Monthly Archives: September 2009

Should Christians Watch Soap Operas?

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SHOULD CHRISTIANS WATCH SOAP OPERAS PODCAST

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy soap operas then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.

Will Melanie give him a chance?

Kyle’s mom died when he was three and he barely remembers her. He’s determined to find out more about his mom. As Melanie and Kyle reconnect during the holiday season they take a long road trip during a snowstorm so that Kyle can find answers to his questions about his mother. The road trip is also something that Melanie must do so that she can save her business. See ceceliadowdy.com/books or click on the link at the end of this blog post to purchase Rocky Road Dreams. Rocky Road Dreams is available on Amazon.

***Update – 9/22/2019 – see the end of this blog post for the update

The other day, my husband sent me this link to an article stating that the soap opera, The Guiding Light, will be canceled after 72 YEARS ON THE AIR…this soap opera pre-dates television (I’m assuming it started as a radio show)! He sent me the article because he knows that I used to watch soap operas – but I’ve never watched The Guiding Light.

A few years ago, I blogged about soap operas here.

After I wrote that blog post (I was mostly talking about The Young And The Restless on that post) I stopped watching soap operas. I got into a time crunch and the soap operas didn’t make my TO DO list.

I started watching soap operas in high school because I was bored. I lived in a remote rural area. During the summertime, there was really no place to go. My mom didn’t drive, my dad was at work all day, I had no money, and I had no car to drive. I spent my summer days walking around the neighborhood, reading books, and watching soap operas! Since I read books so quickly – I practically inhaled them, I got most of my titles from the bookmobile that came to town every two weeks. I also fondly remember watching General Hospital while Luke and Laura fell in love and out of love. I recall watching All My Children when Greg and Jenny fell in love and evil forces strove to keep them apart. I also remember Jessie Hubbard and Angie getting together and falling in love. I’d get freaked out when these storybook romances would end, but watching these stories gave me something to do during those boring hot summer days. To top it off, I’d spend the rest of my day reading romance novels. It’s hard for me to get into the soaps nowadays, I guess, because the stories never end. They go on and on…imagine, a 72-year-old story like The Guiding Light?

I’ve sometimes dreamed of having a Christian soap opera on the air where people can talk about finding faith and forgiving others.

Do any of you watch soap operas now, or did you used to watch them? If so, which ones did you watch? Why do you like them? How long have you been watching the soaps? Do you think Christians should watch soap operas? I’ll start by saying I don’t see anything wrong with watching them as long as you don’t get too carried away…it’s kind of like, reading a secular novel or watching a movie. It’s entertainment and overall, soaps aren’t any better or worse than a lot of the other secular entertainment out there.

I enjoyed the soaps because they were entertaining and I’d get caught up in the characters’ lives. Sometimes they were placed in perilous situations and I just wanted them to get rescued! If they were hurt and in the hospital, I wanted them to recuperate and get better! But, if they died, it’s possible they could come back from the dead later! LOL!

Feel free to answer these questions and to throw in any other opinions you have about soap operas. I’m kind of anxious to hear what others have to say!

***Update 9/22/2019 – There have been two soap opera style shows on Hallmark Channel. These “soap operas” are clean and Christians can watch them without getting offended. The shows to which I’m referring are Chesapeake Shores and Cedar Cove (which is now off the air). 

This blog post is sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy soap operas then you should try Rocky Road Dreams by CECELIA DOWDY. Rocky Road Dreams is about a lawyer named Kyle Baxter. Kyle is on a month-long Christmas hiatus from his job. He rents a house on the Outer Banks for his extended vacation. Melanie Richards, his childhood friend, lives across the street. When they were kids, Melanie had a crush on Kyle’s identical twin brother Keith. Kyle never thought he stood a chance with Melanie since she was smitten with his brother. Keith is now married and both Kyle and Melanie are single.

Will Melanie give him a chance?

Kyle’s mom died when he was three and he barely remembers her. He’s determined to find out more about his mom. As Melanie and Kyle reconnect during the holiday season they take a long road trip during a snowstorm so that Kyle can find answers to his questions about his mother. The road trip is also something that Melanie must do so that she can save her business. See ceceliadowdy.com/books or click on the link at the end of this blog post to purchase Rocky Road Dreams. Rocky Road Dreams is available on Amazon.

SUBSCRIBE TO CECELIA DOWDY’S HALLMARK MOVIE BLOG

 Rocky Road Dreams

~Cecelia Dowdy~

September Book Giveaway!

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It’s time for another book giveaway! This contest is for US and Canada residents only. Please be aware that, if you win, I’ll be posting your first and last name and city and state on my blog. Also, by entering the drawing, you’ll automatically be added to my email list – but I only send out newsletters a few times a year, so you won’t be bombarded with email from me. Please leave your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win!

