Conservative Mennonites

Coming to Los Angeles: How I Learned to Quit Worrying, and Love This City

Steven Denlinger | Posted 02.08.2008 | Living

Read More: London, Fundamentalism, Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses, Little House on the Prairie, Ohio, Hasidic Jews, The Witness, Devil's Playground, Schwartz Creek, Vincent Shaw Talent Agency, Richmond College, Chaim Potak, Conservative Mennonites, My Name Is Asher Lev, Religion, Living News
Steven Denlinger

A close friend of mine who also left the conservative Mennonite world put it to me this way: "It's hard to talk about our childhood world in cocktail party language -- because it takes too long to explain."

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Of Tent Revivals, Wayward Husbands and Chicken Dinners

Steven Denlinger | Posted 11.24.2007 | Living

Read More: St. Peter, Joke, Born-Again, Chicken Dinner, Amish Mennonite, Richmond College, Andrew Jantzi, Evangelical Friends, United Methodists, Conservative Mennonites, England, London, Gambling, Muslim, Attention, Jack Daniels, Ohio, Evangelist, Hartville Christian School, Judaism, Domestic Abuse, Heaven, Hell, Rubicon, Western, Kensington, Baptist, Chaucer, Harville, Living News
Steven Denlinger

I used to think that people make decisions logically. Jantzi understood better. Jantzi understood the power of tears.

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Children of Fundamentalism: Why I Hate Caring Communities!

Steven Denlinger | Posted 11.09.2007 | Living

Read More: Winnie the Pooh, John Fohner, Morocco, Community, Beat, Power, Amish, Conservative Mennonites, Control, France, Ethnic Mennonite, Hartville, Muslim, Love Story, Children of Fundamentalism, Hasidic Jew, United Methodist, Romance, Ohio, Virginity, North Carolina, Catholic, Asheville, Pasadena, Eeyore, Korean, Living News
Steven Denlinger

The mind needs freedom to question, which is impossible if constrained by the black and white mindset of fundamentalism. In any religion, excessive control clamps down the pipeline of creativity that feeds the soul.

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The Subtext of Confession

Steven Denlinger | Posted 11.01.2007 | Home

Read More: Communion, Holmes County, Francis McDormand, Subtext, Sheepskin, Diaries, Kindly, Robert McKee, The Politics of Jesus, Conservative Mennonites, Sexuality and Power, Masochism, Christ, John Howard Yoder, Strict, Fornication, Revival, Schwartz Creek, Catholic Central High School, Public Confession, Guilt, Rome, Jesus, Punishment, Ravening Wolves, The Archer School for Girls, Humiliation, Priest, Urth Cafe, Law and Order, Dominance, Caring, Children of Israel, Sadism, Bishop, Denny Crane, Wonder Boys, A River Runs Through It, Lakers, Bondage, Ohio, Anabaptists, Bdsm, Steubenville, Inquisition, Home News
Steven Denlinger

THE BISHOP paused. He glanced back at me sitting there. He seemed to look directly into my soul, his eyes intense, passionate. My eyes dropped. I...

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