Something Other Than God

In Something Other than God Jennifer Fulwiler chronicles her conversion from atheism to Catholicism. Born and raised as an atheist, Jennifer always held a particular disdain for Christianity—she wanted nothing to do with those crazy people (who can blame her?). Yet, a certain sense of despair in regards to her mortality hung over her like a dark cloud her entire life. This acute awareness of her foreboding finite nature would eventually lead her to the most unexpected of places, the Catholic Church.

This book had been on my radar for a while and so I decided to request it as a Christmas present. Good life choice.

I read the entire book in a single weekend; so it’s definitely an easy read. Jennifer’s humor and writing style makes it easy to follow; I hardly realized I had spent 5+ consecutive hours with the book in hand. Oops!

This is a book that’s all about the journey, not the outcome (considering we all know how the story ends). What makes Jennifer’s story so enthralling are the details of her slow and steady walk with Christ. Jennifer’s is no St. Paul conversion. She doesn’t get knocked off her horse or hear literal voices from the sky imploring her to repent. Instead, Jennifer lets us see a glimpse into the gentle and quiet ways the Lord slowly worked on her heart. Whether it be through a random book she stumbled upon, a fossil she found in her youth, or an impromptu decision to start a blog, Jesus was reaching out to her at every step of the way.

That’s what I love about Jennifer’s story so much, her struggle for Truth is incredibly relatable. Despite the fact that I am a cradle Catholic, I have grappled with many of the same questions and doubts Jennifer dealt with on the road to Christianity. How could a God that is good and loving allow so much pain and destruction? If Jesus was a real life human being, how could he possibly be God as well? Christianity has been riddled with hypocrisy and scandal throughout history, how could God be a part of that?

To find out how Jennifer reconciles these questions, you’ll just have to read the book yourself! 🙂

In the meantime what we can take from Jennifer’s beautiful story is, that at the end of the day, we are all the same. No matter who we are or what we believe in, Jesus is present in our lives and He is constantly in pursuit of each of our frail hearts. We just have to be open along the way.

Jane the Virgin is No Virgin of Virtue

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, “Jane the Virgin” is a new sitcom on The CW. It follows the story of Jane Villanueva: an attractive, young, Hispanic woman who, despite having always followed the rules, finds herself pregnant due to an accidental artificial insemination. Oh, the drama!

This post is a response to an article written by Verily Magazine praising the show.

SPOILER ALERT: If you care about the series at all, and aren’t fully caught up on the show, the following post discusses everything. Ye be warned.

I usually agree with what Verily has to say, but not this time. Being a Mexican 22-year-old virgin myself, I knew I had to follow the show and I have been following it every week since it first aired. Though I definitely have issues with plenty of its aspects, overall I enjoy it because it is funny, that much I can agree with the article on. But that’s about it.

Jane is a virgin for all the wrong reasons. And what’s more, she may be a virgin but she most certainly isn’t chaste. Yea, there’s a difference.

The Verily article seems to suggest that Jane has chosen to save sex for marriage because she respects herself, but does she? Because when Jane realizes that the reason she has been saving sex (fear of pregnancy) is no longer relevant, she plans on having sex with her fiance. The only reason she ends up deciding to remain a virgin is out of some irrational fear of God and the Church (an idea we get after a ridiculous and offensive scene at a Catholic Mass) and a sense of duty to her grandmother. She’s made it this far without sex, so what the heck, why not just keep the whole virginity thing up? So she ends up continuing to save sex for marriage because that’s what she’s been told to do and because she’s afraid she might go to hell…. not because she sees value in it.For Jane, sex isn’t a sacred thing meant to remain in marriage. She has no problem writing sexually explicit letters to her fiance after all.

The Verily article also suggests the men in her life respect her decision to remain a virgin, but do they? We know that both men that Jane dates are not virgins themselves. And while Michael, her at one point fiance, has been in a committed relationship with her for some time, he definitely pushes her. One of the first scenes in the opening episode of the series shows Michael and Jane passionately kissing with half of their clothes already off. And when Jane puts the brakes on things, Michael protests. When Raphael, the father of Jane’s baby and later romantic interest, learns Jane is a virgin he is straight up rude. He doesn’t hide the fact that he is displeased at all. And while he eventually apologizes and agrees to accept Jane’s choices, it’s clear he doesn’t want to. Both men see no value in saving sex for marriage. Both men date Jane without sex being in the mix, but both men make it clear that is NOT what THEY want. They’re simply agreeing because it’s the only way they can be with her.

So neither Jane nor the men she dates see the point in waiting for marriage. They just happen to be sexually inactive because well… that’s just the way it is. How is that meaningful? When you’re missing the intrinsic value that abstinence brings to a relationship (both in and out of marriage), you’re missing the point. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jane ends up losing her virginity before marriage later on in the show. It’s not like she sees her virginity as meaningful.

Whether the show “rises above shallow stereotypes,” as the Verily article also suggests, is questionable. The Catholic Church for one is depicted through plenty of negative stereotypes, I have yet to see the show portray the Church in a positive light. And there are also plenty of Hispanic stereotypes thrown in that would be considered offensive by many, including this Mexican.

Finally, the article suggests it’s refreshing to see relationships portrayed in the media that are not sex-driven in a positive light. Here we have people that are attractive, successful and not having sex. WOW, who knew that could be done? But is the show really sending the right message? Jane isn’t a virgin out of virtue, she’s a virgin out of fear and habit.