Welcome to Freedom from Toxic Faith. I hope that you are ready for a personal and spiritual revolution.It's my prayer and purpose that in these next thirty days, this guide will help you evaluate and transform your spiritual and emotional health. During this journey, I encourage you to do a personal inventory. Evaluate whether your beliefs are toxic or healthy.
Experiencing Healing from Painful Spiritual Abuse When religion becomes a means to avoid or control life, it becomes toxic. Those who possess a toxic faith have stepped across the line from a balanced perspective of God to an unbalanced faith in a weak, powerless or uncaring God. They seek a God to fix every mess, prevent every hurt, and mend every conflict. Toxic Faith distinguishes between a healthy faith and a misguided religiosity that traps believers in an addictive practice of religion. It shows how unbalanced ministries, misguided churches, and unscrupulous leaders can lead their followers away from God and into a desolate experience of religion that drives many to despair. Toxic Faith shows readers how to find hope for a return to genuine, healthy faith that can add meaning to life. In the words of the author, “I want to help you throw out that toxic faith and bring you back to the real thing.”
"In "Broken Trust," 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."--Amazon.com
Offers readers advice on how to avoid using religious faith as a way to avoid commitments, reality, and growth, and how to rebuild a healthy relationship with their god
The streets of our culture are littered with former church members. Why do people leave the church? Might the responsibility for increasingly absent and disgruntled members lay on the shoulders of toxic Christians? No Christian sets out to have toxic faith. At the beginning of their journey, a newborn saint is filled with joy, gratitude, praise and grace for others. They hunger for God and long to enjoy God in their lives. Yet for some, a subtle shift begins to take place. They become critics rather than workers, skeptics rather than servants. Before long, one finds them resistent or seeking to impose their will on others, regardless of Scriptural injunction. Dr. Ergun Caner charts this gradual decline into becoming a sin-sick soul, not to bemoan this ailment or resign to its inevitability, but in order to arrest and alter the person's course away from obsession back toward devotion.
Welcome to Freedom from Toxic Faith. I hope that you are ready for a personal and spiritual revolution.It's my prayer and purpose that in these next thirty days, this guide will help you evaluate and transform your spiritual and emotional health. During this journey, I encourage you to do a personal inventory. Evaluate whether your beliefs are toxic or healthy. The word faith means "the things that you believe." Many of our beliefs are irrational and untrue. These beliefs have often been passed down in our families for generations.Beliefs become toxic when they seep into our daily lives and rob the joy and peace that we should all experience.In 1 Corinthians 13:12, the Apostle Paul demonstrated that he understood this principle when he stated, "For now we see in a mirror indirectly." The indirect mirror that we see through reflects toxic beliefs about God, others, and ourselves. These lies cause us to misinterpret every event of our lives. My mentor, Dr. Richard Dobbins, would often remind his students that we don't live with the facts of our lives but the interpretation of the facts of our lives.In my experience as a counselor and leader, I've met thousands of people who had toxic faith. Instead of living the abundant life Jesus promised, they struggled on a consistent basis. Jesus promised that we would have "life, and may have it abundantly." (John 10:10)If you could expose and get rid of every conscious and unconscious lie, would you? If you could clean off those dirty lenses that cause you to live far short of your divine purpose, would you?This thirty-day journey is designed to give you the tools and revelations that you need to identify, confront, and remove any traces of toxic beliefs. Each day will be dedicated to a truth that will indeed set you free. Truth will lead you to complete health.
