Welcome to my blog. I hope you feel right at home here. Let me tell you a little about myself and why I am writing this blog. My name is Christina O’Rourke. I am a wearer of many hats. I am a single mom to an amazing little boy. He is 21 months, and his name is Xander. He is the biggest blessing in my life. I share custody of him with my ex-husband.
I am a Christian. Please, don’t let that dissuade you from reading my blog. I’m not one of those shove the Bible down your throat Christians. I’m a person, with opinions, choices, an experiences. Something I say may ring with you or help you one day. I’m very active in my church and I put God first in everything. Now let me tell you right now I am a very transparent person and I fail at exactly what I just said. Sometimes  I forget to put God first, or I’m being stubborn. After this I usually fall flat on my face and I have to say, God, sorry about my stubbornness. Can you show me the right way? And He does, because God has some awesome Mercy and Grace.
I’m an avid reader. I love books. Ergo, I am a Librarian. I work at a small rural Library in South Central Kentucky. Some of my favorite authors include Jojo Moyes, Liane Moriarty, Jacqueline Carey, Anne Bishop, and Terry Goodkind. My current non-fiction book is A Sliver of Light by Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal. I also love to write, mostly fiction, but some nonfiction as well. I’ve been asked to blog by many people so here you go!
So, other than people keep asking me, why am I blogging? Well, honestly it’s to help both of us. Me, as the blogger, and you, as the reader. It is possible that you need help, or reassurance. I’ve been through things that maybe you have too, or are currently going through. Maybe you need to know that someone else was able to get back up after a divorce, or abusive dads and spouses. Maybe you need to know you can straighten your life out into something amazing and respectable and drug addiction. Maybe a song I like you will resonate with. Who knows. Maybe you just need to find your tribe. (Courtesy of Moyes right there. Read One Plus One and you’ll get it.) Speaking of, maybe I’ll review a book on here and you’ll be like, Thank God! Someone else gets it! Or maybe you’ll think I’m an idiot. Maybe you’ll think I’m a genius. Either way they are your opinions and you’re entitled to them as much as I am entitled to mine. I hope to post frequently, and that they are inspiring. I have no set structure to this blog. I may rejoice, or I may vent. I hope whatever I do you will find it relate-able. Until the next post I hope you have a wonderful day! 🙂
Free to Keep Breathing 
Hi! Its sad that we can’t unveil our identities without explaining them. “I’m a Christian, not one those other ones, though!” We should be able to shout “I’m disabled!” or “I’m a huge nerd!” unapolegetically. Who cares whether or not listeners generalize us? Anyway my name is Sarah and I would love to talk to you about how you came about being a Christain. (I’m agnostic and curious) 🙂
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Hi Sarah! It’s so nice to meet you! I agree that it’s sad that we can’t say what we are without apologizing. I most assuredly do not apologize for being a Christian, but I do apologize for some of the negativity that my fellow Christians sometimes put out there. They may intentionally or unintentionally do this. The reason I even made it a point in my welcome post is because there are people who would read my blog, see the word Christian, and never look at it again. I’m not trying to “save” anyone. I’m trying to encourage people in life, and if Jesus is the answer to that then by all means give your life to God. He’s pretty epic and has worked some serious miracles in my life.
