Evangelicals:
What are the dumbest ways to traumatize our kids so they sound like total dorks in therapy?
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Harp on “your righteousness is like filthy rags” and “take every thought captive” until they literally refuse to believe in themselves or their capabilities.
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No matter how you feel, and how things are going, you should always say “I am blessed and highly favored.” Your true thoughts and feelings may bring a curse or demon upon yourself.
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"Left Behind"
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Tell them that if they’re ever feeling sad, they just need to turn on K-Love and everything will be ‘positive and encouraging’ again.
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The jingle for our local K-Love station just played in my head.
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Feel this
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I’m so sorry ????
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Male headship
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Oof, this is a big one
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Haha, it’s all good. @hereticmasked.bsky.social and I were recently listening to some of the old hits. ????
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Tell someone that is so miserable in their job that their physical health is visibly degrading that it’s “just a contentment issue” and they need to “change their mindset”.
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I have actually not stopped doing this
I am *processing*
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My Spotify algorithm is fucked
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I had a Spotify created playlist put Skillet on there the other day and it gave me a jump scare
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Yes! Or “just give it to God”
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I think this applies here too bsky.app/profile/josh...
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So much of American Evangelical Christianity sounds alarmingly similar to when my OCD was at its worst
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Always preceded by “Have you prayed about it?”
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The concept of original sin. Teach small children they are inherently broken, then weaponize inevitable misbehavior as a sign of their “sinfulness” so they habitually internalize shame, have no self-worth, and as adults become ideal relationship fodder for abusive narcissists.
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Refuse to teach them the proper names for body parts or educate them on sex or consent, so if they’re ever abused they literally have no words to explain what happened to them, making them sound unreliable so people dismiss them, they internalize yet more shame and the belief it was “their fault.”
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Ok last one (I could go on for DAYS). Teach them that the “heart is deceitful” and that they cannot trust themselves, so they have to pray about everything because they are unable to make basic decisions without fear of more shame. I have a whole post about this. smschumacher.com/the-danger-o...
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Ah yes, the collection of generic happy pop songs, all at least 15-20 years old, with verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus chorus in a GCD chord progression using the name “Jesus” for the required 12.3 times per song. Such talent.
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Totally. And many don’t realize/acknowledge the doctrine of original sin isn’t even universally accepted across all of Christianity.
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Wow. How did you know what my childhood was like? That and the second-coming (lol) of the satanic panic (did it ever leave, though?) with Pokémon and Harry Potter.
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THIS. I feel like anytime I write things I have to preface by stating “American” Christianity because so many don’t even realize how little it’s like the rest of the world. Even within the country itself it varies so wildly.
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Because I had to live it too. Banning pop culture was definitely also a thing, although I might remember it being more about Disney? The problem is that high control people choose high control religion so they have a justification for their own arbitrary rules.
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If I’m remembering correctly, I had to have any music acquisition approved by my parents–really just my father, who my mom dutifully deferred to in anything pertaining to religion-adjacent things. I secretly bought a Green Day CD in the mid 2000s and they took it away from me: it had bad things.
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I had a Michael W. Smith album (of all things) confiscated in the 90s. Mostly stuck to pirating “the bad stuff” after that. Notable exception was a secret Creed album in 2000–that one got physically destroyed.
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Ah yes, the “only Christian music is good music” mantra. I also remember being banned from listening to anything “secular.” I listened to a lot of Blindside, Switchfoot, who always had the right idea about the “Christians in a band” vs Christian label moniker, Emery, and I don’t remember what else.
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P.O.D. was an allowed band on my list.
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Omg. Remember Jars of Clay? DC Talk? I had CDs from them, too.
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My life is a very extreme example of how very wrong this can go
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Show them this video during the alter call at summer camp:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vHe...
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"I kissed dating goodbye" and other similar m'ladys
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Non-questioning of authority figures and scriptures, always respond with appeal to power and "you just need more faith"
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Oh man, lol. Do you recall if the dramatic scenes in the music video were from a movie or did they shoot those themselves?
This was definitely “pre-demonic” Michael W. Smith, in case you missed this one. ????
bsky.app/profile/josh...
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I lost so many promise rings that my parents stopped buying them for me. The last one is in a lake.
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I have highly specific memories of this music video
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Gather up all the worship team dropouts
I've played at least 3 instruments
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1. The gaslighting when a leader does something wrong and you call it out. Than you “just have a spirit of rebellion.”
2. The cult behavior knowing if you question something “foundational” you threaten the loss of community, incentivizing you to avoid asking hard questions.
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Teaching them to center all their life choices around "god's will" instead of what they actually want to do and are passionate about. If it isn't at least tangentially related to saving souls it isn't worth your time.
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Touch not Gods’s anointed, (even if he touched you) ????
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Ouch! Felt that one! Took that exact path!
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I think I read the first 2 or 3 of those books. I still can’t believe how many they put out.
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Parents that teach this set their children up to fail due to an inability to understand basic psychology. It’s so messed up and it makes me angry on the kids behalf - no one deserves that kind of baggage. It takes so much time to undo the harm, but it can be done. ❤️????
