My brother and I were terribly abused by our hateful, judgmental, narcissistic, legalistic mother. She taught us that Christianity was nothing but a bunch of senseless cold rules to be followed or we would go to hell. She taught us that we were worthless, unlovable failures that God hated. She never hugged us or told us she loved us. She had no love or mercy or compassion.
Both of us ran away from that terrible religion for many years. It wasn’t real Christianity at all!! But we thought it was because that is what we were taught. We wanted nothing to do with such a hateful God!
She abused my father as well and he withdrew from life and died an empty, hopeless shell of a man. Everyone and everything she touched spiritually died… I ended up suicidally depressed and terribly lost for many years.
But Jesus pursued me and brought me back to Himself eventually. He followed me into the pits of hell and brought me back to life after a suicide attempt when I was 30 years old. Jesus Himself taught me that I’m NOT an unlovable failure. He showered me with His love, mercy, and forgiveness that we never received from our own mother. Jesus made me a completely new person.
My passion today is to express the unconditional love and forgiveness of Jesus to others who have also been abused by legalistic religion. To them I say, if YOU have also been abused by a religious family member, or by a church, please understand that is NOT Jesus Christ! Jesus LOVES you and wants to have a relationship with you. He WILL forgive you and embrace you no matter what your past may be.
The rest of my family still understandably believe that they’ve been there, done that terrible Christianity thing… this is the tragedy of religious spirits. They close to door to heaven for everyone they touch.
To my CHRISTIAN brothers and sisters I say this… the way we treat each other is very important. We may be the only example of Jesus for our children, family members, friends, acquaintances, employees. Are we reflecting Jesus well or poorly? Are we walking in the love, mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ? Or are we using our beliefs as a weapon to hurl spiritual stones at people we disagree with?