Toxic Faith: Liberal Cure is an answer to those who claim that liberalism is immoral and is somehow destroying the values of this country. It also seeks to provide a careful and rational response, in a specifically Judeo-Christian context, to many of the most vocalized and divisive current issues: patriotism, war, abortion, homosexuality, poverty, and the environment. Reviews "Liberal" is not a four-letter word. We are living in a time where "moral values" receive much play in the popular press. Rarely, if ever, however, do the discussions about "moral values" (meaning primarily Judeo-Christian values in our culture) include any serious discussion of what the Jewish and Christian Scriptures actually say about the primary conflicted issues of this day. The authors address if and how Judeo-Christian moral values may be related to liberal values within the context of selected social issues. This book is an answer to those who claim that liberalism is immoral and is somehow destroying the values of this country. It also seeks to provide a careful and rational response, in a specifically Judeo-Christian context, to many of the most vocalized and divisive current issues: patriotism, war, abortion, homosexuality, poverty, and the environment. Using quiet, confident scholarship and reason, the authors seek to restore and energize a more informed Christian faith. It is designed to be read by everyone who is alarmed about the political encroachments of the religious right: liberals who are Christians, liberals who arent Christians, secularists, and moderates who are concerned about religious freedom and the separation of church and state. "a reasoned, serious analysis of some of societys most contentious issues. Again, conservatives may not buy (the) arguments in the end, but at least (theyre) speaking in a language conservatives will understand." -Alston B. Ramsey, National Review Online, February 15, 2006 "Having trouble coming up with responses to the religious right on critical issues of the day? This book is a scholarly, yet down-to-earth discussion of topics such as patriotism, war, poverty, abortion, homosexuality and the environment. Each chapter includes talking points that can raise your comfort level in responding to the uninformed or biased rhetoric of the right." MiniMe, Illinois "This book offers valid perspectives on crucial issues that are dividing our country. I love that each chapter concludes with suggestions for positive action and discussion points. Very worthwhile!" J. Powers "In our sound byte-addicted world of attack-journalism, I'm amazed that a book can find its way into publication that thoughtfully addresses the most difficult moral issues of our time without name-calling and political posturing. Don't let the title fool you - this is not an outlet for liberals to counter-attack the extreme-right. This book addresses the most contentious issues of our time from a background of faith that helps the reader look at their own beliefs and gain empathy for others' beliefs." R. Andersen, Washington, DC "This book is the only one that directly and concisely addresses some of the most difficult religious issues that are discussed in the public arena these days. It includes obvious choices such as abortion and homosexuality, but it also gives thoughtful consideration to poverty, the environment and the war. In language that is understandable by almost everyone, the authors present significant research from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and the historical record that set straight many of the misconceptions of the religious right. It also provides very helpful talking points and suggestions for personal actions related to the topics." Canuck "Freedom of religion me
The book is a straightforward commentary on the New Testament book of Galatians, proceeding mostly verse by verse. I make frequent application to the ways contemporary cult leaders and teachers and spiritually abusive pastors misinterpret and misapply the teachings of the scriptures.
What factors contribute to active Christians in ministry leaving their church and becoming exiting statistics? Every year dedicated Christian people leave churches because of spiritual abuse. The stories of people who left their home church because of a negative and hurtful experience paint a picture of a widespread occurrence which beckons consideration by church leaders and church congregants alike. Spiritual abuse, the misuse of spiritual authority to maltreat followers in the Christian Church, is a complex issue. This book shows how people processed their grief after experiencing spiritual abuse in their local church and how they rediscovered spiritual harmony. Their spiritual journey shows how one may grow through this devastating experience. This book offers a thoughtful look at the topic of spiritual recovery from clergy abuse through the eyes of those who have experienced it. It invites church leaders to consider this very real dysfunction in the Church today and aims to demonstrate a path forward to greater freedom in Christ after a season of disillusionment with church leadership.
Loving others like Jesus is not automatic or natural, but it is vital to a satisfying home life, productive work environment, and a positive community. "The Power To Love" is a concise overview of the personal, communication, and relational skills needed to develop and maintain loving relationships. The personal skills include cognitive restructuring, emotional management, behavioral redirection, and spiritual enlightenment. The communication skills include understanding the miracle of communication, knowing what to talk about, and being able to speak the truth in love. The relational skills involve confrontation without condemnation, comforting without enabling, and supporting without hidden strings. Together these skills provide the relational empowerment needed to actually fulfill the new commandment of Jesus to love others the way he does. Those who experience "The Power To Love" described in these pages enjoy the personal benefits and genuine freedom of loving others regardless of their circumstances of life.
