Jessica Alba and Christianity and being born again
I saw this on the internet yesterday:
Sin City' actress Jessica Alba has revealed she quit the Christian church after being told she was too sexy.
(BANG) - Jessica Alba has turned her back on the church after religious leaders condemned her for being too sexy.
The 'Sin City' actress found solace in the Christian church after feeling rejected by the Latin community.
However, after four years of being a born-again Christian she quit the faith, because she was accused of deliberately trying to attract men.
She told Elle magazine: "Older men would hit on me and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn't.
"It just made me feel, like, if I was in anyway desirable to the opposite sex, that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and of being a woman."
The 25-year-old actress also says she could not accept the church's attitude towards premarital sex and homosexuality.
Speaking about the Bible, she added: "I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn't how I was going to live my life." (emphasis added)
I am a youth leader in my church, teaching High School kids and occasionally helping to teach the Junior High kids. These statements seemed pretty significant to me and I will tell you why. But first, this article is deliberately falsified/spun.
Falsehood/Spin number one: The syntax ("...has turned her back on the church") makes it sound as if this has just happened. However, if Miss Alba is 25 years old, she had to have left the church youth group at least 7 years earlier, if not before. Once the teens have graduated college, we point them towards the college & career class or another small group. You graduate youth group when you graduate High School! So, in the life of Jessica Alba, this revelation is ancient history, not anything new.
Falsehood/Spin number two: "...she quit the Christian church after being told she was too sexy." No one tells you to leave church because you are too sexy! (After all, no one ever told me that...*clears throat*).
Seriously, there are lots of sexy people in churches around the country. Here is what she said, "Older men would hit on me and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn't..." From my observation, Jessica Alba does wear provocative clothing now, and it is quite likely she was doing so as a teen as well. So if she asked her youth pastor why this was happening and he told her the truth, why did it then offend her? The answer is probably contained in the rest of what she had to say:
"It just made me feel, like, if I was in anyway desirable to the opposite sex, that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and of being a woman."
Baloney! Being attractive to the opposite sex is a good thing. God made men and women to find each other desirable. There is no shame in being attractive or being attracted to someone else. It doesn't mean you should act out in inappropriate ways. A godly woman doesn't flaunt her sexuality. She wears ordinary, modest clothing in which she is attractive but doesn't go for the skank effect. Dressing like a slut will have the effect of encouraging the more aggressive side of men because it sends a message that, hey, you might be easy! Duh!
I am not defending men who acted out in approaching her incorrectly. Just because a woman dresses like she wants to be taken off and ravaged doesn't give a man the right to do it, or even to act inappropriately towards her. I believe in men treating women as if they are nice (young, in this case) ladies, whether they appear to be or not. A man should be a gentleman at all times unless provoked beyond measure. Someone threatening your family or the well-being of your nose with their fist, that is provocation beyond measure. Some girl letting her bod hang out all over, that is enticement, not provocation. If it is your wife, in the bedroom, it's party time! Otherwise a Christian guy should run away like the wind before falling for the trap of coming on to a woman who is enticing him.
The 25-year-old actress also says she could not accept the church's attitude towards premarital sex and homosexuality.
Speaking about the Bible, she added: "I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn't how I was going to live my life."
So, the infinite wisdom of 25-year-old Jessica Alba is far superior to that of God. God is responsible for the attitude of the church towards premarital sex and homosexuality...and getting drunk...and robbing banks...and murdering someone...and gossiping about them...and punching them in the nose...and all sorts of other things. Such a mean spirited God!
So now let's examine the key statement within the body of the text:
However, after four years of being a born-again Christian she quit the faith, because she was accused of deliberately trying to attract men.
Hmmm. I mean, doesn't she make a living deliberately trying to attract men? Besides, being attractive to men isn't wrong. Most, if not all, teenaged girls spend hours primping in front of mirrors in hopes of being attractive to the opposite sex. Dressing like a tramp is an issue, but dressing to look good to men without being immodest is normal.
Being Born Again
Being born again isn't a document you sign, or a club you join, or like a party membership. She may have joined a church, or just become a regular attender. However, being born again is far more than that. That is why the phrase is unique: Born again.
John 3:3-8: In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
Yes, being born again is a change that happens within the believer, a change that is permanent. No one can be unborn and this is why Jesus used these words.
II Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
If Jessica Alba never accepted that God is God and that the Bible is authoritative and she never came to really know Jesus and believe, of course she was never born again! She was never made a new creation, she remained as she had always been. So rather than accept the youth pastor's words as wisdom, she took them as an accusation. Rather than receive God's worldview, she has accepted the common humanistic worldview instead. So she was never born again. She was just going to church. Massive difference!!!
This article was intended to make Christians seem mean and judgmental. If you look between the lines, it is all about a young woman who didn't want to be "confined" by the precepts of the Bible and wanted to do things her own way. The church wasn't mean to her but rather told her the truth and she didn't want to hear it. So she quit going. It is a story of a self-willed young woman who prefers fame and fortune to God. Nothing new there, happens all the time. But since it is a woman who has more fame and fortune than most it becomes a bigger story and an opportunity for God haters to poke the church.
Yes, Jessica Alba is a beautiful woman. Yet that Bible that she prefers to ignore and that God she has rejected tells us another story:
Proverbs 11:22: Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.
