Shunning
It's disturbing that the Bible sanctions shunning, an action that affects the psyche of those being shunned in traumatic ways. I abhor such actions, but I'm not surprised by it. "I will never leave you nor forsake you... unless you question my existence." The word "never" doesn't mean what HE thinks it means.
Feeling forsaken and betrayed by what we once thought was a living God and then by those who have conditions attached to their relationship with you. Doubly gut-punched. There is no shortcut through the heartaches that are inevitably attached to a loss of faith. The grieving process is real, tangible, and should never be invalidated or dismissed by some false accusation to say you were never a real Christian.
Believers will deny that shunning occurs but scour the scriptures to find reasons to do just that - and those verses are indeed there.
Romans 14:23 states, "Whatever is not from faith is sin" and Hebrews 3:12 "Take care, brethren, lest there be any of you an evil heart of unbelief leading you to fall away from the living God." These firewalls and backstops in scriptures tell the believers to act in a way that we know in today's psychology to be damaging and, quite frankly, immoral. Who can claim to be of a loving religion and simultaneously shun friends and family? It is only the Bible that dares call skeptisicm a sin and only by its own standards retaliates with threats of hell for questioning the existence of the biblical God. If real, the deafening silence over millennia does not warrant hellfire for unbelief.
Matthew 10:14 states, "And in whatsoever place you enter, and they receive you not, in my name you shall leave a curse instead of a blessing, by casting off the dust of your feet against them as a testimony, and cleansing your feet by the wayside." Because not even the dirt from their property should go with you. If that isn't a high insult to one who is not convinced of this "loving" God, I don't know what is and this ritualistic "curse" reeks of witchcraft and superstition. Real freedom comes from not caring what other people think of you, but apparently this God of the Bible seems to have extremely thin skin and insecurity issues.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 is summarized to say that those who are unholy (not "set apart" in the body of Christ), traitors, denying the power [of God], that the believer should "from such turn away." The bible does advocate the alienation a separation of believers from those who are non-believers. As dysfunctional as this is, their scriptures tell them it is to, by [their] sorrow and as a type of discipline, bring them back into the faith (2 Cor 2:6-11). Emotional Neglect is one of the most toxic forms of emotional abuse and here we find the alleged creator of the universe advocating for it.
The mentality that one is "spiritually dead" and therefore unclean is doctrine that is taught in churches and confirmed in scripture by instruction to not listen to those who have fallen away (Heb 3:12-19), and that those voices are from "demons" (1 Tim 4:1). Telling others "not to listen" is not just Economic Abuse by way of hindering one's education (we can learn from many sources), but dehumanizes non-believers and rendering them all "of the devil" casting fear into the hearts of millions while solidifying castegation as a modus operandi.
God uses his people vicariously to execute his vengeance towards those who would not submit to him by (biblically approved) bullying the "outsiders" in classic warlike fashion; his sheep are his pawns. This bellacose God is not benevolent in his clear attempts to divide and conquer. While the Bible may claim his mercy seat is unending, this blood-thirsty God is the least merciful when investigating the claims of his actions and the nonbelievers are deemed fodder.
So general are some of the fortune-cookie-style predictions that it should come as no surprise to either the former believer and the believer that the excuses were given after the fact to say "many will fall away" (Mt 24:10-13)... and no wonder - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to "predict" that people would eventually see through the nonsense, hate, selective supremacy, bigotry, extortion, fear, and lies of the bible and reject it. The bible is claimed to be "God-breathed" and if that were true, this God is not worthy of worship.
The act of this alienation of former believers has caused more heartache than any good the faith can possibly do. This is partly why I wrote my book, Crucifying the Bible - for those who need reassurance that they didn't do the wrong thing: to prove the scriptures do not support themselves. I disproved the claims of the bible, using the verses in it to do so and I hope it serves to provide answers to those who need them.
- Deborah Grace
Author, Crucifying the Bible
Feeling forsaken and betrayed by what we once thought was a living God and then by those who have conditions attached to their relationship with you. Doubly gut-punched. There is no shortcut through the heartaches that are inevitably attached to a loss of faith. The grieving process is real, tangible, and should never be invalidated or dismissed by some false accusation to say you were never a real Christian.
Believers will deny that shunning occurs but scour the scriptures to find reasons to do just that - and those verses are indeed there.
Romans 14:23 states, "Whatever is not from faith is sin" and Hebrews 3:12 "Take care, brethren, lest there be any of you an evil heart of unbelief leading you to fall away from the living God." These firewalls and backstops in scriptures tell the believers to act in a way that we know in today's psychology to be damaging and, quite frankly, immoral. Who can claim to be of a loving religion and simultaneously shun friends and family? It is only the Bible that dares call skeptisicm a sin and only by its own standards retaliates with threats of hell for questioning the existence of the biblical God. If real, the deafening silence over millennia does not warrant hellfire for unbelief.
Matthew 10:14 states, "And in whatsoever place you enter, and they receive you not, in my name you shall leave a curse instead of a blessing, by casting off the dust of your feet against them as a testimony, and cleansing your feet by the wayside." Because not even the dirt from their property should go with you. If that isn't a high insult to one who is not convinced of this "loving" God, I don't know what is and this ritualistic "curse" reeks of witchcraft and superstition. Real freedom comes from not caring what other people think of you, but apparently this God of the Bible seems to have extremely thin skin and insecurity issues.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 is summarized to say that those who are unholy (not "set apart" in the body of Christ), traitors, denying the power [of God], that the believer should "from such turn away." The bible does advocate the alienation a separation of believers from those who are non-believers. As dysfunctional as this is, their scriptures tell them it is to, by [their] sorrow and as a type of discipline, bring them back into the faith (2 Cor 2:6-11). Emotional Neglect is one of the most toxic forms of emotional abuse and here we find the alleged creator of the universe advocating for it.
The mentality that one is "spiritually dead" and therefore unclean is doctrine that is taught in churches and confirmed in scripture by instruction to not listen to those who have fallen away (Heb 3:12-19), and that those voices are from "demons" (1 Tim 4:1). Telling others "not to listen" is not just Economic Abuse by way of hindering one's education (we can learn from many sources), but dehumanizes non-believers and rendering them all "of the devil" casting fear into the hearts of millions while solidifying castegation as a modus operandi.
God uses his people vicariously to execute his vengeance towards those who would not submit to him by (biblically approved) bullying the "outsiders" in classic warlike fashion; his sheep are his pawns. This bellacose God is not benevolent in his clear attempts to divide and conquer. While the Bible may claim his mercy seat is unending, this blood-thirsty God is the least merciful when investigating the claims of his actions and the nonbelievers are deemed fodder.
So general are some of the fortune-cookie-style predictions that it should come as no surprise to either the former believer and the believer that the excuses were given after the fact to say "many will fall away" (Mt 24:10-13)... and no wonder - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to "predict" that people would eventually see through the nonsense, hate, selective supremacy, bigotry, extortion, fear, and lies of the bible and reject it. The bible is claimed to be "God-breathed" and if that were true, this God is not worthy of worship.
The act of this alienation of former believers has caused more heartache than any good the faith can possibly do. This is partly why I wrote my book, Crucifying the Bible - for those who need reassurance that they didn't do the wrong thing: to prove the scriptures do not support themselves. I disproved the claims of the bible, using the verses in it to do so and I hope it serves to provide answers to those who need them.
- Deborah Grace
Author, Crucifying the Bible
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