Newly updated and expanded for Quivering Daughters. First published here September 26, 2009. Guilt, shame, and condemnation. Unspoken rules you have to live up to. Authoritarian leaders you can’t ever question. An exclusive “us-vs.-them” mentality. Subtle or not-so-subtle pressure to fit
Tag: Bible
Turn Your Eyes Upon…
Another in my weekly series for Quivering Daughters funny thing happens when you spend time with someone. When I was in college, I studied music with a composer named Edwin Childs. I had several classes and weekly lessons with him,
Sheep Story
Another in my series for Quivering Daughters The best thing ever written on spiritual abuse is a poem about sheep. I haven’t got many sheep in my neighborhood—the picture here is one we took in Ireland—but every word in this
Broken
Another in my weekly series for Quivering Daughters broken arm is painful. A broken glass is dangerous. A broken mirror is unlucky. A broken heart is depressing. A broken toy is sad. A broken promise is wrong. So it’s strange
Godly Authority: A Flight to Topsyturvydom
Another in my weekly series of articles for Quivering Daughters. oet and playwright W. S. Gilbert (you might know him from his operettas composed with Arthur Sullivan) wrote some comic poems about the far-away land of Topsyturvydom: Where vice is
The Myth of the Lukewarm Christian
Another in my series of weekly posts for Quivering Daughters here’s this sermon I’ve heard a few dozen times. You’ve probably heard it too. It goes like this. Some Christians are really passionate and sold out for the Lord. They
Duck? Duck? Goose.
This is the first in what we hope will be a weekly series of articles at the lovely website Quivering Daughters. If you like this kind of thing or need some encouragement, especially from Spiritual Abuse, check them out! If
Literally Noir
The streets of the city are always dark, especially when it’s raining. And they just put a fresh coat of grime down 67th street. It got all over my office window. Not that you can see anything out my office
The Best Road, Part 2: More Like Jesus
Last time, I answered a question from a reader who wondered why there are so many hardships in the Christian life. I said that, according to what the Bible teaches, everything (good or bad) that God allows into our life