Fundamentalists Need To Be Loved

To make a long story really really short, I just found a file full of papers, emails, and discussion board posts I’d participated in around ten years ago (as a new youth/music leader’s wife and a mom of one, with baby #2 on the way).  Reading them was truly shocking.  I could hardly stand the [...]

On The Biblical Case for Spanking Our Kids (or, uh, Maybe Not)

Since I have written a book on someone else’s blog, I thought I should probably move it over here to mine.  For some reason, this woman’s posts really grabbed me.  Those of you who’ve known me for some years will recognize her posts, because they sound almost word-for-word like the ones I used to write.  [...]

Standing in His Grace

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
…You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”     –Galatians 5:1,4
Surely, I can’t be the only one.  Tell us all when [...]

On Trying to Explain a Living Thing

I can tell that, to some people, I’m terribly offensive now. I didn’t used to be that way (at least I don’t think). I was in the same trenches they were in. We were on the same side. When my paradigm came crashing in, I suppose it’s fair to say that [...]

Hephzibah House in Indiana: Abuse Still Going On, Over 30 Years Later

It’s hard to try to explain the daily schedule at Hephzibah House.  Daily life was about so much more than just school and chores.  Each day was like a journey; you never knew which way the wind was going to blow.  It might be your lucky day, and the staff ladies would all be in [...]

Root Issues: Authority Structures We Like Best (Fluid vs. Heirarchal, etc) and Their Influence in the Way We Interpret Scripture (Gender Issues, Church Government, Relationships…)

Resonate writer, Len Hjalmarson, recently mused on a topic of interest to me.  His post, Evolution of Heirarchy, discusses how factors like access to technology and information are forcing us to change the way we think of authority structures. No longer do we live in a world where only “the leader” knows what to do—-now [...]

Formula Over Relationship: RED FLAG #1

After the “unsafeness” of the whacko church of my young-adult-met-Jesus days (that is, my Bible College, where I learned so much and yet also learned that the leader was getting cozy with some of the female staff, but with a doctrine of authority similar to the Shepherding Movement’s, we were taught it was more important to the Lord that we not [...]

Shut-Up! No, Keep Talking! (Trinitarian Musings and Flying Divergent Opinions)

One thinker says this of my thoughts,
If you don’t think that one can be equal in essence and subject eternally in person, well then you are going to be committed to rejecting the Christian doctrine of God. Some of your unconsciously held philosophical beliefs are incompatible with Christianity. And that is good for you [...]

Musings on Authority and the Weak and Righteous Rebellions (against “Crying it Out,” and Beyond)

I once believed that Authority is a major crux upon which the  Christian either stands or falls.  Satan was the first to rebel against authority, therefore rebellion against authority was the “original sin,” so to speak, of the universe.   That rebellion was not something I wanted to participate in.   
In this system, God was believed to set [...]

Reader’s Write: Advice for Talking with “I’m Daddy’s Helpmeet” Folks…?

Those of you familiar with the Botkin sisters and Vision Forum will be aquainted with the idea that a daughter is supposed to be practicing her “helpmate” skills on her father.  These groups believe that women are in the submissive position in a God-ordained heirarchy: the husband is prophet, priest and king of the house, [...]