Sigh. So all I've really been focusing on the last couple of days is finishing up my semester & I'm fucking EXHAUSTED but the work of #ChurchToo does not care how many pages I had to write this week. I'm gonna tweet about Josh Duggar and Moody Bible Institute so buckle up & TW ⬇️
First of all, the news about Josh Duggar is traumatizing af for a lot of us especially those of us who come from fundamentalist homeschooling backgrounds (hi 🖐️) and one thing I'm gonna need every media outlet to stop doing immediately is treating purity culture like it's *cute.*
So much of the coverage of the last decade has been like "let's go look at these evangelical freaks with their purity balls & their weird church services! how unique!" It has felt like a field trip to the evangelical zoo but this shit is not cute. It's killing people. #ChurchToo
I am an incontrovertible pessimist so I do not think yet ANOTHER formerly prestigious white man in evangelical Christianity getting exposed as a predator and a fraud is going move the needle for folks who would die for purity culture even as it slowly kills them. #ChurchToo
But I can't help but think about my own story. Homeschooled, oldest of 7. My parents idolized a local family who were like the Duggars minus the TV show. They ended up with 20 something kids when it was all said and done? My parents wanted to be just like them.
TW abuse
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One thing this family did was punish their kids by making them run laps around their property until they were exhausted—my parents picked this one up & started implementing it after we got too big to spank with the sanded-down 2x4 they kept in the kitchen drawer.
In these communities, children are not people. They are mini-me's, little vessels who are supposed to act like math formulas, where you input discipline and theology and they output good behavior and devout Christianity. Except when they don't and require "correction."
What I'm saying is children are already basically worthless in this mindset. So. The fact that we see this Josh Duggar and other #ChurchToo stories coming out of these environments in which children are the victim rings true to me and many others raised in similar ways.
With regards to Moody and #ChurchToo: It's come out in the last few days that the third party investigation they set up as a result of allegations of many years of botched and covered up disclosures of sexual assault by administration has come to a close. Great, right?
LOL. Pres Mark Jobe & the board of trustees aren't going to let anyone see it until AFTER they approve their budget for the 2021-2022 year. So fuck what the report says because even if they have recs, MBI won't be able to do anything about it! Budget's been approved! #ChurchToo
You can learn more here #ChurchToo: bebettermoody.com Like I said I'm an incontrovertible pessimist so unlike the creators of the website I do not believe Moody wants to do better or *can* given their theological commitments. But accountability is good so please share
Here are the graphics for that which you can save and share in your own tweet #ChurchToo #MoodyToo #BeBetterMoody
Like I said y'all, I'm exhausted. I hope if any of this triggers you or resonates with your experience you're able to take some time to put your hand on your chest and breath in and out deeply and know that you are no longer there. Love y'all. ♥️

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More from @emilyjoypoetry

13 Jan
Y’all I am driving right now but have I got a good story for you when I get home
OKAY so I was in a Zoom meeting when my old landlord from the tornado house called me, which I immediately assumed was a butt dial because we haven’t lived there since March and he is a middle aged dad
But he left me a voicemail that was like “hey a package of books was delivered to the old house for you and someone opened it and went through it and left it there but I grabbed it for you so if you want to come pick it up let me know”
Read 6 tweets
12 Jan
What's fascinating/horrifying/important to note is how the evangelical Christianity of my youth not only encourages but requires its adherents to do just this. Beyond just the standard and obvious "the heart is deceitful," "beat your body" etc. shit, the distrust piece is key.
We were taught that the world calls what is good, evil and what is evil, good. We were taught people don't know what's best for themselves without the gospel, and that it was our job to show them. We were taught that outsiders' desires were the product of their sinful humanity.
So if an outsider group—LGBTQ folks, for example—says "OUCH" when we step on their toes with the gospel, that's because their minds & hearts haven't been renewed by the Holy Spirit. An "OUCH" from someone is absolutely not a reason to stop doing what you're doing in this context.
Read 4 tweets
20 Oct 20
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times. The sun is setting on the days where you could get away with the evil these people have perpetrated with a slap on the wrist and an office switch. #ChurchToo #MoodyToo
For clarity Moody Bible Institute announced this in their weekly President's Chapel this morning, which is available for viewing (at least currently) here: facebook.com/watch/?v=98169… I'm going to watch the relevant parts and tweet quotes in case it gets taken down. #ChurchToo
This chapel service will be about "one of the challenges we're currently facing," says Moody's president of ~1.5 years, Mark Jobe. Jobe says he will address this with a "shepherd's heart and a dad's heart." #ChurchToo
Read 30 tweets
17 Oct 20
I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS REAL DEAR GOD
Okay I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now so I have time
Number one. There is no scientific consensus on "when life begins" because the question of "when life begins" is primarily a spiritual/theological question, not a scientific one. Really all depends on what we mean by "life," the various beliefs on the existence of a "soul," etc.
Read 20 tweets
9 Oct 19
All this Ellen talk has got me thinking about the other day when I was being interviewed by someone who was coming from a more conservative theological viewpoint and they asked me what it would take for me to be in community with people I disagreed with theologically.
And I said to them listen, I am constantly in community with people I disagree with theologically. In both directions. I’m close friends with atheists and I’m close friends with people who take the whole fucking nicene creed extremely seriously.
Where I run into problems with people is when it gets to matters of human dignity and civil rights. My life is not a theological issue. My personhood is not a theological issue that exists to be agreed or disagreed with. I reject the premise of questions that start there.
Read 6 tweets
16 Jul 19
Okay #BachelorNation. My name is Emily Joy, I'm a lesbian with an unhealthy obsession with this show, I have a degree in philosophical theology & apologetics from Moody Bible Institute, and if you're wondering what the fuck is going on I'm here to break it down. #TheBachelorette
In last night's episode @AlabamaHannah referenced the biblical story of the woman caught in adultery & the words of Jesus when he said, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." The story she's referring to can be found here in the gospel of John: biblegateway.com/passage/?searc…
Now a couple interesting things to note: 1) unlike a lot of other Jesus stories, this one is found *only* in the gospel of John & not the others, and 2) there is good scholarly consensus that this bit of John was added later and was not a part of the original text of the gospel.
Read 28 tweets

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