I became a Christian April 26, 2010. The day before that I had been arrested for possession of weed, something I thought would never happen to me. Not because I was smug and thought I could get away with doing drugs, but because I didn’t understand how I went from vowing to never do drugs and end up like my parents, to being just like my parents. I was in a swift downward spiral and confused. For me that was rock bottom and I had no where else to go. I was sitting in my favorite coffee shop with my head in my hands (very uncharacteristic of me) when a friend of mine, who happens to also be a pastor, sat beside me and asked what was wrong. (Before being a Christian I was a lukewarm pagan, but very open minded. I’m still opened minded though haha). After he sat down it all came pouring out. He was very supportive and kind. Not judgmental, hateful, or condemning. Everyone makes mistakes. I was crying at this point. He lead me over to a more comfortable and private part of the cafe, asked if he could pray for me, and handed me the Bible of a mutual friend. I said he could pray for me, he turned to John and asked me to read. I got to verse 5 before I started crying hysterically again. John 1:5 was the passage I needed most of all. “The light shines in the darkness,and the darkness can never extinguish it.” I gave my life to Christ that night because I knew I wasn’t strong enough to survive on my own. I needed God in my life. It’s been a journey every day since. I’m not perfect, I make mistakes, still do actually. But I asked God to forgive me and I try to do and be better. Not everyone comes to God because they had some tragic event, or lost all hope. Some people just wake up one day and realize, hey, something isn’t right. It didn’t happen that way for me. Looking back I can see all the times Jesus reached out to me. Every time I ran away. But for over four years now I am incredibly thankful I hit rock bottom and saw the light. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have, or anything you are curious about. I am a very open and honest person.
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As a feminist, liberal and evolutionist, I see the Bible itself as a flawed piece of work however, there are many feminists and evolutionists and liberals who call themselves Christian. I was talking to a guidance counselor about religion and my reasons for leaving Christianity, before I found the evidence and stuff. I simply was disgusted by the why the other Christians expressed themselves. Of course this was merely the beginning of stepping out of Christianity and not the only reason. The counselor said “Oh that’s right. Most people leave their religion when the see those other members of that sect express them in an inhumane manner and stuff!” I never thought that it could be the other way around, that one can see or talk with a person of faith and find out that they are this way because of religion and join it. In history, religion is the cause of most destruction; war, suicide, etc. but I forget that it has some provides security, hope, and can pull you out of dark places. Thank you for reminding me of the good side of religion! 🙂 Sorry if I disrespected you in anyway. As I was reading, I wondered, Christianity is the act of following Christ and believing that God rose him from the dead. There is obviously more to the story. One usually doesn’t go “I don’t believe in god!” to “Oh of course people can walk on water!” 😀 Did you come from being open-minded or agnostic to being a Christian, like you’ve always felt that there is something else out there? Or were you born into the faith and went a away for a while and realize “that was true!” ? Thank you!
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In what ways do you see it flawed? I’m just curious. It is not necessarily religion or Christianity which causes a person to inhumane, negative, or hurtful things. It is the person’s heart and beliefs. Of course there are those religious sects which promote violence, some are just radical, but Jesus did not teach us to be violent to one another. He taught us to love your neighbor. Yes, there are radical Christians who choose a violent method of showing their religion, but not everyone is the same. Not all Muslims are terrorists, not all Jews are…etc. etc. I have also been disgusted by how some Christian’s express themselves. Some people get so over focused on serving God, promoting good, and spreading the word that they sometimes miss the big picture, they miss God because they were too focused on what they were doing and not enough on what He was doing.
You have not disrespected me. I came from an open-minded family, but none of them are overly religious or spiritual. We never went to church, or prayed or anything. God was more of a concept or word and expression. “Oh, god!” for example. My grandmother did not understand the spirituality I had chosen and often asked how I could not see that there is a God. I rejected the idea of the Christian God at 8 or 9 years old. My step-father was very abusive. He would drag us to church. I didn’t resent the church, but I didn’t understand how God could allow a man so evil as my step-father to exist and to hurt my family. How could He say to love man and his followers are good if this man was so incredibly evil. So I rejected God. I knew something was out there, some higher power, and I followed a very Greek pantheon for years. Probably about 8 years or so, but I was lukewarm in my spirituality. I hope this is all making sense.
So in short, no I wasn’t born into Christianity and walked away. I believed in something, but not 100% on anything, found solace in the only place I could. Christ, who died for my sins, and gives me everlasting hope.
Any other questions or thoughts you have please feel free to ask 🙂 I’m an open book!
