I wished people knew that doctrine and beliefs matter. Like actually matter.

The more I become informed by a lens of trauma, the more I’m convinced that Scripture is less of a love story between God and humanity, and more of a narrative of the tragedy of being human and suffering which God enters into our humanness to suffer alongside and redeem us if it.

I just saw a Facebook page of a local UMC say they’re praying for the members of the LDS to be strengthened in faith, unity, and service. Now, why are some saying things like this when the official stance is that they’re an anathema to historic Christianity??

Let’s be clear on something, I never attacked this person or her beliefs. Even after she mentioned on how I made her felt, the apology was issued. There’s a lot I’ll let go but publicly dragging me after I recognized my errors and apologized ain’t one.

I will never understand how these are “God ordained” when it very well could be that the Israelites only said that to justify these things. Not only that, but John’s whole thing in Revelation is just an amplification of the Cross employing OT imagery.

Trauma always includes loss. The victim’s sense of self is altered, as is their way of functioning in this world. Trauma can dismantle faith and hope, and it turns what we thought was true upside down and backwards. Grieving their losses is grueling work.

I honestly don’t understand why you would deny anyone communion. Literally if I knew someone was an unbeliever, I would give them communion. Who are we to deny the working of grace in people’s lives? Certainly not I.

Contrary to popular belief, children are not resilient, a word that simply means they can return to their original state. They do not “bounce back” from abuse.

Caregiver, when you sit with overwhelming pain, it will frighten you, and you will want to alleviate it quickly so both people in the room can feel better. Be careful. Pain is a protest in the human constitution that something is wrong.

As we work with pain, we must do so carefully. Listen to pain, study it, and hear its story. It is one of the ways that you will learn what is wrong or diseased in the person you counsel.

The more I dive into the field of trauma studies and read works of trauma theologians, the more I realize that the conventional God of the Western church simply can’t exist.

This just in: a Baptist preacher figures out there’s other Wesleyan traditions

Survivors often lose their place in the church for speaking the truth about their abuse. They lose any status they had. They lose honor and trust. All because of the things that were done TO them. Rather than accuse and disparage them, we must see them and embrace their courage.

People who have been abused have been saturated with evil, lies, manipulation, humiliation, and rage. How they need to sit with the loving and truthful character of the Father in you! They do not just need to hear about it. They need to experience it in you, in the flesh.

They do things like this because they consider white men and women as the standard for their governing rules, that is the very definition of institutional racism.

Our God is characterized by justice, care, and concern for the oppressed and defenseless. Woe to those who are unjust and deprive the vulnerable. (Isaiah 10:2)

It is a grievous failure of those who claim to be the people of God when they not only fail to be a sanctuary for the traumatized but also create the need for one.