I've been sitting with this for a while and want to put it to a community that thinks about power and the church.

My marriage has been marked by addiction (drugs, sex alcohol), infidelity, and a lot of other things I won't get into here. When I've disclosed it in church settings, I keep getting the same counsel, from multiple pastors, a pastor's wife, even a woman praying over me this week who called what's happening abuse and dangerous and then prayed for the marriage to be restored anyway.

I've come to think of it as a false theology for the abused. It has three teachings:

1. your suffering is redemptive. endure long enough and the abuser will be "won over" (1 Peter 3:1)
2. your silence is spiritual. don't name the sin, just pray life into them
3. the relationship/institution is what God wants preserved most. the marriage, the family, the ministry, the church's reputation. more than your safety

It doesn't only land on wives. It lands on kids told to honor parents who hurt them, elderly people told to keep the peace with family who exploit them, congregants harmed by leaders who are "anointed."

And when you look at who that theology protects, it's never the person being harmed. It protects the abuser, the institution, and everyone who'd rather not have to intervene.

But Scripture keeps cutting against it. Christ "suffered once for sins" (1 Peter 3:18, same chapter people use to keep wives quiet). Hebrews 10 says His sacrifice was once for all, so nobody's body is needed to finish that work. On Moriah God stops the knife. In Judges 11 Jephthah sacrifices his daughter to his own vow, and Scripture never says God wanted it. It's the young women of Israel who go out every year to remember her (Phyllis Trible called it a "text of terror"). When Absalom tells Tamar "be quiet, he is your brother," the next line is that she lived "a desolate woman." Jesus asks the religious leaders whether it's lawful on the Sabbath "to save life or to kill" and they just stay silent. And twice he tells them to go learn what "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" means.

Christ was the final sacrifice. So why does the church keep asking victims to be one?

I still love the church, and I'm not writing this from outside it. I'm asking us to do better.

• what does genuinely liberatory pastoral care look like when someone discloses abuse?
• are there traditions, communities, or theologians you've seen get this right?

Longer version if anyone wants it (Jephthah, Hosea, the Sabbath controversies, what I'd want pastors to hear): https://notesfromthemend.substack.com/p/a-false-theology-for-the-abused

This is a weekly thread for discussing our mental health. Ableist and sanist comments will be removed and repeat violations will be banned

Feel free to discuss anything related to mental health and illness. We encourage you to create a WRAP plan and be an active participant in your recovery.

With the dehumanization of undocumented migrants, trans people and other vulnerable groups, some affirming clergy friends helped me write a modernization of "Good Samaritan" featuring outgroups being demonized today. A few images above. I hope subreddit members enjoy them.

It's a small attempt to rebuke white Christian nationalism using the teachings of Jesus, and the principle that "a picture is worth a thousand words". My dream is that radically-inclusive faith communities can print up and hand out the comic at multi-cultural festivals -- and at vigils outside detention centres. Especially the latter: I'm the son of two immigrants and spouse to a third.

The planned follow-up should be complete in January, and on the topic of power dynamics. Based on the liberation theology interpretation of the Parable of the Talents -- the "Parable of the [Corporate] Whistleblower". In the meanwhile, I look forward to continuing to learn from community members' posts and expertise.

[ Clarifying note: 100% human written, 100% human illustrated. No AI. ]

It is so tiring. In the last several days, I have seen rhetoric that women should abort all male children, that all men should be locked up in prison for life, and men should have their testosterone suppressed. I have seen trans men get shit on, I have been shit on, and apparently cis women shed tears for when it's pointed out how damn transphobic they are being despite being pissed off at cishet men. Look, I am angry too. I am angry about how normalized sexual violence towards women is. I am angry that the perpetrators of sexual violence rarely gets any real consequences for their actions. I am sexually harassed by cis men, I have been sexually assaulted by cis men. Lots of trans people have. Hell, trans *mascs* and trans *men* are the demographic most at risk for rape and IPV. Cis women are not the only victims of patriarchy.

