Scrutiny

If you were raised in a conservative church (like I was) and you start to change the way you think about God, the bible, heaven and hell and homosexuality, the rapture, racism, abortion, America, social justice and gender, then you will be side-eyed by your tight circle of friends and family members. You are now the sinner, the tax collector, the leper, the liberal. Because evangelical christianity is a cancel culture, a fear-based system fixated on right belief. If we change what we believe, everything is at stake. Even eternal life! 

Scrutinizing fundamental beliefs that are destructive to ourselves, other people and the planet is socially ostracizing. But scrutiny is the seed of soul growth. We stop repressing our deepest feelings. We start trusting Something Else. We cultivate new convictions based on love, liberation, open-heartedness and genuine humility. The post-evangelical path will not look the same for everybody. Some of us will stay “Christian.” Some of us won’t. But whatever we do, we cannot walk alone. We need each other. I’m realizing it’s the only way to heal the evangelical trauma – and truly get free.