Deconstruction, church trauma, and sharing holiday love. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
| Hi John! We're screeching towards the end of the year. The holidays have started. For some of us, this is fun. For others, seeing family can be traumatic. I hope this letter gives you five minutes to think about something besides gifts, cooking, and what your uncle might think of your latest life decision. Cartoon: Here's the church! ⛪️
Dad Joke: Moo 🍔
Post: My greatest act of rebellion ✊
Quote: A flash of insight ⚡️
Original: Are you proud to be yourself? 🙋 |
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Who here was traumatized by the church?
I'll go first.
ME! |
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| What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef. |
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| I revealed my greatest act of rebellion in this post. See it here. |
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| This cartoon (and many others) is available as a Holiday Greeting Card. I've put them into sets that are funny, or serious, or LGBTQ-affirming. Go have a look and pick your favorite! Each pack contains five greeting cards. |
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| “Bohm believes the reason subatomic particles are able to remain in contact with one another regardless of the distance separating them is not because they are sending some sort of mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. He argues that at some deeper level of reality such particles are not individual entities, but are actually extension of the same fundamental something.” This is from Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe. |
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| Flashes of Insight that Sparked My Deconstruction |
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| Before 2009 when I had a profound and life-changing spiritual experience… that eventually led to my leaving the ministry in 2010… I had been reading David Bohm’s papers on quantum physics. Reading this, along with Krishnamurti, Merton, Carlo Rovelli, etc., I believe were the catalysts that provoked this deeply life-changing “flash of insight” I had in March of 2009. I put it in quotation marks because I don’t know what to call what I experienced. But what I “saw” was the unity of all things… that deep and underlying oneness. I felt an immediate sense of peace of mind… a peace of mind that has never left… and knew that this oneness was the primary reality, not the illusion of separateness. Now, I believe and act as though we are all one, and that the division and separateness is an illusion. We don’t have to create this oneness, but more manifest it… live as though it is true… because it is! I naively assumed everyone would appreciate this vision of oneness I saw. Remarkably, this assumption of oneness was what got me into trouble. It was a difficult lesson for me to learn… that most people prefer division and separateness because of their fears that leads to favouritism and exclusion. It affirms their false sense of superiority and supremacy. That the church cooperates with and operates in and profits from the perpetuation of this illusion was a heartbreaking revelation. I knew I could not go on in this context. I had to leave. No one begged me not to. And that’s okay. Maybe we all intuitively knew what was best for me. And what was best for them. |
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| Original: Here I Stand As Me |
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| I felt inspired to paint an image with a woman surrounded by seeming adversity yet standing solidly in her place, taking up space, raising her voice, and not cowering to the growing pressure to relent, retreat, and revoke her own identity and rights. |
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| As I said at the top of this letter, the holidays are fun for some and traumatic for others. So I want to finish by asking you to check on your friends. Especially the quiet ones. Send them a nice message or give them a call. Let them know that you're here and that they're so welcome and loved in your world. Exactly as they are! You can even forward them this email if you think it'll cheer them up! Much love my friend, David |
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NakedPastor Gondola Point Road Quispamsis, NB E2E 1H6 |
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