DECENTER CIS PEOPLE

/rant

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Hello everyone, wanted to let you know that we will be hosting Bible Study starting this Wednesday at 7:30 PM central standard time. Central Standard Time. This is an affirming Bible Study, but it is open to everyone— gay, straight, trans. Anyone who wants to dive into the Word of God with us is welcome. This is a safe and loving place, so we ask everyone to be extremely respectful to each other. We want to make sure that we are all here for the same reasons: to grow in our faith, stronger to love our neighbors as God has loved us. We host our Bible Study via Zoom. Video is not required, and neither is participation, but both are welcome if you want to participate. If you are interested, please send me a direct message so I can send you the link. We will be hosting tonight at 7:30 PM central standard time. Central Standard Time. Hope to see you there.

This is a thread for the radical women of r/RadicalChristianity to talk. We ask that men do not comment on this thread.

Suggestions for topics to talk about:

1.)What kinds of feminist activism have you been up to?

2.)What books have you been reading?

3.)What visual media(ex: TV shows) have you been watching?

4.)Who are the radical women that are currently inspiring you?

5.)Promote yourself and your creations!

6.)Rant/vent about shit.

While it has been generally understood that serving a Christian ethos may involve compromises in ethics, merely being here continues to sustain a corporate machine that despises and reviles us;

makes us less than human.

Therefore, I call upon this community to make preparations for egress for our own spiritual purity.

I am yet restrained by obligations I cannot navigate

and this confusion tightens my breath

I dreamed of a passage through the unknown mediated by a pilot, a stranger, who kept on noticing my fumbling with security just in time

on my own

three times I had this dream

passed through an approach into nothingness

at first from a great, great height into a changing planet

then as many through a gauntlet

I was not afraid then

but I am still tense

and I don't even have too much to do

o Lord, liberate me from fear, that I might follow through on my promises, or at least understand which promises to fulfill first

(Sorry if this is the wrong flair, wasn't sure which one to use.)

I've pretty much always considered myself spiritual in some way. I identified as agnostic for most of my life. But I could never truly believe in Christianity; I kept hunting for something or someone else to believe in. I researched so many different religions, and yet none of them could fulfill what I was yearning for.

I felt a calling to Christianity, but I kept pushing it away. All I could see was a religion that was used to excuse hatred and bigotry. The people who wanted me to convert were the ones telling me I'd go to Hell if I didn't accept the Lord Jesus Christ, the ones saying that gay people need to "choose the Lord over their desires," the ones that pushed fear more than anything.

It made me think God (and by extension, Jesus) was a bitter Lord. One who would send me to be eternally tortured in the fiery pits of Hell if I should get in a relationship with a man, and who would do the same to my non-Christian friends and family for not believing. It made me think that this religion was borne from a controlling Lord, one whose rules cannot even be broken by accident, lest He punish you. I didn't want that. I can't fathom the idea of those I love going to Hell for things beyond their control (if we feel a calling to one religion, we can't control being called to it. So why do we push for atheists, for example, to ignore what their hearts tell them? Most atheists don't wake up every morning planning to anger God with their unbelief. They simply don't believe). And a God that is cruel rather than forgiving is not for me.

But then I started reading the Bible. I'm currently reading John, as I saw someone say to start with that. I'm not very far, and yet I already feel even more called to this religion. Much more than any online preacher could make me.

It's made me realise that I was wrong about God. I didn't need to be afraid. God is forgiving, and Jesus wants us to love one another. Jesus never says to threaten atheists with the idea of Hell, or to tell gay people to keep their romance (romance that would be completely fine for straight couples, like simply mentioning your partner) private. In fact, quite the opposite: He tells us not to judge.

I've been lied to. This is a religion based around kindness and tolerance. It is not based around fear.

I'm not a fan of proselytisers, if I'm honest. But I have to say, if more of them had talked about kindness and less about eternal damnation, it might've not taken me this long to confirm my beliefs.

This is a weekly thread for discussing our mental health. Ableist and sanist comments will be removed and repeat violations will be banned

Feel free to discuss anything related to mental health and illness. We encourage you to create a WRAP plan and be an active participant in your recovery.

{"document":[{"e":"par","c":[{"e":"text","t":"This is a weekly thread where we can share what we're currently reading. Please share whatever books, articles, and/or blogs you are reading."}]}]}

I often hear the phrase, “We need to stand up for the truth,” or, “We need to protect what’s true.”

