Thread by @joshuadpease

A thing I worry about w/ #ShinyHappyPeople (& other similar docs) is that we Christians will think “oh wow, look at those weird people over there can you believe it?!” Because let’s be honest, some of that toxic theology was in the churches we grew up in. And often still is.🧵

I’ve been guilty of treating IBLP as separate from my upbringing, calling them the weird cousins at the family reunion. But my own metaphor sells me out: there IS a family resemblance:

Like, we didn’t use an umbrella, but we learned to submit to all authority (except democrats)

The Pearls’ parenting philosophy is horrifying, but many of us were raised in a less extreme version of the same principle: that little kids (including babies) are inherently sinful & have to have that stubborn, selfish will broken.

If you grew up in the 90s none of that culture war, “send our best and brightest into the halls of power to take back our country for Jesus” was even the slightest bit surprising. We had worldview classes saying the same thing. I interned in DC in college b/c of that stuff!

We were taught women were responsible for men’s sexual urges, & that our sexuality was bad bad bad until suddenly it was The Most Best Thing Ever on your wedding night. And we never talked about how many of these marriages spent years trying to untangle sex from shame.

IBLP hurt people with these beliefs in graphic, sensational, cult-like ways. In our world, it was often quieter. Harder to see. Happened slowly. But make no mistake: we hurt so many. So, so many. The theology is toxic, whether it’s turned to a “5” or an “11.”

To be clear, I am not saying most conservative Christianity was AS BAD as Gothard’s world, there’s an evil to IBLP I still find hard to wrap my head around, but we Christians need to be real careful we’re not slowing down to check out the car wreck then driving on.

Because there’s an opportunity here, if we can humble ourselves and listen. We can still take following Jesus very seriously, hold to the Christian faith tightly, while purging stuff we inherited from our past we now see as harmful.

Our faith isn’t a house of cards where if, say, you believe spanking is harmful to a kid’s early childhood development suddenly every copy of the Nicene Creed turns to ashes.

And we can find a better way to talk about sex w/o shaming women & enabling predatory men.

We can re-examine our love affair with charismatic leaders who make us feel good but ask for our unwavering loyalty in exchange.

And we can apologize. Own where we got it wrong. This won’t make it all better, but in my experience it means a lot to people when we say it.

And there are still those out there looking for churches who have purged this stuff, & are learning to live out something better.

I’m convinced a lot of people still are intrigued by Jesus, they just don’t want to attend those weird family reunions we keep insisting on.

So, for their sake AND ours, let’s stop going.

Also, if you’re interested in this topic, @rickpidcock kept all the receipts and went scorched earth tying IBLP ideas to current, influential church leaders: baptistnews.com/article/how-to…