Here are the books that I’m giving away for September. All of these books will be given to ONE winner:

1. Coming Attractions by Robin Jones Gunn

2.
Embrace Grace by Liz Curtis Higgs
From Amazon.com:
From Publishers Weekly
Higgs, bestselling author of Bad Girls of the Bible, offers a sweet but substantial gift book about accepting God’s grace and leaving the past behind. Higgs’s personal history includes “a lost decade of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n ‘roll,” and though she doesn’t focus on her past, she writes believably as someone who struggled with accepting grace herself. Each chapter contains multiple Scripture verses strung together with comments she’s received from readers (such as, “I don’t feel I am worthy of having God forgive me of my sins and weaknesses. I feel like a failure.”) and reflections from her own life. She walks through several stages of receiving grace—including doubting that grace could be possible, confronting sin, forgiving yourself and repenting. Readers will feel at ease with Higgs’s down-home style that’s never preachy. Higgs aims to provide “a field guide, tracing a well-worn footpath from doubt to belief, pointing us away from shame and toward hope.” She succeeds, and readers who are looking for more insight from this former Bad Girl will be very thankful. (Sept. 19)

3. A Life God Rewards by Wilkinson
From Amazon.com:
Product Description
Those who have read A Life God Rewards have discovered there’s an infinitely richer approach to life — an awareness that the smallest actions of every day have an eternal impact. Bruce Wilkinson has written this personal devotional for those who are eager to reach for God’s amazing and generous best for their lives — starting today! With thirty-one days of inspiring readings, true stories, thought-provoking questions, practical suggestions, classic quotes, and Scriptures, every day becomes a meaningful investment in eternity.

4. The Master’s Match by Tamela Hancock Murray
From Heartsong Presents website:
Nash is beyond Becca’s wildest dreams. Never in a million years would Becca have imagined herself wed to someone like trading company tycoon Nash Abercrombie. Yet on the very day he hires her to be his scullery maid, he asks her to become his wife. Nash is running from a very persistent – and unpleasant – woman who is determined to marry him and run his life. Surely marriage to the sweet and humble Becca would be better than that of the harridan Hazel! Can true love ever blossom from a union like this?

5. Under The Tulip Poplar by Diane Ashley and Aaron McCarver
From Heartsong Presents website:
Rebekah eagerly anticipates the return of her childhood sweetheart from college…and his long-awaited proposal. But when Asher instead tells her that their wedding must wait while he fights for his country, Rebekah’s dreams seem to shatter around her. Asher longs to provide a life of wealth and position for his true love, Rebekah. But when she balks at some of his plans for their future, he begins to question the dreams he believed they shared. Will Rebekah and Asher lose their dreams of love or follow God’s leading to the life He has for them together?

6. Stillwater Promise by Becky Melby and CAthy Wienke
From Heartsong Presents website:
How can Sara trust a man who abandoned her twice? When Sara’s dream of her own bed-and-breakfast is finally coming true, the man who left her twice shows up wanting to be her prince again. Life has been harsh for James since he ran out on Sara for the second time. None of his music dreams have been realized. As a new Christian, he truly wants to make amends – but knows he won’t be welcomed warmly. Will James and Sara surrender their marriage to the Lord? Or will misconceptions and selfish ambitions once again cause James to run?

7. A Wagonload Of Trouble by Vickie McDonough
From Heartsong Presents website:
When Bethany’s dad needs her help, she returns to her family’s guest ranch, only to find that it’s in financial distress and mysterious events are putting their property and guests in danger. Evan is completely out of his element. Despite a pressing deadline, he’s accompanying his niece on a two-week wagon train tour with her history class. To make matters worse, the pretty gal heading up the tour thinks he’s a geek extraordinaire, but he can’t help his attraction to her. Can Bethany and Evan uncover the perpetrators before someone is seriously injured – or the ranch is driven into bankruptcy?

8. Heart’s On The Road by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer
From Heartsong Presents website:
Truck driver Randi Davis crisscrosses Wyoming with a broken heart, vowing never to love another man. Suddenly Matthew Carter, a pastor in search of a mobile ministry, is thurst into her life and into her cab. And there’s nothing she can do about it. Matthew sees the seedier side of trucking every day, and he feels a definite call to minister there. But getting this ministry established is proving more difficult than he imagined. Soon Randi and Matthew find themselves at cross-purposes. Will this be the end of the raod for Randi and Matthew’s romance?

9. Polly Dent Loses Grip by S. Dionne Moore
From the back cover:
Polly Dent loses grip on the treadmill and takes a fatal spill that’s ruled an accident. Helping her mother-in-law move into Bridgeton Towers Assisted Living, but the scars from LaTisha Barnhart’s surgically removed bunions tell her something’s afoot. The residents’ gossip is revealing all kinds of motives for murder. Gertrude Herrman is out looking for love in the form of Thomas Philcher’s fat wallet, and Polly’s fall eliminates her competition once and for all. Otis Payne, the venerable director of Bridgeton Towers, is over a barrel when his wife demands cash, or she’ll carry on without him. Mitzi Mullins’s penchant for rhyme puts her in direct line as perpetrator of the crime, and Sue Mie’s mistake seals Polly’s fate.

~Cecelia Dowdy~