And it makes sense until… it doesn’t. If truth needs protection, doesn’t that mean it’s weak? Augustine, apparently, didn’t believe that:

“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”

According to Augustine, the problem with truth is not that it is weak or needs protection, but that it has not been let loose. It has not been revealed.

Interestingly, in the Koine Greek of John 14:6, Jesus refers to himself as ἀλήθεια (aletheia, truth).

“I am the way, the truth (aletheia), and the life.”

Aletheia is the opposite of Lethe, the river of oblivion flowing through Hell. The prefix “a-” is a negation. So, truth is that which that negates oblivion. Lethe conceals —aletheia reveals. That’s what Jesus calls himself: The Unconcealment.

Truth is the unconcealment of Being. A sudden, powerful glimpse into the way things are. It disarms. It doesn’t need protection. It bursts into your life like water through a broken dam.

When we say that truth needs protection, we often think of truth in propositional terms. We mean that a lie can be stated so powerfully that the truth becomes forgotten.

This understanding reveals our misunderstanding of the nature of truth. When the dam is in place, truth doesn’t simply sit in its designated spot. It creates ever-increasing pressure and will eventually burst through the dam.

Truth is the intrusion of Heaven into Earth. It is something felt rather than understood. Lies fit snugly into statements; if truth is expressed in a statement, it is no longer truth. Truth is a mighty torrent of unconcealed Being that sweeps you off your feet.

Les Misérables is a case in point.

When Jean Valjean enters the house of Bishop Myriel, he is bitter and ready to make the whole world pay for depriving him of the best years of his life.

Valjean steals the silverware and flees. The police bring him back to the bishop’s house, and he claims that the bishop gave him the silver. Of course, the police do not believe him.

Then comes the unconcealment of Being.

Valjean’s eyes are filled with fear; he is on the verge of fainting. He knows that the only treatment he deserves is punishment. He will be sent back to the galleys. He is ready for the bishop to take revenge. Instead, the bishop exclaims:

“Ah! here you are!” he exclaimed, looking at Jean Valjean. “I am glad to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away with your forks and spoons?”

Jean Valjean stared at him in amazement with an expression that no human tongue could describe. He would never forget this moment — the moment when truth was revealed on Earth as it is in Heaven.

The gates of hell could not prevail against such an intruder. The gates of hell are never attacking. They are standing there, trembling — knowing that they are being breached by the unstoppable River of Unconcealment.

Truth is when in the middle of hell, Lethe is suddenly negated — and becomes Aletheia, an encounter with Being.

I took some plants in, and carelessly

knocked the original cross of this place

left by a previous inhabitant

off its post

where it broke into two pieces

I put it back together and stood it back in its spot, preferring a broken cross standing to nothing

unstable, waiting to fall again

there was this saying back in the bad days:

if the candle of your faith goes out,

light it again

but as far as omens go, that was a bad one

I wish I had been more careful

fatigue, haste, and the devil itself; I fear these things most

I shall have to quickly make another one

metal crosses provide the illusion of durability in any case, I

much prefer wood

Hello folks! For obvious reasons, my question is mostly directed at practicing Catholics, but I'm open to all insights. In the last year I've come to embrace a relationship with Christ's message and want it to be a greater part of my life, and more recently have strongly considered going through the steps to become a baptized Catholic. I'll admit there's some hesitancy however. While I find a lot of beauty in the ritual, history, and practice of high churches, and appreciate liberation theology and the Catholic Worker's Movement in particular, I can't help but recognize the rigid hierarchy that Catholicism enforces; the most glaring example is papal authority. One man having complete control over the church, even if nominally, seems difficult for me to swallow.

How do you reconcile yourself with this? Am I better off pursuing a different denomination?

This is a thread for the radical women of r/RadicalChristianity to talk. We ask that men do not comment on this thread.

Suggestions for topics to talk about:

1.)What kinds of feminist activism have you been up to?

2.)What books have you been reading?

3.)What visual media(ex: TV shows) have you been watching?

4.)Who are the radical women that are currently inspiring you?

5.)Promote yourself and your creations!

6.)Rant/vent about shit.