Have You Been Hurt by Spiritual Abuse?
If you have suffered spiritual abuse from a toxic church, toxic organization, or toxic leader, your trust has been broken. You entrusted your life to someone you thought would care for you: someone who initially inspired you to know God, only to reject you in the end. Now you are left wounded and disillusioned, wondering if you can ever trust others, yourself, or possibly even God, again.
The Impact of Spiritual Abuse
Most people don't understand the devastating impact of spiritual abuse. Many suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of experiencing it. If you think your spiritual community might be abusive, or you have just left an abusive congregation, then this book could give you the direction you are looking for. In "Broken Trust,"
Broken Trust Is a Guide Out of Spiritual Abuse
F. Remy Diederich relates his personal experiences of toxic faith and spiritual abuse along with the experiences of other survivors. But this isn't just another tell-all story of abuse; it's a guide that will help you to first identify spiritual abuse, and then offer you a practical plan for recovery. Diederich is convinced that God is the God of resurrection and restoration. He believes you can begin again.
One of the Best Books on Spiritual Abuse
One review wrote: "As a spiritual abuse survivor and blogger, I have now read dozens of books about this topic. Many are academic in nature, or very dense. I am comfortable saying that this book provides the clearest, simplest, most helpful coverage of spiritual abuse and recovery." Stephen A. Smith, libertyforcaptives.com
Broken Trust" builds on the wisdom laid out in previous books on the topic, such as "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse," by Dave Johnson and Jeff Van Vonderen.
Broken Trust" builds on the wisdom laid out in previous books on the topic, such as "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse," by Dave Johnson and Jeff Van Vonderen.
The book is laid out in five parts:
Part One: Defining Toxic Faith and Spiritual Abuse
Part Two: Practical Steps to Deal with Spiritual AbusePart Three: The Road to RecoveryPart Four: I Left My Toxic Church…Now What?Part Five: How to Rescue Your Church From Spiritual Abuse (advice to leaders)
The book draws wisdom from the examples of toxic faith in Paul's letter to the Galatians to show that spiritual abuse is not new to the church.
The Author Understands You and Spiritual Abuse
Diederich's words are not religious or preachy but he writes in the typical "down-to-earth" fashion he's shown in his other helpful books. He speaks in a personal tone that will encourage you to understand yourself, your abuser, and the steps you can take to reclaim your relationship with God and, if possible, your relationship with the church or spiritual community. Be sure to read the reviews to see how Broken Trust has helped many people break free from spiritual abuse.
5 comments:
With regards to religious abuse, PTSD = P-ost T-heology S-tress D-isorder
Many of us here will be nodding our heads and thinking, "Yes! That's exactly what happened to me!"
But for the most part, people steeped in Armstrongism have been prepared in advance with the cliches to reject this material, which if they actually read it with an open mind, could be very beneficial to them by introducing additional dimensions in accountanility and objectivity into their lives.
GTA used to quip "My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts!" However, he the introduced selective blinders which prevented members from seeing that the bottom edge of that factual sword also cuts very effectively!
Interesting that a former minister attempts to transfer the word theology upon the word trauma, as if the only problem in the COG experience was theological error and not the perpetration and predilection of the perpetrators who perpetrated the trauma upon the sheep.
When I first got on to the internet right after the start of the new Century/Millennium, I noticed that there were some former ministers writing for the Painful Truth. I remember sitting at my desk and thinking, "This is so cool! The ministers got us into this mess, and now some of them are helping us to get out if it!" These guys actually made themselves available to us for direct correspondence, posting their email addresses at the bottom of the articles they wrote. And then a funny thing happened. A couple of them emailed me to thank me and to let me know that most of the other posters were very angry with them. They received a lot of hate mail. One poor guy had shared that his wife died. A woman posted her condolences, and then when she found out he was still affiliated with one of the splinter groups, retracted her apology and said she was glad the wife had died.
I couldn't believe that this kind of hatred was going around. We former members were seeking our healing. How could a former minister find
his healing if people on a site dedicated to recovery wouldn't allow it? As for the guy whose wife had died, he most likely got the impression that there was no empathy or sympathy to be found amongst the former members. When I emailed him to let him know that not all of us were like that, I found out that his deceased wife was actually a good friend of mine's sister.
"Religious" PTSD = Pastor Torments Submissive Disciples. The phenomenon has almost nothing to do with theology, and almost everything to do with sociology, the same sociology of brutally enforced dominance and submission that governs chimpanzee troops. The phenomenon continued unchanged in WCG when the organization's theology changed. It is a commonplace observation that the Tkaches retained the truly toxic core of Armstrongism, changing only the theological wallpaper.
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