questions as, "But of course, what can be done in lousy weather?" Finally, the conscience catches up and the decision is made to do something of importance, but then a cold is caught too...which induces feelings of lousiness and encourages hibernation with several blankets, cocoa, more pointless reading material and a box of tissues. And what do you know...another cold front arrives.

It was in the midst of this circular reasoning that I stumbled onto this verse in Proverbs 22:29: "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men." Because that wasn't enough, I tripped over Psalm 119:37, "Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways."

I jumped off the couch and began hustling around the house, trying to atone for lost time. Life's too short to spend hibernating and talents left unused grow rusty quickly. History testifies constantly to the benefit of hard work--in spite of the winter blues. For instance, accompanying his father to France, John Quincy Adams took advantage of his time on the icy voyage from Boston.

On the journey he began to learn French, and due to his diligence, soon gained enough proficiency to become the youngest American diplomat. John Quincy was eleven years old. Instead of applying himself to shivering in the ship's cabin, utilized his time to achieve excellence. (I can't help but wonder if it was that same diligence and wise planning that landed the young diplomat the presidency years later.) While I am increasingly convinced of the importance of diligence, perhaps there is more to "turning away from vanity" than hard work alone.

A recent news story that will probably remain in the tabloids for some time to come: actor Heath Ledger died. For those who don't know, he was a teen heartthrob and is famous for a particularly immoral film. Out of the 150,000 people who die each day, the death of an actor is no more tragic than the death of any other. Nevertheless, Ledger's premature death at the height of fame and fortune is an example of the vanity King David, and later, King Solomon wrote of centuries ago. A week ago, decisions made by this actor could've turned heads in Hollywood. But where is his influence now? His death serves as a reminder that nothing lasts.

"All is vanity," Solomon said. That includes spending life for wealth and popularity, spending life on the couch, or spending every waking moment hard at work. Whether the act is cooking dinner or preventing a nuclear war---big or small--all is futile.

It's hard to forget that ever-potent quote from Napoleon on his deathbed: "I marvel that where the ambitious dreams of myself and of Alexander and Caesar should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant, Jesus, should be able to stretch out His hands across the centuries, and control the destinies of men and nations."

In the end, conquering the world wasn't enough for Napoleon; and I don't think it should be for me either. Yes, life's too short to be spent lazily. Since approximately eight years of my life will be spent on sleep alone, I don't want to lose another minute in lethargy. Yet, diligence for diligence's sake is just expending energy without a higher purpose. Hard work isn't the main goal.

The painter who paints only for the sake of holding a brush soon finds his stamina waning. Only when he sets his mind on the finished portrait does the painter's action make sense. Just the same, working hard for me makes little difference in the scheme of things. I'm transient. But when done for the glory of God, effort makes an eternity of a difference.

Too Many Novels?

Henry Tilney (in PBS' adaptation of Northanger Abbey) muses: "Perhaps, after all, it is possible to read too many novels." A bold statement. With every expedition into a Christian bookstore, I'm reminded of how chick-lit sells.

What do you think of the "Christian romance" genre? How many chick-lit novels do you read per year? Per month?

Illustration from Solitary-Elegance.com

No, We Didn't Have A Fight (...And Other News)

All good things must come to an end. Kristin Braun, a co-founder of this blog, has discovered that her season of writing here has passed. (No, we didn't have a fight.) As we've mentioned in the past several posts, God has been ever so surely revealing His will for our respective futures. The same goes for Kristin.

I'll let her explain in her own words:

God has taught me so much this semester through situations He has placed me in. Unfortunately, blogging dropped significantly in my priorities since I had professors and managers constantly expecting papers, math homework and high sales production. I recently started a new semester and continue to work. Next year, I am hoping to transfer to the University of Michigan and study History and English. Because of this new season that God has placed me in, I feel that I can no longer blog here at Beauty from the Heart. God has been focusing my attentions elsewhere and it will be exciting to see where He leads. Beauty from the Heart remains very dear to me as do my good friends Hannah and Lindsey. I will miss sharing a blog with them, but it is time to move on.

