Religious Rebels

Christy is back with the Religious Rebels Podcast and an episode introducing a new series on faith reconstruction. We've deconstructed our faith. We've taken apart the pieces. But now we have decided that we want to rebuild our faith centered around the person of Jesus Christ. What does that look like? What questions do we need to ask? What answers do we need to look for?

Although Christy came to faith deconstruction and reconstruc...

As someone who grew up in a fundamental Christian cult (Gothard's IBLP of Shiny Happy People), Christy understands the fear and mindset behind Christian Nationalism firsthand. As a teen, she believed that if we could control other people's morality by law, that they would be happier and closer to God. She was taught that America was created as a Christian nation and that it was important to God that it stay that way.

People with si...

Christy tackles the topic of spiritual abuse and unhealthy church cultures, specifically speaking out the use of NDAs, quick restoration processes, and coverups in churches and Christian organizations. She asks questions and encourages her listeners to ask questions as well.

* What are we protecting?

* Who are we protecting?

* What are we hiding?

* What needs to be brought into the light?

* Is it worth the mess and chaos to tell the tru...

Christy continues to talk about emotions, this time following up on a recent Substack essay. She expands on her original thoughts and encourages her listeners to keep thinking. For the past three hundred years, emotions have been an important part of the evangelical experience. However, because they are so important, they are often manipulated as we have seen from the past two episodes of Religious Rebels.

Christy also begins a con...

Christy continues her conversation about spiritual and emotional manipulation that can look like revival. She discusses more concerns with the Unite Us movement on college campuses featuring Jennie Allen and Jonathan Pokluda. Christy reminds her listeners that she is not trying to condemn anyone, but that she also recognizes anyone can be deceived and affected by power.

Referencing the Jesus People movement of the 1970s and also Bi...

Inspired by some concerns she has with Jennie Allen and the Unite Us movement going around college campuses, Christy beings a two part series exploring the difference between an actual movement of God and spiritual manipulation. Christy digs into the latest Unite Us event in Knoxville at the University of Tennessee. She looks into the events that unfolded at the Thompson Bowling Arena last week and compares them with similar events...

In this episode, Christy explores the origins of Gnostic Christianity and the gnostic gospels. She ponders how the view that the spirit is good but the body is bad has affected our evangelical experience. Although most evangelical Christians would never say that they get their sin management ideas from the Gnostics, Christy questions whether this is the case after all.

Why are we so obsessed with control? Why do some people stifle ...

Inspired by some recent conversations with young adults and college students, Christy digs into common struggles with faith that we often experience: I am not enough, I am not doing enough, I don't believe enough or I don't believe the right things, and I can't hear from God.

She gently reminds her listeners that not everything we've heard in evangelical church or youth group over the years is true. As broken people, we are naturall...

Christy steps back from her typical topics to address a so called "eclipse prophecy" or "eclipse judgement prophecy" that has been circulating on Facebook. She takes apart the words, verses out of context, poor science, and sketchy numerology to debunk the prophecy.

Then Christy addresses the desires of our hearts that make us susceptible to these kinds of false prophecies. We have an innate understanding that there is more than ju...

In this episode, Christy talks about sharing her more recent experience with spiritual abuse on her Substack last week. She explains that telling our story is important if we are going to create a culture where victims are protected rather than abusers. Christy then explains why she still believes in Jesus Christ, foundational truths about him that have been believed for thousands of years, and why she is still in church.

After lea...

Christy finishes her episode about Bill Gothard and his teachings by looking into the impact his Basic Seminar has had on the mainstream Christian people who attended. Many people went to a seminar once or twice, but never got into the cultic whirl pool far enough to realize how wrong and twisted his teachings were. They went to the seminar and then went home.

Mainstream churches hosted Gothard's seminars and then went on with thei...

For the first time in her podcast history, Christy dives into the life and teachings of her old cult leader, Bill Gothard. She introduces his organization, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, talks about the Basic Seminar and the seven Basic Principles, and explains why these things matter to her listeners even if they were never personally influenced by Gothard or his teachings.

The Institute claims that over 2.5 million peopl...

As we rethink our Christian faith or religious experiences, it is inevitable that we will run into the Bible. What do we do with this book that is supposedly from God, but has often been used to control and abuse us? How do we read it? What about the parts that seem wrong or confusing? Is the Bible literal and inerrant like some claim?

Christy shares how she used to view and use the Bible in her cult days—as a mystical, magical, re...

Christy works to define faith deconstruction for her audience. Often people have specific expectations about deconstruction. Some think that deconstructing your faith automatically means you deconvert from Christianity. Other people think that if you deconstruct, you will automatically arrive at a progressive, unitarian theology.

Christy reminds her listeners that in any other context, deconstruction simply means to take something ...

Christy begins her new podcast, Religious Rebels, by sharing pieces of her story growing up in Bill Gothard's IBLP cult, meeting Jesus anyway, growing out of the cult, experiencing spiritual abuse in a regular church, and choosing to hold onto her relationship with Jesus despite everything that happened.

Links:

Order Christy’s Book HERE

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Or visit her WEBSITE

Christy encourages her listeners to rethink the way they see God. Often when we have experienced spiritual abuse in a church or an organization, the god they represent is angry, has specific expectations for us, condemns and rejects, and likes us better when we behave. Christy wonders if this god is more of a representation of the leaders than the Real One.

She reminds her listeners that if God is real (and she believes He is) we d...

Enjoy this trailer! The first three episodes of the Religious Rebels podcast will drop tomorrow at 5pm. New episodes will continue to drop every other Sunday night after that.

You can listen to Religious Rebels here on Substack, watch my new YouTube channel, or listen anywhere you like to listen to podcasts. Thanks for being part of this new adventure!

Links:

Order Christy’s Book HERE

Subscribe to Christy’s SUBSTACK

Find Christy on Thr...