Going Inside & Trusting Myself (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th)) Listen to Audio – AI-Generated Karl For most of my life, religion told me not to trust myself, especially my feelings. We were taught what to believe based on the accepted belief systems and encouraged to trust that we were correct even when it did not feel right. The reason for this was the base reasoning that the body and our feelings were inherently bad because... Read more
A Plan for Us (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Listen to this blog – AI-Generated Karl As a former pastor, I remember the faces of people visiting for the first time. They were always more attentive than the other members. They were more hesitant to be demonstrative, but they looked hopeful in a cautious way. This always made me optimistic that they would be a new addition to the fold. They would be the right mix of... Read more
Evolving from Religious Trauma Hello! We are Karl and Laura Forehand! For the last 8-10 years, we have found our way outside organized religion. We were in ministry for about 20 years, serving upstart and struggling churches and helping them get on their feet. When we realized our beliefs were evolving, we stepped down from our Evangelical church assignment and started on an adventure. At first, we tried to harbor at a “better” church, but after a couple of years,... Read more
Listening (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Listen to this blog – AI-Generated Several years ago, we started a group called The Desert Sanctuary. We wanted it to be a home for spiritual nomads questioning their faith, struggling with their spirituality, or taking a break from organized religion. Eventually, it also included a blog and a podcast, and we started writing books. Being in the desert does not mean we are desperate, but it refers to how it... Read more
In Search of a Grown-up Audio version of this blog! AI Generated In real life, I’m a fairly low-key, go-with-the-flow person who occasionally gets emotional about something. When I feel like someone has to say something, I say it quite strongly. Those who know me know that I’m soft-hearted but also occasionally come out swinging when I notice injustice. I told my therapist the other day that the only fights I ever got into were with bullies. For some reason, I... Read more
The Four Existential Concerns (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Audio version of this blog! AI Generated Healing religious trauma and embarking on a journey of discovery can be terrifying! Many assumptions about the dangers of setting out on our own exist, but there are also the very real fears that all of us have. For simplicity’s sake, let us just call them existential concerns. For more information on these topics, see Yalom (1980), Heidegger (1957), and the National... Read more
What is Trauma? (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Listen to this blog – AI Generated When I first started to learn about trauma, it wasn’t very clear to me. We didn’t talk about trauma; we talked about sin. We certainly believed that there were things in life that were traumatic. Still, we ignored all the symptoms that are now becoming apparent because we assumed that we just needed to pray more, read the Bible, and... Read more
It’s Going to be Okay (From our new book, Evolving From Religious Trauma. June 4th) Audio version of this blog! AI Generated So, here we are, out in the Desert! That’s what we call it when people start asking questions, challenging their long-held beliefs, and evaluating the worldview they inherited. We call it The Desert because that’s what it feels like. It can be lonely and discouraging, reclaiming your autonomy, healing from past hurts, and permitting yourself to play the game you want... Read more
The Jezebel Scapegoat Shuffle Listen to this blog – AI-Generated It’s been a while since I read the Bible. I sometimes search for verses online to help me remember what I learned a long time ago. I used to be in love with systematic theology until I wasn’t. But considering all the talk these days of the Jezebel Spirit, primarily by evangelicals, I decided to have a cursory read of 1 Kings 16 through 2 Kings 1 in the Bible, and... Read more
My Top 10 Suggestions for Theologians Listen to this blog – AI-Generated What would happen if you realized someone removed the stage the next time you went to church, and the auditorium was completely remodeled? You notice no more elevations where one person could stand above the others. There are also no seats in one direction pointing towards something else. Instead, you see booths where you can find food and other places where people can sit and talk. The people... Read more
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