2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographConverted Christian author spreads message of chasitity to students
By Megan Kelly
Posted: 3/16/07 Section: News
Dawn Eden, author of "The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On," spoke to University students Tuesday night at the Newman Center. Eden, a once agnostic rock journalist who converted to Christianity, spread the message of chastity to a packed audience.
"As college students, you're at a stage in life where you're curious about sex, but at the same time you want to be loved," Eden said. "Your ability to enjoy sex will be with you long after college, but if you indulge in pre-marital sex you'll damage your ability to have intimacy and to have lifelong marital love."
Eden was not always an advocate of chastity as she is now.
Eden was born into a reformed Jewish household in 1968 and began writing for rock music magazines in 1985. As a young adult, she began suffering from depression and became agnostic. She engaged in pre-marital sex with many different partners, desperately trying to find herself and fulfillment in life.
Eden was still soul-searching when she interviewed the lead singer of the band Sugarplastic in 1995. He told her he was reading the book "The Man Who was Thursday" by G.K. Chesterton. Eden picked the book up, not knowing Chesterton was considered one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century. Although she continued to act promiscuously, Eden began developing a curiosity about the faith.
Four years later Eden had a life-altering experience. She was lying in bed alone when she felt a presence in her room. She heard a woman's voice saying, "some things are not meant to be known; some things are meant to be understood," which frightened her. She then felt directed to read Romans 5:1, which stated, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
"When I read that, it all came together," she said. "From then on I believed, and I was healed of my depression."
Since her conversion, Eden has been active with her faith. She started an online blog where she conducted an investigative report on Planned Parenthood. She also wrote down many thoughts on chastity that were eventually incorporated into her novel. She was even fired from her copy editing job at the New York Post in 2005 after she made unauthorized changes to an article that she felt had a cavalier attitude toward the sanctity of human embryos.
"As college students, you're at a stage in life where you're curious about sex, but at the same time you want to be loved," Eden said. "Your ability to enjoy sex will be with you long after college, but if you indulge in pre-marital sex you'll damage your ability to have intimacy and to have lifelong marital love."
Eden was not always an advocate of chastity as she is now.
Eden was born into a reformed Jewish household in 1968 and began writing for rock music magazines in 1985. As a young adult, she began suffering from depression and became agnostic. She engaged in pre-marital sex with many different partners, desperately trying to find herself and fulfillment in life.
Eden was still soul-searching when she interviewed the lead singer of the band Sugarplastic in 1995. He told her he was reading the book "The Man Who was Thursday" by G.K. Chesterton. Eden picked the book up, not knowing Chesterton was considered one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century. Although she continued to act promiscuously, Eden began developing a curiosity about the faith.
Four years later Eden had a life-altering experience. She was lying in bed alone when she felt a presence in her room. She heard a woman's voice saying, "some things are not meant to be known; some things are meant to be understood," which frightened her. She then felt directed to read Romans 5:1, which stated, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
"When I read that, it all came together," she said. "From then on I believed, and I was healed of my depression."
Since her conversion, Eden has been active with her faith. She started an online blog where she conducted an investigative report on Planned Parenthood. She also wrote down many thoughts on chastity that were eventually incorporated into her novel. She was even fired from her copy editing job at the New York Post in 2005 after she made unauthorized changes to an article that she felt had a cavalier attitude toward the sanctity of human embryos.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Mark Soper
posted 3/19/07 @ 8:24 PM CST
Ms. Eden is uniquely positioned both to understand the truth of what she is writing and teaching and to be able to convey it to a generation distrustful of received wisdom. (Continued…)
Post a Comment