Have you ever put on another person’s glasses and everything you looked at was distorted? What once was clear and sharp is blurred and hard to define.
When I was involved in the United Pentecostal Church, I sometimes looked into the beliefs of groups considered cult-like and/or unhealthy, such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I could see the wrong in other groups, but had not yet realized all the unhealthy aspects of what I was heavily involved in myself. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees.
Many who leave unhealthy churches often better see the abuse and twisting of scriptures after they have been out for awhile. While immersed in their former churches, they were seeing more through the group’s glasses, so to speak. When those glasses start to be removed, many are amazed they didn’t see things for what they were earlier.
If you are going through this stage, don’t beat yourself up. It is hard to see clearly when you are looking at the Bible and church events through the group’s glasses.
********
Shop at our Amazon store! As an Amazon Influencer, this website earns from qualifying purchases.
Until we left, I did not even recognize the term spiritual abuse. Being generational in it, it was as natural as breathing. Having fostered abd adopted abused children, I understand this a bit. We have comfort zones. They may be horrific but if they are all we know, they are our comfort zone. Children will sometimes run away from a safe, loving home to try to find abusive parents living in squallor because that is their comfort zone. I have seen where people who leave an abusive religion, go back repeatedly to try to make it work. To heal, we have to do the work required- research, therapy if needed, etc.