Exposing Legalism
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“Church Hurt” is a lot Like Miscarriage
I’m starting to think that “church hurt” is a lot like miscarriage. It’s way more common than we would ever imagine but no one talks about it. It’s been a busy couple of weeks. I had a dinner date that made me rethink my entire book idea…Devoured a book that blew up my old “cult” and it’s leader…And am in the middle of another book focused on spiritual abuse. I feel like I have been thrown ten miles up into space and am looking down with a new, much wider perspective. What do these have in common? What is the theme that is emerging in my mind? Broken people break…
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Jenga Builders Anonymous
“Hi. I’m Christy, and I build with Jenga blocks.” “Hi, Christy!” *** If you didn’t get a chance to read my blog post last week, this won’t make any sense. š Don’t worry! I’ve linked it hereĀ God Does Not Care About Your Jenga BlocksĀ so you can catch up. Last week I wrote: “There we are, trying to build our Jenga towers, poking out blocks and stacking them on top, carefully balancing all of the āgood thingsā that we are āsupposedā to do, hoping that everyone, God included, is noticing. When everything stacks up, we feel satisfied, proud and accomplished. But when life falls apart, when we lose control, when we…
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God Does Not Care About Your Jenga Blocks
A couple of weeks ago, I was writing in my journal during my morning “Jesus time”, wrestling through the way we view our relationship with God. “We don’t understand that it’s not about being good and doing the right things…it’s about knowing Jesus. Ha! It’s like we aren’t even playing the same game as You, God. We’re playing Jenga, but You’re playing Hide-n-Seek..” We are playing Jenga, but God is playing Hide-n-Seek I’m so tired of the way performance based thinking has hijacked Christianity! It’s not just people like me, raised in extreme legalism…it’s spread throughout the whole church. There we are, trying to build our Jenga towers, poking out…
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More than a Follower
It might just be me, having been raised in legalistic Christianity, but I struggle with the way discipleship is often portrayed. I feel like there is this heavy emphasis on what we are supposed toĀ DOĀ as a disciple even from mainstream pastors and teachers. Follow * Deny Yourself * Take Up Your Cross * Be Like Jesus These statements, or at least the thoughts behind them, ARE in the Bible. And they aren’t wrong. But I think something is missing. Or rather, Someone. There has to be more to being a disciple of Jesus Christ than just action verbs focused on our behavior. There is more! Check out this “Jesus encounter”…
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My Best Friend, The Adulterous Woman
She lay there in the dirt, torn from the embrace of her lover, caught in the very act that condemned her. They wanted to stone her. According to the law, they had every right to circle around and hurl small boulders, bruising, crushing, breaking her body, silencing her screams. But they waited to see what he would say, this young rabbi; they challenged his beliefs with her very life. He didn’t say anything, just knelt down next to her and began to write with his finger in the dirt. She saw his hand out of the corner of her eye, felt his presence next to her. He ignored the…
