Epic Cynicism

I'll be the first to admit that i can be a major cynic. I constantly attack my own religion. not because i think everything is wrong, necessarily, but because sometimes as Christians we think, "hey, we got this savior thing right, obviously we can do no wrong!" ridiculous, right? but honestly, tebow being a Christian doesn't make him a better ball player. in all honesty, he went against that verse about praying in public for you own glory... you can bitch at me all day that he was just giving glory to God, but God doesn't really need the help of a back-up football player.... just saying.

i finally got around to watching "happy thoughts" by tosh. i flipping love that guy. anyways, he said something i've been trying to tell people for years.
http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/vpwh7u/stand-up-daniel-tosh--to-the-mormons
about 45 seconds, in tosh says something to the effect of, even if the state legalizes gay marriage, they still won't get into heaven. while i'm not sure i agree with that statement, it's a very good point. suck it up. just because someone doesn't live up to your standard, doesn't mean they're bad people. new-flash: i left a Christian school to go to public school. and you know what? the people there are much nicer, especially the gay kids.

back to the point. you know that phrase, iron sharpens iron? i can't remember where it's found (i left Christian school before we got to that part...), but it means were supposed to hold each other accountable. that's a good idea, obviously. we need to keep with our beliefs, specifically what the Bible says EXPLICITLY. here's where i have a problem. why is it like the worst thing in the world to call each other out when we look like complete idiots to everyone else on earth? im not talking about the things that are Biblical, God commands, etc. I'm talking about the legalization of gay marriage, drugs, letting a mtf transgender girl into girl scouts, and not trying to capitalize on making a Christian version of every secular bestseller out there, especially the controversial ones. such as a book i found at my local lifeway called fifty shades of GRACE. (i only go because i have this weird weakness for Christian chick lit) http://www.christianbook.com/fifty-shades-grace-devotions-celebrating-unlimited/9781605874272/pd/874272?item_code=WW&netp_id=1026114&event=ESRCG&view=details

this seems ridiculous. my faith is not undermined by your sin, if you are sinning. your faith isn't undermined by my sinning, either.

The Great Disappointment

I have been waiting to read the Great Gatsby for a long time. I don't know why I never got around to it before, but now that I have, I'm sorry that I ever did.
Originally, I thought Gatsby was this awesome dude with a crazy life and cool back-story. Not so. He's a whiny wuss that lies and cheats his way into money to get into a girls pants. He has no real morals besides not binge-drinking, which is hypocritical since he hosts drunken parties almost every night. How did this become a great name in literature? He needs to man up. Almost as annoying as Gatsby are his "friends."
For instance, there's the idiot Daisy who doesn't realize her husbands cheating, or might just not give a rip. In which case she and Gatsby can have each other. But wait, Gatsby's dead (thank God) because Daisy's punk husband won't man up either and lies to some random dude who pops into the story as the husband of the chick Daisy's husband is cheating with. So all these people belong in a soap opera, and in comes Nick the narrator who does nothing but kiss Gatsby's butt because the big phony has money. Then everybody moves out west.
Oh wait, I almost forgot one of the most useless characters: Jordan whatever her name was. She had literally no use in the story beside being kiss butt's booty call.

Suffice to say, this piece of literature has left me hanging...

proud child of the third millennium

so, i have a lot of "older" friends on Facebook. i grew up around people who are middle aged, plus the daughter of one of the couples. all this to say, my feed gets clogged with some interesting "forwards" or "shares" or whatever you want to call them. 2 of the trending ones have caught my attention. one is about how spanking is fine, doesn't hurt the kid, how people who learn the "switch dance" are better for it. fine. that's cool. you are ok with spanking. i'm not going to look down on you for it (although the budding psychologist in me wants to cite some research...).i wasn't spanked as a child, although most of my friends question that decision on my parents' part. i turned out fine... well, interesting... however you want to take that. i'm not dead, diseased, or incarcerated, so i guess i don't completely fail. the other is about the street light being your curfew and a bunch of other sentimental stuff. and of course we have the self-righteous 90's kids... FYI, i remember enough of the 90's to miss them, so i'm not completely in the dark. great, you have pride in your generation. i applaud you for your self-confidence. but don't project your self-confidence onto me in the form of constantly telling me how sucky my music is or how disney channel stars don't have talent. mind you, i am not defending miley cyrus or one direction or anything, just making a point.
here's the deal: i'm happy i grew up watching rugrats all grown up and zoey 101. i'm happy that i went to a few jump5 concerts when i was a pre-teen, as well as a hilary duff one. i still sing jesse mccartney when i have self-esteem issues (i AM a beautiful soul, darnit!). i had a crush on phil of the future, and cried at the end of the lizzie mcguire movie. (confession, i had a bit of a girl-crush on hilary duff)
i must reming 90's kids of a few things, though: backstreet boys, new kids on the block, n'sync, spice girls... you get where i'm going with this, i hope. (and why in the world did you kill off kurt cobain?) and to the older ones: men without hats, abba (debatable), men at work, village people.... (i'm only citing music because i know a small amount about music, as opposed to movies, TV, or random trends, of which i know close to nothing)
back to the first 2 trends: times change. that's the bottom line, i guess. in 1 AD, kids could go in a caravan to go live with relatives for a few years. whatever. women got married of by their fathers for political reasons. cool. people also got sliced down the middle and dropped through trap doors, their innards falling on people far below. (it's really cool to look through those trapdoors, though.) culture CHANGES. not always for the better, not always for the worse (probably improper grammar, sorry mommy). and we have to accept that. i'm probably going to hate the music my kids listen to, as well as the shows they watch and the toys they play with (once they exercise their free-will. till then it's organic fairy dolls, disney movies, avatar (last airbender and legend of korea, not that pocahontas junk), and the fray). but i'm going to suffer through it with a smile on my face, because what some people don't understand about culture, especially in kids, is that we begin to identify with it so deeply, that bits of it get stuck to our DNA (not really, just an illustration). when you insult anberlin, i hurt a little bit. and when i make cracks about the beatles, my mom looks a little mopey (nothing against the beatles, sometimes i just have to retaliate against the snide comments about my katy perry CD).
bottom line: my name is abbey, i was born in 1995, and i may or may not have a camp rock poster above my bed. so deal with it and shut your face.