Category: Faith Musings

Morgan Olliges ft. Performative Christian Modesty

I’ve blogged about the Morgan and Paul Show before and my opinion of them (that they’re very unbiblical and steeped in secular conservative culture rather than Christ) remains unchanged.

However, Morgan is more palatable for me because she actually possesses self-control when it comes to her tongue i.e. “[a] fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” Morgan doesn’t spew every thought that comes to her mind online, nor does she repost every bit of conservative, secular drivel she sees on Instagram, which is more than I can say for Paul (sidenote: it’s ironic how Morgan, who is suppose to be led by Paul, regularly displays more wisdom and self-control than he does…). Plus, she has a really lovely voice.

That said, a while ago Morgan (probably) posted a picture of her in leggings with a sticker or whatever over her booty, which is probably why I took this screenshot. I likely intended to blog about this topic eons ago but clearly that never happened, and I don’t particularly feel like scouring the web for whatever she posted initially as I attempt to restart my whole “blogging at least once a week” nonsense.

So instead of a.) not posting the picture b.) taking the picture in loose-fitting pants or a dress c.)reading the Bible and realizing the female figure isn’t inherently sexual, or even d.) taking a front picture, Morgan chose to post a picture she views as inherently “immodest” and then draw attention to the fact that she’s immodestly dressed by blocking out her butt.

Performative modesty is at the heart of posting something like this. The doubling down by insisting she wears a jacket or shirt to cover her butt out in public indicates a prideful, rather than humble, heart.

If Morgan really believed leggings or tight-fitting jeans were inappropriate, she just wouldn’t wear them. Like why go through the trouble and discomfort of wearing something you inherently view as immodest when you could literally just wear something modest? The Bible says “[do] nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Posting a picture with her butt covered up (which inadvertently draws more attention to it) is an attempt at appearing modest without actually being modest (to be clear, leggings are not immodest but Morgan clearly things they are). It’s the opposite of humility. Again, someone who truly felt leggings were immodest would just not wear them, or at the very least just not post pictures in them. Like I doubt someone held a gun to her head and forced her to pose in and upload pictures of herself in leggings on Instagram.

There’s nothing wrong with modest clothing, nor is there anything wrong with promoting modesty on a public platform. The Bible says, (1 Timothy 2:9-10) “[l]ikewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.”

However, performative modesty isn’t genuine. It’s attention-seeking and born from a desire to to have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…” True modesty is born out of humility; it’s a desire to let yourself decrease so that others may be focused on God. After all, as Christians we are told to do all for the glory of God, not all for the glory of Instagram. Maybe Morgan should pick up her Bible and realize that true modesty isn’t about what you wear, but it’s a posture of the heart. One that desires to give all glory and attention to God.

Or she could just, ya know, not post pictures of her butt on social media.

Biblical Masculinity Hack: Don’t Play Video Games

Bernadine generally posts lots of pick me nonsense, because 90% of the time there’s nay a Scripture in sight backing a single thing she says rendering it nonsense.

By pick-me, I don’t mean women who want to be loved. Many of these SAHwifey influencers claim those criticizing pick-mes are criticizing women who want to generally be in a relationship, or get married, both of which no one is criticizing. Like 95% of humans wants to be in a relationship. A pick-me is a woman who vies for male attention/general praise by putting others (usually women) down in order to do achieve that. It’s not that these pick-mes want a relationship, but their means of gaining one involves being generally shady towards and criticizing women who don’t behave the way they do, or like the things they like.

Anyway apparently peak Biblical masculinity = not liking anime and video games. I suppose she prefers men partake in activities like watching football and posting constantly on social media about Harry Styles outfits? Ya know, all the extremely masculine activities Jesus and His twelve disciples participated in when they weren’t busy being stoned, whipped, and imprisoned.

