Linda’s Reviews > Toxic Faith > Status Update

Rather than fearing every threat to the system, it’s important to trust that God can handle attacks on His Word, character, and people. Perfect love casts out fear, and the need for God to be our servant (through miracles or other signs of His work).

“Religious addicts think of faith as impersonal. They are mere members of the group, not individuals loved and cherished by God.” Absence of the personal leads to more fragility, as God becomes an idea or Force and not a Person.

“Religious addicts have the ability to turn everything into a negative. From their feelings of inadequacy, they can contort any set of circumstances into a doomsday scenario….Never and Always are integral to their statements about themselves and their expectations of others.”

“The toxic-faith system has no room for error and no room for people who make mistakes. Since people in need, people who mess up, and people who reveal their humanness glaringly point out the weaknesses of the toxic-faith system, they must be removed.” Explains why the Pharisees ‘had to’ remove the formerly blind man. Jesus showed greater power than they had, and the (healed) blind man questioned them.

“Victims sacrifice time almost as if they are Christian martyrs who…must go down with the persecutor. While the victims attempt to make a name for themselves as sacrificial believers, their children wonder why God would take up so much of their parents’ time. When the ministry goes down and the victims realize all the work was for nothing, it is difficult to remain faithful”. All true.

The “Five Roles” (Chapter 7) are definitely where the rubber meets the road. After explaining that the Persecutor role includes anger at constant performance and disappointment(at themselves and others), the solution is realistic: force the person to seek help and be accountable.

Persecutors are compulsive (more than convicted), usually in multiple areas. “Driven people exhibit blatant compulsive behaviors that usually indicate something is being hidden.” First compulsion is socially approved, the secondary compulsion could be something illegal or unethical (eating issues commonly pair with religious addiction).

Great description of a self-created anger loop. The angry persecutor appears driven to achieve, “obsessed with success, and compulsive about everything”, but is angry at performing for little internal satisfaction. So the anger pours out in the pulpit. (If anyone knew, “it would dispel the myth that God’s will was being done”.

Sounds exhausting. “Performance validates the persecutor’s worth and being. Every day brings a new battle to regain self-worth.” Even though they are surrounded by supporters, they rarely feel good about the performance and constantly fear not being enough.

Good to see a discussion on self-reliance versus godly dependency. Faith does become toxic when the catalyst replaces God. The fruit becomes the purpose, and idolatry of the by-products begins (ending with self-obsession), then on to the creation of a false reality.