From Dawn Eden…
— Posted by John (November 3, 2006 at 3:51 pm)
…comes “Chastity Rome-Chick Blues”!
An excerpt from Dawn’s forthcoming book, The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, is available here.
Watching this video, I couldn’t help but make the connection with the abstinence educators’ symposium I attended yesterday. The symposium included an excellent talk on the importance of effective communication of the abstinence message by David Mahan — probably the most dynamic abstinence speaker I’ve ever heard — of Frontline Communications as well as a performance by a group of high school and college kids from the Chicago chapter of BreakDown.
The kids in BreakDown, David Mahan, Dawn Eden — none of them is anything like the tired old stereotype of the abstinence movement: the homely, puritanical, sex-hating, finger-wagging, “You’re going to hell if you have sex!”-preaching old biddy.
The new pro-life, pro-chastity generation is here. And it’s here to stay.
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Mike says:
John,
Have you ever heard Jason and Crystalina Evert speak to High School students on Chastity Education? If so, what did you think of their talk?
If you have not heard them before, you can listen to their talks to both Catholic & Public Schools on the link below.
http://www.pureloveclub.com/seminars/index.php?id=3
Mike
Comment posted November 3rd, 2006 at 3:57 pm
John says:
I’ve heard Jason speak. He’s no slouch himself!
Comment posted November 3rd, 2006 at 4:42 pm
Mike says:
John,
Wow, that’s a great video. Nice Post! I can’t wait to hear Lauren’s comments on the video.
Mike
Comment posted November 3rd, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Mike says:
Bishop Morlino from Madison, WI has a message on the important issues for everyone before you vote. Here it is…
http://www.madisondiocese.org/
http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?p=1633182#post1633182
Mike
Comment posted November 5th, 2006 at 7:43 am
lauren says:
Dont be a girl who lets herself get used!?
WHy is it that women are always being USED!? I can’t stand this. It’s as if women can’t possibly get enjoyment out of consentual non-marital sex.
Comment posted November 6th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
John says:
Lauren said: “WHy is it that women are always being USED!? I can’t stand this.”
It’s a good thing that you can’t stand it. I can’t stand it, either. But your complaint isn’t with Dawn Eden for pointing this out, nor with us for pointing it out that she is pointing it out.
Your complaint is with the human tendency toward selfishness.
Sex is a language. It is the language of complete and total self-sacrificing, self-donating mutual love expressed by a man and woman in a way that uniquely allows human beings to reflect the inner life of God.
Outside the context of permanent, committed love, therefore, sex simply doesn’t make sense, because neither the man nor the woman is giving of himself or herself completely, and they end up using each other.
“It’s as if women can’t possibly get enjoyment out of consentual non-marital sex.”
Huh? Nobody’s saying that erotic pleasure isn’t possible for those who have non-marital sex. But non-marital sex will do nothing to help anyone achieve real, authentic, lasting happiness. Actually, it will stand in the way of it.
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 10:33 am
lauren says:
My parents were married for 15 years. If that’s happiness kill me now.
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
mary kay says:
Ahhhh…but what kind of marriage was it? Were they living by the standards that John is speaking of? Probably not. And that would just prove his point that a marriage that is not sanctified will probably fail.
Picture your mom and dad, both mass goers, praying together every morning and every evening, practicing NFP, always thinking of the other one first, recieving the sacraments together, reading scripture together…
Maybe that’s hard to picture, but you see how different their marriage would have been.
Just something to think about.
MK
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Rosie says:
‘Maybe that’s hard to picture, but you see how different their marriage would have been.”
My parents marriage lasted 25 years before they got divorced. My dad never went to church with us when I was a kid nor did he go to Christmas or thanksgiving dinners at my relatives houses. Looking back it doesn’t surprise me that he left his family for a woman 8 years older than me.(yuck!) They were definately not happy. I got lucky and married a guy who is nothing like my dad. I never looked at marriage as something to avoid, I just knew what kind of person not to marry.
Comment posted November 7th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
lauren says:
“Picture your mom and dad, both mass goers, praying together every morning and every evening, practicing NFP, always thinking of the other one first, recieving the sacraments together, reading scripture together…”
That’s not how either of my parents are and I’m glad they’re not. My mom is remarried now to an awesome stepdad who I can talk to anytime. I dont need them to go to mass or practice NFP to validate their relationship. If they are kind and treat each other with love and respect that is enough for me.
Comment posted November 8th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
mary kay says:
Lauren,
It’s not about what you need them to do to validate their marriage. It’s about what they need.
If they are past child-bearing years then the NFP is moot, but I’ll bet their marriage would only benefit if Faith entered into the picture. Only time will tell. If they are newly wed, I’d be surprised if they DIDN’T treat each other with love and respect. And while that is a good beginning, why settle for good when it could be great? Allowing God into their marriage could only enhance it.
MK
Comment posted November 8th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
David Mahan says:
Thanks for mentioning me in your article. God Bless all that you do and I hope to see you again out on the Front-lines!
David
Comment posted May 20th, 2007 at 4:57 pm