By Jennifer ~ L iving the Christian life is highly stressful and mentally unhealthy, to say the least, because Christianity like all other religions is based on fear. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” is the very first thing one learns as a child. “Better not lie, or God is going to punish you – with hell fire!” The longer I lived in this state of fear, the more my mental health suffered. Anxiety began to rule my life. Sixty years of abuse was enough. Quitting church attendance was the beginning of my salvation. It came in the form of Dr. Lissa Rankin’s, The Fear Cure . This book helped me unfetter myself from my fear-inducing religious upbringing and memories of past dangers I had experienced. I could tell my poor fucked-up amygdala (the part of the brain that detects fear and prepares the body for fight or flight,) “It’s okay, Christianity has been a bad dream. There’s no need to fear anymore.” The Fear Cure has also helped me dispel limiting beliefs arising ...

By Jennifer ~ L ooking back on my upbringing, I can relate to the movie, The Truman Show because I lived my life on earth in a bubble - this weird, unnatural “God” world. I was taught to shun the world and the things of the world. This world was not my home because “Heaven is better than this, oh, what joy and bliss. Walking on the streets that are paved with gold; living in a land where you’ll never grow old…” Another of those inane choruses hardwired in my cranium. When I look over my journals dating back to the 80s, while I’m now filled with self-compassion at my suffering, I also cringe at just how brain-washed I was. I wasn’t even speaking English. My native language was Christianese. Boy, did I ever know the jargon and could I quote Scripture! My role models were all ancient bearded old dudes with weird names that slid off my tongue with ease – Jeremiah, Obadiah – puff, puff puff! That was a childhood rhyme. I was an “on fire” ambassador for Christ. I prayed regularly a...

By Jennifer ~ I grew up under South Africa’s apartheid government whose leaders were Fascists as well as fiercely religious. This white minority group called themselves Afrikaners, likening themselves to “modern day” Israelites of the Old Testament to whom God had given the Promised Land. White people were naturally superior to non-white people because it said so in the bible, according to the Afrikaner clergy of the time. See, after the flood when the ark finally landed on dry land after forty days and forty nights’ rain, Noah had planted himself some vineyards. One day he had too much to drink and passed out naked in his tent. Noah’s son, Ham, saw his old man in the buff. Giggling, he joined his brothers outside relaying what he had just seen. Next day, Noah now sober, found out that Ham had seen him “nekked,” cursed him and sent him to Africa where he sired black people! (I'll reserve my objections to biblical racism for another blog.) Funny how nudity always pisses off ...