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A Cartoon About Spiritual Abuse
The abuse I suffered.
The control I was under.
The theology I consumed.
The denomination I was in.
The community provided to me.
It all came as a package.
Description: A person holds a church and looks its ingredients: fellowship, sermons, bible-study, prayer, worship, charity, potlucks, groups, coffee, cookies, sunday school. Warning: may contain spiritual abuse.
Some tried to convince me that it was just the abuse I suffered and to find the same thing but without the abuse.
I couldn’t find it.
Some tried to convince me that I just needed to find the same things without controlling leaders.
I couldn’t find it.
Some tried to convince me it was the theology I was being fed and that I needed to find what I was looking for with a better theology.
I couldn’t find it.
Some tried to convince me that the problem was with the denomination. Join a better one and all will be well.
I couldn’t find it.
Some finally said it was the quality of community that was the problem and that there and I should join a better group.
I couldn’t find it.
Now I realize that I can’t get that back and I don’t want it back. Why? Because it was all a part of the package. What is most important- more important than community- is the spiritual independence of the individual. MINE and YOUR spiritual independence! The personal and autonomous freedom of each one of us.
Once we do that, THEN we can figure out how to do that in a healthy community context without violating one another’s freedoms.
You are free.
I am free.
Then let's celebrate that together.