Everything else aside, this post insinuates feminine, Christian women couldn’t possibly like video games or anime themselves which as a gamer who loves anime an cottage core that is actually what I find deeply offensive. Last year I played Spiderman, Horizon Forbidden West, and Jedi: Fallen Order. I re-watched HunterxHunter, and watched Chainsaw Man and Attack On Titan. I enjoy anime and video games, and most importantly I love Jesus. Many of my friends enjoy anime and/or video games and go to church every week, pray, read their Bibles, fast, and sing on their worship teams. And on Wednesdays we wear pink.

Now, I’m not saying Christians should go out and watch, or play, any old thing (I wouldn’t rec. Chainsaw Man tbh lol). However, there’s no difference between spending an hour playing video games each day vs. spending an hour on social media, or watching TV. Gaming is a hobby. Biblically, “everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial,” which is the attitude Christians should adopt when considering what activities to participate in, or not (barring anything that’s explicitly forbidden in the Bible).

I’ve come to accept social media is all about clickbait and whatnot to get people’s attention and Bernadine does go into a bit further detail on what she means and it’s like 10% deeper than this screenshot. That said, I don’t like seeing “Christians” post low-effort content that lacks any Scripture anywhere. Ya know, the part that makes it Christian and not just an opinion.

As Christians, our opinions should be formed by the Bible, not tradition, not cultural concepts of femininity and masculinity, but by the Word of God. Many of these influencers like Bernadine have large Christian followings of young people, so spouting off inane takes like these are only going to result in a bunch of young Christian girls thinking their partners aren’t masculine enough because they play Mario Cart, which is stupid.

The question isn’t whether or not anime and video games are inherently unmasculine, it’s whether or not those things are hindering one’s walk with God, or not. If you find yourself constantly skipping out on social events, time with family, or time with God to play video games, then yeah you gotta a problem.

However, playing video games as time permits isn’t unmasculine and Biblically this falls under the “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” umbrella.

Also gaming isn’t gendered. #bye

Dale Partridge Advocates For The Bare Minimum (In Jesus Name)

Dale Partridge has adopted or fostered approximately zero children as far as I’m aware so… faith without works is dead, brother. Funny how Christians who do nothing are the loudest online about everything Christians supposedly do.

Tweeting this does nothing to change the reality that there are indeed many unwanted children today in the foster care system and Dale is doing nothing to change this fact. It’s the equivalent of the man with leprosy approaching Jesus and being like, “Lord, if you’re willing please heal me….” And Jesus being like “yeah, I came here to heal you,” and then walking away.

My main issue though is this basically applauds Christians for doing the upmost bare minimum. James said “religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to take care of widow and orphans.” So like the base minimum for being a decent religious person (not even Christian) is to care about orphaned children. That’s literally the absolute bare minimum, which is funny as most modern, Evangelical Christians care about neither orphans nor widows – just look at how underfunded and corrupt our foster care system is and then look at what the majority of conservative, “Christian” politicians and pundits build their platforms on. It ain’t children or widows.

Advocating that Christians do something that should be a no-brainer is why American Christianity is dying and why the secular world laughs in our faces whenever Christians try to hold some moral high-ground over various issues.

Unfortunately, Dale is exactly like most American Christians, more concerned with getting likes and retweets online than doing anything useful, let alone doing anything Jesus would actually do. Patting yourself on the back for doing the bare minimum isn’t the flex he thinks it is. It should be a given that Christians were and are at the forefront of hospitals, adoptions, women’s shelters, etc. (if his stat is even true) not something to brag about. In fact, the Bible even tells us that our giving should be done in secret which makes this tweet doubly in poor taste.

A proper response would be that yes, the church could and should do more for expectant mothers. We could be advocating for 6 months minimum of paid maternity leave so that new mothers can bond with their children and not have to worry about losing their jobs, we could be advocating for better healthcare so new mothers don’t go bankrupt having kids, we could be advocating for better sex education and better access to birth control to limit the amount of unwanted pregnancies, and Dale could put his money where his mouth is and foster or adopt a child to prove he isn’t full of air.

But of course, that would mean actually following the Bible on which his faith is built upon and not just tweeting hot takes.