Sin City' actress Jessica Alba has revealed she quit the Christian church after being told she was too sexy.
(BANG) - Jessica Alba has turned her back on the church after religious leaders condemned her for being too sexy.
The 'Sin City' actress found solace in the Christian church after feeling rejected by the Latin community.
However, after four years of being a born-again Christian she quit the faith, because she was accused of deliberately trying to attract men.
She told Elle magazine: "Older men would hit on me and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn't.
"It just made me feel, like, if I was in anyway desirable to the opposite sex, that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and of being a woman."
The 25-year-old actress also says she could not accept the church's attitude towards premarital sex and homosexuality.
Speaking about the Bible, she added: "I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn't how I was going to live my life." (emphasis added)
I am a youth leader in my church, teaching High School kids and occasionally helping to teach the Junior High kids. These statements seemed pretty significant to me and I will tell you why. But first, this article is deliberately falsified/spun.
Falsehood/Spin number one: The syntax ("...has turned her back on the church") makes it sound as if this has just happened. However, if Miss Alba is 25 years old, she had to have left the church youth group at least 7 years earlier, if not before. Once the teens have graduated college, we point them towards the college & career class or another small group. You graduate youth group when you graduate High School! So, in the life of Jessica Alba, this revelation is ancient history, not anything new.
Falsehood/Spin number two: "...she quit the Christian church after being told she was too sexy." No one tells you to leave church because you are too sexy! (After all, no one ever told me that...*clears throat*).
Seriously, there are lots of sexy people in churches around the country. Here is what she said, "Older men would hit on me and my youth pastor said it was because I was wearing provocative clothing, when I wasn't..." From my observation, Jessica Alba does wear provocative clothing now, and it is quite likely she was doing so as a teen as well. So if she asked her youth pastor why this was happening and he told her the truth, why did it then offend her? The answer is probably contained in the rest of what she had to say:
"It just made me feel, like, if I was in anyway desirable to the opposite sex, that it was my fault, and it made me ashamed of my body and of being a woman."
Baloney! Being attractive to the opposite sex is a good thing. God made men and women to find each other desirable. There is no shame in being attractive or being attracted to someone else. It doesn't mean you should act out in inappropriate ways. A godly woman doesn't flaunt her sexuality. She wears ordinary, modest clothing in which she is attractive but doesn't go for the skank effect. Dressing like a slut will have the effect of encouraging the more aggressive side of men because it sends a message that, hey, you might be easy! Duh!
I am not defending men who acted out in approaching her incorrectly. Just because a woman dresses like she wants to be taken off and ravaged doesn't give a man the right to do it, or even to act inappropriately towards her. I believe in men treating women as if they are nice (young, in this case) ladies, whether they appear to be or not. A man should be a gentleman at all times unless provoked beyond measure. Someone threatening your family or the well-being of your nose with their fist, that is provocation beyond measure. Some girl letting her bod hang out all over, that is enticement, not provocation. If it is your wife, in the bedroom, it's party time! Otherwise a Christian guy should run away like the wind before falling for the trap of coming on to a woman who is enticing him.
The 25-year-old actress also says she could not accept the church's attitude towards premarital sex and homosexuality.
Speaking about the Bible, she added: "I thought it was a nice guide, but it certainly wasn't how I was going to live my life."
So, the infinite wisdom of 25-year-old Jessica Alba is far superior to that of God. God is responsible for the attitude of the church towards premarital sex and homosexuality...and getting drunk...and robbing banks...and murdering someone...and gossiping about them...and punching them in the nose...and all sorts of other things. Such a mean spirited God!
So now let's examine the key statement within the body of the text:
However, after four years of being a born-again Christian she quit the faith, because she was accused of deliberately trying to attract men.
Hmmm. I mean, doesn't she make a living deliberately trying to attract men? Besides, being attractive to men isn't wrong. Most, if not all, teenaged girls spend hours primping in front of mirrors in hopes of being attractive to the opposite sex. Dressing like a tramp is an issue, but dressing to look good to men without being immodest is normal.
Being Born Again
Being born again isn't a document you sign, or a club you join, or like a party membership. She may have joined a church, or just become a regular attender. However, being born again is far more than that. That is why the phrase is unique: Born again.
John 3:3-8: In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
Yes, being born again is a change that happens within the believer, a change that is permanent. No one can be unborn and this is why Jesus used these words.
II Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
If Jessica Alba never accepted that God is God and that the Bible is authoritative and she never came to really know Jesus and believe, of course she was never born again! She was never made a new creation, she remained as she had always been. So rather than accept the youth pastor's words as wisdom, she took them as an accusation. Rather than receive God's worldview, she has accepted the common humanistic worldview instead. So she was never born again. She was just going to church. Massive difference!!!
This article was intended to make Christians seem mean and judgmental. If you look between the lines, it is all about a young woman who didn't want to be "confined" by the precepts of the Bible and wanted to do things her own way. The church wasn't mean to her but rather told her the truth and she didn't want to hear it. So she quit going. It is a story of a self-willed young woman who prefers fame and fortune to God. Nothing new there, happens all the time. But since it is a woman who has more fame and fortune than most it becomes a bigger story and an opportunity for God haters to poke the church.
Yes, Jessica Alba is a beautiful woman. Yet that Bible that she prefers to ignore and that God she has rejected tells us another story:
Proverbs 11:22: Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.