Currently, I do not have another blog home and I don't foresee starting (or joining) another soon. Perhaps God has another space for me on the internet, but that time isn't now. Like many college students, however, I have a Facebook and if you'd like to add me, feel free to do so. (Please just include a small message letting me know you're a reader!)

The second piece of news is also a bit of a bombshell. Hannah is writing a book. This is actually old news--as it's been a work in progress for nearly two years. We have realized that although blogging is a powerful tool, there are many who don't peruse this neighborhood of the blogosphere. A much wider realm exists in which girls have never even heard of purity, modesty, and femininity.

What is more, many Christian girls feel alone. Even in churches and Christian schools there exists a challenge to find friends with similar convictions. In our opinion, if edifying friends cannot be found, then at least, edifying books should be our companions. Sadly, we have only found a few books written for young women to be truly helpful.

The problem is too big for us to patch up alone; but we do want to be a part of the remedy. The goal of Hannah's book is to do just that. Right now, we are seeking publishers/agents to represent her book. If you have tips or recommendations or suggested contacts, please email us. We'd love to hear from you. Most of all, we would be so grateful for your prayers.

Also, I'm afraid our blogroll is out of date. (Bluntly, it's so 2007.) Email us with your blog addresses and we'll consider adding them to our list.

May God bless!

Hannah and Lindsey

From 1830... to 2008

In 1831, a young Alexis de Tocqueville left France to commence a thorough investigation on America's society, economy, and political system. When he returned, he published his findings in the classic Democracy in America, chronicling both the weaknesses and strengths of our nation. When I read his observations on the women in America, I was surprised— in less than two hundred years, a lot has changed.

"There are people in Europe who, confounding together the different characteristics of the sexes, would make of man and woman beings not only equal but alike. They would give to both the same functions, impose on both the same duties, and grant to both the same rights; they would mix them in all things— their occupations, their pleasures, their business. It may be readily conceived, that by thus attempting to make one sex equal to the other, both are degraded; and from so preposterous a medley of the works of nature nothing could ever result but weak men and disorderly women. It is not thus that the Americans understand that species of democratic equality which may be established between the sexes. They admit, that as nature has appointed such wide differences between the physical and moral constitution of man and woman, her manifest design was to give a distinct employment to their various faculties; and they hold that improvement [consists] in getting [men and women] to fulfill their respective tasks in the best possible manner.

Nor have the Americans ever supposed that one consequence of democratic principles is the subversion of marital power, of the confusion of the natural authorities in families. They hold that every association must have a head in order to accomplish its object, and that the natural head of the conjugal association is man. They do not therefore deny him the right of directing his partner. I never observed that the women of America consider conjugal authority as a fortunate usurpation of their rights, nor that they thought themselves degraded by submitting to it. It appeared to me, on the contrary, that they attach a sort of pride to the voluntary surrender of their own will, and make it their boast to bend themselves to the yoke, not to shake it off. Such is the feeling expressed by the most virtuous of their sex.

I have nowhere seen women occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply— to the superiority of their women."

Excerpted from Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Chapter XII: "How Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes".

To Austenites & Rebelutionaries

Jane Austen lovers will be happy to discover that PBS is broadcasting for the first time her complete works. (HT: Radical Womanhood) That's right--new adaptions of Persuasion, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Sense & Sensibility, as well the BBC versions of Emma and Pride & Prejudice. I'm typing faster just at the thought!

Having never read Mansfield Park or Northanger Abbey, I'm not sure if they're any good. Has anyone else read the books or know the plot?) A schedule of showtimes is available on the PBS website.

Girl Rebelutionaries should take note of a new contest on ModestTeen. A modesty-promoting contest with a prize of two T-shirts and a signed copy of the book, Do Hard Things. Can it get any better? Just check out the rest of the ModestTeen website and decide for yourself.

Lindsey's just back in town from a speech tournament and I'm heading out for one. Posts may be scattered in the near future, but we're hoping to be back on track soon. Have a great week!

