Favorite Quotes from Christian Cosmo

I'm just sitting here reading this book and let me tell you: the amount of times I've wanted to clap my hands and yell out "Amen sista!" is like...above 100. Here are some of my favorite quotes, and some thoughts on them:

"If we determine moral issues based on individual feelings, there is no standard for right or wrong at all. The standard for good and evil has to come from something outside of mankind, or truth is nothing more than personal opinion."

     This quote reminds me of one of the huge reasons I believe in God. Like I really believe that there has to be something higher than humanity that determines right from wrong, or else there would be no point to that awful feeling we get when we do something wrong. 

"We cannot battle lust with legalism, or protect purity with a bunch of rules."

     I talked about this a little bit in my last Christian Cosmo post, which you can check out here.  If life has taught me anything, it's that rules are great in theory, but they never really work. We as humans just suck at following rules-- I really think it's not humanly possible to ever keep any set of rules. So when people say "Okay, if you do this, this and this and DON'T do that, that and that, then you'll be considered 'pure' or a 'good person'", it just kind of perplexes me, because I can think of no other instance in which strict sets of rules and restrictions have ever really served their purpose. 

"Virginity doesn't guarantee good marriage: love for God does."

      Amen amen amen. I don't think I even need to elaborate. 

"When the church presents virginity as a prize to be won, it has missed God's goal...God's goal is not virginity. His heart is holiness...In Jesus you are a new kind of virgin walking in freedom to please God."

     You can be a virgin and not be pure. You can be pure and not be a virgin. Purity and virginity are SO NOT synonyms! Somehow I feel like the world has gotten that concept twisted up. Honestly, I have gotten this concept twisted up sometimes. For example, I wear a purity ring. I never thought I was idolizing it until a few weeks ago when I was talking to my roommates and they were both like "I don't get purity rings. People who wear them think they're better than other people. Like why do you need to make your decision so obvious?" I was seriously humbled. I don't try to wear my ring so I can show it off to people-- it's supposed to just be a symbol to me of a personal choice. But they were both SO RIGHT. Nobody wears t-shirts that say "I Don't Lie". There's no such thing as an "Anti Cheating" ring. I'm still going to wear my ring, because it has come to mean a lot to me. But I am definitely trying to change my attitude about WHY I'm wearing it. 

More info about the Christian Cosmo book release here! :)

-VaughnDL