recipe for spiritual abuse

Here’s a recipe for spiritual abuse:

Person A has a character flaw.

Person A occupies a position of power.

Person B renders authority to this person.

This is just one of the recipes. How it is mixed and cooked depends on the situation. It can be singular, sporadic, steady, or cyclical.

It isn’t right to just blame the perpetrator (character flaw). This is why it isn’t right to just blame the system (position of power). And this is why it’s never right to blame the victim (rendering authority). The collusion of power and those willing to use it is too overwhelming.

People have a right to their own innate spiritual freedom. Those in authority attempting to manage it and thereby dilute it are innumerable.

This is why I spend my time critiquing power and authority, especially religious: because it compromises the most historic element of our story… that moment in time when we crossed over from freely walking in the garden with God to working on hard ground with thorns and a curse.

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