Losing my Religion
I met with a friend a few months back who is an escapee from a spiritually abusive church. I enquired how she felt about reading the bible (as her new church was conducting something of a "read the bible" campaign), and she said very the thought of it made her feel like vomiting. This didn't sound terribly like the loving and gentle invitation of the Spirit to me. I asked my friend what kinds of activities seemed to nourish her soul. She said reading a novel by a fireplace was her best soul food. So I suggested she do that regularly... and to take a moment of conscious gratitude each day. I spoke with her again last night, and she feels like her soul is beginning to heal. I encouraged her to continue to learn to live in grace. People who have experienced spiritual abuse seem to have a strong need to detox from religion. Indeed, it seems to me that Jesus wasn't a particularly religious character... the people who seemed most upset by him were the most earnestly religio...