Until then,
Hannah

Becoming Jane

At one time, a very average little girl lived on a very average little street in an average little town in the United States. We will call her, “Jane.” Jane was born with talents, strengths and weaknesses, much like other children. However, unlike other children, Jane had no parents.
It’s not that they never existed. She had them at one time. But the day she decided she didn’t like the rules they gave or the broccoli her mother served at dinner, Jane quit the family. She wanted to decide for herself who she would be.

Jane decided to treat her friends the same way. Although Jane managed to make friends with her talents and personality, she rarely was asked to play hide and seek or jump rope because she’d never adhere to the rules. She preferred to make her own.

Years passed and Jane grew. When she was a woman, she was very much the same as when a child (except a bigger version.) While as a child her main rebellion was concerning broccoli, as an adult Jane revolted at the idea of abiding by the laws set by God. Jane wanted to decide for herself, as always. The older she grew, the more headstrong and demanding she became.
One day, as Jane sat in church, she heard the pastor speak of God having different, specific designs for men and women. She learned that God had created her with a certain purpose in His mind. This angered Jane. It was yet another set of rules she’d have to dodge. Jane ditched church and decided that if the Bible contained such restrictive rules for women, it must not be true. Orthodoxy, to her, was extremist. The only religion she followed devoutly was the adoration of herself.

This was the way Jane lived every moment of her life. She never married when she fell in love, because she knew marriage involved submission. (More rules.) When she was pregnant, she refused to be chained to motherhood, so she aborted her child. (More rules.) Finally, one day, she found that she wasn’t happy to be female.

So Jane forgot she was, which was actually what she was trying to do all along.

Jane is, sadly, a true story. She’s a personification of the feminist movement, through which every woman has been encouraged to become a Jane.

If there is one thing that Jane despises, it is orthodoxy. The idea that there are Biblical roles for women, and that God really instated them, is a dagger driving at the heart of Jane’s philosophy. Unadulterated Biblical truth is her kryptonite. She can’t stand absolutes.

Having seen much of Jane in myself, I am on the verge of making a very politically incorrect absolute statement: There’s no place like home. The statement (albeit cliché) is ever so true. Even for organizationally-challenged (I.e. naturally sloppy) people like me, a tidy, cozy home in which God is held at the very center, is something to savor.

I’m not the only one. However uniquely individual women have been designed, with varying arrays of talents, I believe unshakingly that every woman was created to love the home. There was a woman Carole Mayhall wrote of in her book, Come Walk With Me, who emanated this love.

A missionary wife who traveled constantly with her husband in the bush, migrating from hut to hut, she had no steady house. Yet it was so much a part of her identity to make a comforting environment, that everywhere she went, she carried a set of silver candle sticks. She’d set them on her makeshift table in an effort to turn every hut she lived in into a home. Like the missionary wife, all women have the capability to cultivate homes that are refuges, and nurture godliness. I believe that it is specifically the calling of women to do so. Although it may not be a woman’s only calling, she is told by Scripture to fulfill this task.(See Proverbs 31 and Titus 2.) In the midst of a culture radically adverse to any sort of distinction between men and women, my persuasion is a part of a minority (and a minor minority at that).

George Bernard Shaw, a bitingly agnostic socialist wrote, “Home is the girl’s prison and the woman’s workhouse.” Thus is the common perception of homemaking. (Jane wears the quote like a T-shirt…in fact, it’s may be on a T-shirt.)

To an extent, I agree with Shaw; the home can certainly be a prison and workhouse. Likewise, any kind of rules concerning a woman’s nature can be seen as imprisonment-- from one perspective.

From where Jane is standing, the home doesn’t look like all that and a bag of chips because work is tiresome and rules plead for obedience. But the grass is always greener on the side of disobedience, until we reach that side and look back at the lush plants where we were. With a right, Biblical perspective, knowing full well the freedom that comes with obedience, home is less a cage than a stage to display God’s glory.

I like what Touchstone, the wise court jester in Shakespeare’s As You Like It, observed about contentment. Upon arriving wearily to the forest of Arden, he declared, “Ay, now am I in Arden; the more fool I; when I was at home, I was in a better place: but travellers must be content.” While it’s fun to see places abroad, only when we find our identities in the locations God places us---be it in Connecticut or the Congo--do we discover contentment.