This blog will contain some insight for those who have experienced spiritual abuse and will also hopefully help to educate those who would like to learn about it. 
A Warped View of God
Posted January 6th, 2012 at 07:21 AM by Lois
"I swear on my soul, that if these men are speaking for God, I would rather spend eternity in hell than serve him. How are you supposed to love the God they represent? Unconditional Love? yet contradicted... Grace? yet contradicted..."
"Because all of that junk had completely clouded my view of Jesus, and I didn't even know who he was anymore. Was he the harsh judge that was just waiting for me to show I wasn't "holy" enough so he could smite me? Was he the one that demanded absolute perfection? The one for whom nothing was ever enough?"
These are the feelings of two people who left their separate churches. Some find it hard to break from the erroneous view of God that they encountered while in an unhealthy church. Every time they see someone from their former group write about the group's beliefs or they read Bible passages that were distorted in their church, they wrestle with trying to break away from the harsh taskmaster they came to know. But this isn't the same Jesus portrayed in the Bible, but rather a false view of Jesus that arises from erroneous teachings and how these are taught and applied.
Erroneous teachings can indeed cloud your view of God. They can give one a very different and distorted view of God. The tragic aspect of this, and one I have seen all too often, are people who can see the error of at least some of the teachings and yet have not yet been able to break from this distorted view of God.
This is what happens in a performance based church and while things vary from one unhealthy church to another, the teachings lead to performance based religion. While many will not say, for instance, that following outward standards is salvational, they will believe one is lost or at the least backslid if they don't adhere. So this actually makes them matters of salvation, whether or not it is specifically stated as such.
This is an excerpt of an email I received from a visitor to the spiritualabuse.org website. They are UPC and wrote: "WE strive to live Christ. Do we error? YES! But we try. There are some Pastor's who goes over board, but for the majority, it is just about trying to make heaven our home. Yes, some things seem extreme, but in comparison to eternity, it is the least we can do. Our dress and appearance is simple a safety protocol we take to assure our success in making heaven our home. I hope you give this some thought."
Take note of what was actually said. It's about trying to make it to heaven. It's about safety measures. It is not at all about trusting in the finished work at Calvary. I don't know how many posts I've read through the years where someone has written something like, "I'd rather be safe than sorry" concerning a teaching. And remember hearing church testimonies that said something like, "Pray for me that I will make it in?" They have no lasting assurance of salvation.
There is a vast difference in being obedient to God and in obeying rules so one will be saved. The latter removes us from living in God's grace and places the emphasis on us and our actions to make us acceptable. The good news from Jesus is that He paid the FULL penalty for all of our sins. He took away our unrighteousness and clothed us in His righteousness. We either accept this by faith or we will somehow try to earn our salvation.
And that's what the performance based teachings lead people into. Many start out okay, but as time goes on, that initial joy of coming to Christ is replaced by an undercurrent of fear and worry.... that we will mess up and be rejected.... that God is almost anxiously waiting for us to err so He can zap us into oblivion.
What a horrid, horrible and unfair characterization of a loving Savior!
Do you struggle in this area? You may know that the standards teaching or some other teaching is not salvational and many are not even biblical. You may know that through the teachings you developed a warped view of God. Do not allow yourself to remain in the position where the warped view continues to take precedence. Your former church is still having influence over you if you do and you are believing lies that will hinder you in your relationship with God. May your mind be set free to see Him as He is.
You do not have to live with a warped view of God. A good place to go for help is in the Gospels. That's where we have the most information about Jesus when He walked this earth. Just read them to read and not to study. I strongly suggest you use a different Bible than the one you have used in your former church, that might be filled with notes from sermons. Using another version other than the one you used there should be helpful as well.
"Because all of that junk had completely clouded my view of Jesus, and I didn't even know who he was anymore. Was he the harsh judge that was just waiting for me to show I wasn't "holy" enough so he could smite me? Was he the one that demanded absolute perfection? The one for whom nothing was ever enough?"
