When Your Church Wants You to Go Back to Your Abuser [217]

Flying Free

Natalie Hoffman

Emotional, Narcissism, Christianity, Abuse, Religion & Spirituality, Spiritual, Christian, Self-improvement, Education, Divorce, Marriage

5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Does the Bible tell women that they need to stay with their abusive husband in the hope that her good behavior and great example will convert him? And how in the world are you supposed to respond to church leadership when they tell you that you need to submit to them?

Let’s look to the Bible for answers to these tough questions (that I bet have crossed your mind once or twice!) and find out what Jesus wants for women who are being oppressed in these various ways.

Key Points From This Episode:

How deconstructing an abusive faith brings healing and freedom.
Why we don’t have to agree with everything someone says, even if we really respect them and love their content. (I’m including myself in this, people. You don’t have to agree with everything I say! I don’t even believe that it’s healthy to do so.)
Who Paul is talking to and in what context in 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 (and why those verses don’t apply to abusive marriages).
Explaining the facts: There is no other authority in the church of Jesus Christ other than Jesus Christ.
Why your church leaders may not be operating under the authority of Christ if they demand that you submit to them.
Why your body and its reactions can serve as a vital piece of information for your brain about the people you’re around and the environment you’re in.
The reason why you get to decide what authority you submit to and follow.

Access the transcript, read the show notes, and/or ask Natalie a question here

If you are a Christian woman who thinks you may be in an emotionally destructive marriage, learn more at https://flyingfreenow.com

I'll send you (free!) the first chapter of my book, Is It Me? Making Sense of Your Confusing Marriage, which has an assessment to help you figure out if your relationship is abusive or not. All you have to do is hop on my mailing list at https://flyingfreesisterhood.com/free-download

You can also find out about our online education and support program for women of faith at https://joinflyingfree.com

And finally, if you are a divorced Christian woman who wants to take back her life and get healthy, lose weight, have amazing relationships, get things done, build a business or career, and even find a good man (if you want one) - check out Flying Higher at https://joinflyinghigher.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Natalie Hoffman of Flying Free Now.com and you're listening to the
0:09.3	Flying Free Podcast, a support resource for Women of faith, looking for hope and healing from hidden
0:16.4	emotional and spiritual abuse.
0:19.1	Welcome to episode 217 of the Flying Free Podcast. Today we have a couple of
0:27.6	listener questions but before we dig into those I want you to know that this
0:32.3	month April 2023, inside of the
0:35.5	Flying Free Program, I am teaching a course all about healing our relationship with
0:41.2	God because so many of the women I work with,
0:44.2	when they tell me their stories,
0:45.8	there's always this element of spiritual abuse
0:48.8	where the concept of God or the nature of God
0:51.6	is twisted in order to control them.
0:54.0	So for example, many Christian women are taught that if they speak up
0:58.0	about the abuse going on in their home,
1:00.0	that they are being unforgiving or rebellious or unsubmissive or
1:05.0	disobeying the Bible and that God is displeased with them.
1:09.2	So the people who made up these ideas in order to serve their own agenda are now using these
1:16.0	ideas about an abusive God, small g to strike fear in the hearts of women and motivate them to step down and step back into
1:26.4	their place where they are more easily controlled by men who want to be in power.
1:32.0	Women actually go along with these ideas when they get approval and strokes from these men in power over them.
1:40.0	Now when women finally discover the truth about how abusive these ideas are, they're often
1:45.1	left wondering if everything they ever learned about God is true or just a lie.
	...

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