Posted on 03/28/2012 8:45:40 AM PDT by kathsua
Last week, I was amazed at all the people who read my posts and left comments. (This post about expecting a call from the President got almost 2,800 comments and was shared 131,000 times on this site alone… And, no, my phone didn’t ring.)
Most of the comments were wonderful and supportive. (I’ve addressed some of the not-so-nice comments here.) But there’s one constant criticism I didn’t talk about: some of you insist on calling me a hypocrite. After all, I became a mother before I walked down the aisle – how can I talk about waiting until marriage for sex?
I find it strange that the culture rightfully applauds former drug addicts who warn children of the dangers of drug use. They are happy to listen to former alcoholics talk about how they finally are living a clean life. But when it comes to me talking about waiting until marriage for sex, it’s almost like people want me to slink away in shame… unable to show my face in public again because of my past mistakes.
I want this blog to be a place where we can all be honest, so let me start. I’ve struggled with feelings of guilt and shame. I know (judging from my inbox) many of you have too. A Christian counselor named Ed Welch helpfully writes about what to do after you’ve made a huge mistake:
It feels so right – so spiritual – to live with regrets. It means you feel bad for the wrong things you have done or think you have done, and that sounds like a good thing. If you forget those wrongs, you are acting like they were no big deal.
… We live with regrets because we think we should. We think it’s the right thing to do—that it is our duty before God. But… The Kingdom of Heaven is regret-free. The truth is that the triune God liberates us from past regrets. His will is being done. Bank on it. Neither your human limitations nor your sins hinder the good plans of your sovereign Father. Let’s go one important step further. It is God’s will that you jettison past regrets.
So what does that mean?
Stop.
Stop living under a cloud of guilt, stop wondering what life could have been like had you made better decisions, and stop beating yourself up over that thing you’ve done.
Read the rest of his post here, and get over the regret you’ve been carrying for far too long.
I have.
the infowarrior
Bristol has got her life together. Hope she finds a nice young man who deserves her.
The word “hypocrite” is used as a weapon by God’s enemies. They know they are misusing the word, but they still do it because it makes decent people who lack confidence withdraw and reflect so those who are not on God’s side have no challengers. It is very nice to see that Bristol has learned big, general lessons from her experience. I’m betting on her turning out as a wonderful adult.
It's an inconsistent message to tell girls that having a baby out of wedlock is bad for you and bad for the baby, when it brought Bristol television appearances, and travel, and a few hundred thousand dollars, and plastic surgery, and Dancing with the Stars, all the rewards that our celebity-mad culture tells young girls they should aim for.
Isn’t that the truth. So much can be seen just from the way people express themselves. Without regard for how religious a person may be, if they live in a world of blame, regret, and bitterness, you know what kind of spiritual shape they’re in. Bristol clearly has “moved on” - best of luck to her.
Bristol had the bad luck to fall in love with a selfish, opportunist loser, whose real nature she didn’t understand until too late. That can happen. I suspect that he was a very good liar.
If she had been a typical lib, she would have quietly aborted her baby and shoveled the whole thing under a rug, baby and all. She made one bad choice, but she could have done a lot worse, and then the media would have applauded her for it.
You think Bristol got those things because she had a baby out of wedlock? Really?
You’re right, having the most famous woman in the world as her mom had nothing to do with her celebrity.
Uhm...Wow.
So true.
Plastic surgery?
What part/parts?
And far from shoveling the whole thing under the rug, she is going the extra mile to try to keep others from making the same mistake she did. Good for her.
I think that's how she got her start.
I call her financial success and celebrity AS an unwed mother, and her affiliation with Candies, wildly at odds with her message to avoid premarital sex and children out of wedlock. I wish Bristol well, hope she is secure and happy and makes a good marriage some day.
Here I will spell it out for you real simple like:
Bristol Palin achieved fame and fortune because her mother is Sarah Palin. NOT because she is one of thousands upon thousands of women to have a child outside of marriage.
What evvvvvuh.
My sister had the same thing done and now she can close her mouth more comfortably.
"Hypocrisy is NOT failing to practice what you preach. (We're all sinners who fall short periodically....) Hypocrisy is PRETENDING to have beliefs you don't actually have."
I like this definition because it exposes God's enemies who use it all the time for the hypocrites and liars they are!
No kidding.
And since very few sixteen year old girls have famous mothers, and many of them are not good at projecting realistic consequences, that is why you do not portray a situation positively that can not possibly end as well for them.
The message is not the message. The medium is the message.
No kidding? You must have forgot what you wrote in post #5 here.
“...having a baby out of wedlock is bad for you and bad for the baby, when it brought Bristol television appearances, and travel, and a few hundred thousand dollars...”
So you are saying it’s inconsistent to tell others about the downside of having a baby out of wedlock if your mom is a famous politician?
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