These are the feelings of two people who left their separate churches. Some find it hard to break from the erroneous view of God that they encountered while in an unhealthy church. Every time they see someone from their former group write about the group's beliefs or they read Bible passages that were distorted in their church, they wrestle with trying to break away from the harsh taskmaster they came to know. But this isn't the same Jesus portrayed in the Bible, but rather a false view of Jesus that arises from erroneous teachings and how these are taught and applied.
Erroneous teachings can indeed cloud your view of God. They can give one a very different and distorted view of God. The tragic aspect of this, and one I have seen all too often, are people who can see the error of at least some of the teachings and yet have not yet been able to break from this distorted view of God.
This is what happens in a performance based church and while things vary from one unhealthy church to another, the teachings lead to performance based religion. While many will not say, for instance, that following outward standards is salvational, they will believe one is lost or at the least backslid if they don't adhere. So this actually makes them matters of salvation, whether or not it is specifically stated as such.
This is an excerpt of an email I received from a visitor to the spiritualabuse.org website. They are UPC and wrote: "WE strive to live Christ. Do we error? YES! But we try. There are some Pastor's who goes over board, but for the majority, it is just about trying to make heaven our home. Yes, some things seem extreme, but in comparison to eternity, it is the least we can do. Our dress and appearance is simple a safety protocol we take to assure our success in making heaven our home. I hope you give this some thought."
Take note of what was actually said. It's about trying to make it to heaven. It's about safety measures. It is not at all about trusting in the finished work at Calvary. I don't know how many posts I've read through the years where someone has written something like, "I'd rather be safe than sorry" concerning a teaching. And remember hearing church testimonies that said something like, "Pray for me that I will make it in?" They have no lasting assurance of salvation.
There is a vast difference in being obedient to God and in obeying rules so one will be saved. The latter removes us from living in God's grace and places the emphasis on us and our actions to make us acceptable. The good news from Jesus is that He paid the FULL penalty for all of our sins. He took away our unrighteousness and clothed us in His righteousness. We either accept this by faith or we will somehow try to earn our salvation.
And that's what the performance based teachings lead people into. Many start out okay, but as time goes on, that initial joy of coming to Christ is replaced by an undercurrent of fear and worry.... that we will mess up and be rejected.... that God is almost anxiously waiting for us to err so He can zap us into oblivion.
What a horrid, horrible and unfair characterization of a loving Savior!
Do you struggle in this area? You may know that the standards teaching or some other teaching is not salvational and many are not even biblical. You may know that through the teachings you developed a warped view of God. Do not allow yourself to remain in the position where the warped view continues to take precedence. Your former church is still having influence over you if you do and you are believing lies that will hinder you in your relationship with God. May your mind be set free to see Him as He is.
You do not have to live with a warped view of God. A good place to go for help is in the Gospels. That's where we have the most information about Jesus when He walked this earth. Just read them to read and not to study. I strongly suggest you use a different Bible than the one you have used in your former church, that might be filled with notes from sermons. Using another version other than the one you used there should be helpful as well.
Total Comments 2
Comments
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You cover so many areas of concern to me and sitpirual abuse is up there on my list. I have walked away from the established church (and am unsure what faith I can now hold onto, if any) and have lots of questions. It is refreshing to see you confront so honestly many of those questions. I have been away from active church membership since 2002 after being severely affected by my last church (I would term a cult). It is a can of worms to look at negative concerns of the church but so necessary. All strength to you and keep up the good writing/cartooning.
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| Posted March 24th, 2012 at 12:54 AM by Miquel |
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"WE strive to live Christ. Do we error? YES! But we try...."
So, absolutely NO RESPONSE to "people have been abused in your churches". Wonder what UPC Billy Bob's response would be to THAT. "Do we error? Yes, but we try....". Puke. |
Posted May 22nd, 2012 at 07:08 PM by PamelaY1
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