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First of all, sorry about your step-father! 😦
When I said that something in religion was flawed, it wasn’t Christians (or modern Christians), but the Bible and doctrine. Of course, I am still learning. I go to a catholic school so kind of have to 🙂 My theories are flawed, but the Bible was made by the men of the coouncil of Nicea. It was humans that made the Bible and there is no evidence to prove that they were truely inspired by god. How do they know that there were following the right god, too? The parchments that the Council found were written by hebrews and jews. These people were influenced by every nation they conguered especially the greeks. The old testement portrays god as a really awful person who wipes out entire populations because they don’t do what he wants with the free will he gave them, or seems to make people do evil things like when he hardens Pharoah’s heart to make him not “let my people go”. This is alot like the wrath of zues and other gods that I have studied. Did you know that many other religions tell the story of “the flood” (MANY years before the hebrew culture was established) and we only say that the hebrew version is hands down true. Many stories in the bible are spin offs of other mythologies and the fact that it was written years before hebrew culture is worse; words could be lost and translation could be easily mixed making the entire old testement unreliable (historically and scientifically). I believe that the Bible is a good source of information, but only for philosophical reasons. Unforturnatly, 50% of Americans believe that the entire universe was created in a day by a large invisible man (no disrespect). I say no disrespect because the last time I showed my true adversity for Christianity, my christian parents called my teachers to ask if they should take my education away “Why should we invest so much money if you just gonna throw your life away?” and as a minority, I will get nowhere without a good school.
Anyway, this is all just my opinion and my findings, they may change over time, but for now, I’m sticking with “the bible is flawed”. Thanks for asking! 🙂 I’m not trying to discourage your faith or anything. I’ll let you know when I have more questions!
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That’s ok, but thank you. I’ve learned from the experience and I don’t linger on the memory of him. I knew you meant the Bible is flawed, that’s what I was referring to. I understand that it might be hard to accept or grasp the idea of the Bible being the inspired word of God, but written by man. That’s where a little bit of faith comes in. I’m not trying to use faith as a cop-out. I struggled with that same idea in the past. And you know what, there are probably a few translation issues in it. It’s certainly is possible. But part of the big thing with any idea or religion is faith. Whether it is Christianity, the Big Bang Theory, or even just knowing you’re friend is going to show up for your coffee date, you have faith that these things are going to happen and that they exist. I definitely know where you are coming from with the angry God idea. Think of it as a parent and child relationship, because it kind of is. our parents want us to do and be good, but they understand that we have free will and will make our own choices. God wiped out certain civilizations, not because they weren’t doing what he wanted, but because there was so much sin and corruption and they did not want to do and be good. History is so interwoven it’s crazy. But think about who recorded history and how many things have been lost. Man makes records, Man destroys the Library of Alexandria. How much was lost? Books have been burned, some have been changed (King James reference there).
This past Sunday at church my pastor actually spoke on God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. I’ll scan my notes and e-mail them to you, but I’ll link you to the audio archive so you can give it a listen (if you don’t mind). I think you would really enjoy listening to it even if it’s from a philosophical point of view. And actually the Bible teaches us that God created the world in 7 days, but you are right in thinking that 50% of Americans think it was one day. I’ve met some really, really ignorant people…
I hate that you are at odds with your parents, but I hope you know they want what’s best for you. They are not always right though. What’s best for you may not be what they think is what’s best.
Here is the link to the audio archive. Listen to the Sermon on 8/31/2014 titled Every Pharaoh Needs Challenging.
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Hey again! Faith is a very tricky thing. There is evidence that points the fact that evolution and the big bang is true, but no one is ever 100% sure about anything without faith. Yes, there is only so much evidence can do, but we try, you know? There is a chance that one religion is true while all other is false. There is a chance that no religion is true, but no one knows which is okay. Faith and religion aren’t created on a whim or chosen, but influenced, whether it’s fact or just because someone said so.
I’m looking forward to those links, tough! I can’t access the link here though 😦 Do you mind emailing me the link to the sermon along with the notes? Thanks! 🙂
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