Reality check.

Firstly, cheers for smashing me over my last post.

Secondly, every Christian female (although indeed probably the general female population at large), should read this article. It is by Beth Spraul from Capitol Hill Baptist Church and is titled You've Got Lies: Chick Flicks and the World's Approach to Men and Marriage. It addresses the seemingly innocent but actually quite damaging influence that chick-flicks and chick-lit have over women's expectations of love. That is, they're ridiculously unrealistic.

I’d like to suggest that culture attacks women similarly — it is just a bit more subtle. The lies told to women are introduced at the level of women’s emotions (less harmful, right?), in how they dream about men, and in what they long for relationally. Like pornography, chick-flicks take a good gift from God (romance, relational intimacy) that women are created to desire, and distort it by presenting as “normal” an unbiblical and unrealistic picture of men, love and marriage. And just like men who buy into the lies of pornography, women who believe that their husbands and marriages should always be like what they see on the screen will be sinfully dissatisfied with God’s good gift to them of a “normal” husband and marriage.

Obviously, the analogy is not perfect. Unlike pornography, it is possible to engage in watching "chick flicks" and have it be a sin-free activity. With pornography, the very act of viewing it is always harmful and always a sin. However, before you assume you are able to watch chick-flicks and read romance novels without harmful effects to your expectations for men and marriage, consider the following lies often propogated by these movies, and think about them in comparison to what Scripture teaches.

You mean men don't think of romance and intimacy the way we do? Marrying the right guy won't see me live happily ever after? Chemistry isn't that important and my intuition isn't always right? Far out man this was a good read but it certainly wasn't any fun.

Poor men. Between Mr. Darcy and Edward Cullen, the real guy has got no hope. I will do my best to bring my own lofty expectations back down to earth and in line with Scripture...