Pretty Woman Complex

Mike calls on Christian women to revolutionize how they are seen by themselves and secular society.
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In the movie, "Pretty Woman", that launched Julia Roberts' career, she plays a prostitute with a good heart. In the movie Richard Gere is a lonely but rich business man that buys her services for a night but ends up falling in love with her --- fast-forward to the closing shot on the fire-escape, happy ending for these two. Now in the story we find out that Richard Gere can buy fancy clothes, cars, beauty, sex but the thing that draws him to Julia Roberts' character is that she's Honest with him about himself, not that she's a "PRETTY WOMAN". This is the hook in the movie, he loves her for her heart not just her body.This basically is the charm of the movie and the message that so many women have bought into.

Beautiful and sexy on the outside, good on the inside. This "pretty woman" concept and combination is promoted by the world as a guarantee to:

  • Popularity
  • Happiness
  • Good self-esteem
  • Boyfriends; boyfriends
  • And also sells make-up and jeans.

Of course this "sexy on the outside/good on the inside ideal "works in the movies and magazines but it's not how the real world operates. In the real world we see that hardly anyone, especially guys ever get past the sexy outside part of a girl in order to bother discovering the true inner goodness.

Why is that you say? Because men are more interested in sex than goodness for the most part. O.k., there are exceptions, but we all know that even the good guys have to struggle to get past the sexy outside … most guys just stop there.

So, what's a girl to do?

So much pressure from T.V./from movies/ from my girlfriends/from guys---from my own desire to be noticed, to be liked, to be loved…to be popular!! You know what I think? I think that it's about time Christian women become radicalized about being Christians and started a movement that created a true shift in thinking about gender, and what it means to be a Christian woman in the 21stcentury. I say that the time is overdue for a seismic shift in how women of faith think and conduct themselves as that their true power can be felt in society.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the tired old neo-feminist battle for woman to serve communion or preach from a pulpit, or serve as elders. I'm talking about a complete paradigm shift for the way Christian women see and project themselves in the post-modern era. Sisters, you're being programmed by the "Pretty Woman" manipulators to be beautiful and sexy on the outside and good and innocent on the inside. I say, turn the world upside-down in your generation by going back to the way God created you to be:

A - Good on the Outside

… I want women (girls) to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.
- I Timothy 2:9-10

Cover yourselves with good works, goodness, modesty --- this is the outside cover of a dynamic Christian woman. It's O.K. to wear nice clothes / jewelry / make-up but the thing people notice are your good works and your kindness.

B - Beautiful on the Inside

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment such as braided hair, and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight ."
- I Peter 3:3-4

Good on the outside, beautiful on the inside.

C - Sexy in the Intimacy of Your Marriage Bed

"Rejoice in the wife of your youth … let her breast satisfy you at all times, be exhilarated always with her love."
- Proverbs 5:18-19

There is a time to be appealing sexually --- God says it's when you become "one" with your partner in marriage - nowhere else! Good on the outside, beautiful on the inside, sexy in the unity of marriage. If you begin this revolution here's what will happen:

  1. You will break free of the slavish control of your bodies by corporate America / Hollywood. You will once again be in charge of you and out of competition with other women and impossible ideal dangled before by those imposters who parade around as the gurus of what you should look like! Full partnership, true gender justice comes only when you are free from the false image-maker."Good on the outside", unleashes the power of God's goodness through you onto the world.
  2. "Beautiful on the Inside" will bring peace and security for your soul. The true feminine "mystic" is only found in the unique nature of a woman's inner beauty. No spirituality is as complex and influential as the power emanating from the heart of a Christian woman. A woman has not reached her true potential until she has begun to cultivate the depths of her inner beauty in Christ; your true potential is not that you become as good or successful as men, but that you reach your potential as Christians.
  3. It Will Put Human Sexuality Back into The Exclusive Confines Of Marriage Where it Belongs Sister, here are some truths that come from someone who has been counseling people about sexual matters for over 25 years:
    • Truth # 1 - The more you preserve your sexual integrity, the less pain you will experience as a single woman.
    • Truth # 2 - The more you preserve your sexual self, the more precious this gift will be to your husband.
    • Truth # 3 - The greater your sexual fidelity in marriage, the greater potential you have for a satisfying and joy filled sexual experience in that marriage.

Your precious secret is the discovery and revelation of your sexual self to another. When done within marriage it is the source of endless delight.

Summary

I know some of you don't hear what I'm saying, don't get it, don't care, just want to go eat at the cafeteria? Maybe some of you like being a "Pretty Woman". But for those of you who hear me this revolution belongs to you.

Jesus said,

...The kingdom is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.

If you get it, if you want it --- you be the seed and begin the revolution, right here, right now, in this very place. One day, long from now, you'll remember that this is the day that you left behind the "Pretty Woman" complex and became a "Holy Woman" --- pleasing to God, precious to man, at peace with yourself. God bless you my sisters. I love you with the love of Christ.

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