Evangelicals:
What are the dumbest ways to traumatize our kids so they sound like total dorks in therapy?
-
Harp on āyour righteousness is like filthy ragsā and ātake every thought captiveā until they literally refuse to believe in themselves or their capabilities.
-
No matter how you feel, and how things are going, you should always say āI am blessed and highly favored.ā Your true thoughts and feelings may bring a curse or demon upon yourself.
-
"Left Behind"
-
-
Tell them that if theyāre ever feeling sad, they just need to turn on K-Love and everything will be āpositive and encouragingā again.
-
The jingle for our local K-Love station just played in my head.
-
Feel this
-
Iām so sorry š
-
Male headship
-
Oof, this is a big one
-
Haha, itās all good. @hereticmasked.bsky.social and I were recently listening to some of the old hits. š
-
Tell someone that is so miserable in their job that their physical health is visibly degrading that itās ājust a contentment issueā and they need to āchange their mindsetā.
-
I have actually not stopped doing this
I am *processing*
-
My Spotify algorithm is fucked
-
I had a Spotify created playlist put Skillet on there the other day and it gave me a jump scare
-
Yes! Or ājust give it to Godā
-
I think this applies here too bsky.app/profile/josh...
-
So much of American Evangelical Christianity sounds alarmingly similar to when my OCD was at its worst
-
Always preceded by āHave you prayed about it?ā
-
The concept of original sin. Teach small children they are inherently broken, then weaponize inevitable misbehavior as a sign of their āsinfulnessā so they habitually internalize shame, have no self-worth, and as adults become ideal relationship fodder for abusive narcissists.
-
Refuse to teach them the proper names for body parts or educate them on sex or consent, so if theyāre 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 ātheir fault.ā
-
Ok last one (I could go on for DAYS). Teach them that the āheart is deceitfulā 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...
-
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 āJesusā for the required 12.3 times per song. Such talent.
-
Totally. And many donāt realize/acknowledge the doctrine of original sin isnāt even universally accepted across all of Christianity.
-
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 PokƩmon and Harry Potter.
-
THIS. I feel like anytime I write things I have to preface by stating āAmericanā Christianity because so many donāt even realize how little itās like the rest of the world. Even within the country itself it varies so wildly.
-
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.
-
If Iām remembering correctly, I had to have any music acquisition approved by my parentsāreally 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.
-
I had a Michael W. Smith album (of all things) confiscated in the 90s. Mostly stuck to pirating āthe bad stuffā after that. Notable exception was a secret Creed album in 2000āthat one got physically destroyed.
-
Ah yes, the āonly Christian music is good musicā mantra. I also remember being banned from listening to anything āsecular.ā I listened to a lot of Blindside, Switchfoot, who always had the right idea about the āChristians in a bandā vs Christian label moniker, Emery, and I donāt remember what else.
-
P.O.D. was an allowed band on my list.
-
Omg. Remember Jars of Clay? DC Talk? I had CDs from them, too.
-
My life is a very extreme example of how very wrong this can go
-
Show them this video during the alter call at summer camp:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vHe...
-
"I kissed dating goodbye" and other similar m'ladys
-
Non-questioning of authority figures and scriptures, always respond with appeal to power and "you just need more faith"
-
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 āpre-demonicā Michael W. Smith, in case you missed this one. š
bsky.app/profile/josh...
-
I lost so many promise rings that my parents stopped buying them for me. The last one is in a lake.
-
-
I have highly specific memories of this music video
-
Gather up all the worship team dropouts
I've played at least 3 instruments
-
1. The gaslighting when a leader does something wrong and you call it out. Than you ājust have a spirit of rebellion.ā
2. The cult behavior knowing if you question something āfoundationalā you threaten the loss of community, incentivizing you to avoid asking hard questions.
-
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.
-
Touch not Godsās anointed, (even if he touched you) š³
-
Ouch! Felt that one! Took that exact path!
-
I think I read the first 2 or 3 of those books. I still canāt believe how many they put out.
-
Parents that teach this set their children up to fail due to an inability to understand basic psychology. Itās 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. ā¤ļøāš©¹
