Looking for the Real God

Continuing on with her question of How Did We Get Here, Christy tackles what it means to be a Christian woman. Are women really supposed to be under authority and less than a man? Can women truly not be leaders in the church? What if the passages used to support these ideas aren't really being read in context? How have these ideas about women influenced the current broken state of our church? Chri...

Christy continues to ask the question "How did we get here?" This time she tackles the idea of Biblical interpretation, specifically the problem with using a literal English interpretation of passages without doing any digging into context, author intent, historical background, or intended audience. It is incredibly arrogant and ignorant to assume that 21st century Christians can read an English t...

Christy takes a break from asking the question, “How did we get here?” to ponder her love for Jesus and her awe of His death and resurrection. With passion and emotion Christy invites her listeners to lay aside their ideas of God and look at the person of Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh. She celebrates the core of historical orthodox Christianity — the fact that God would sacrifice Himself in...

Christy continues to ask the question of how did we get here -- to this place where abuse and sin is so common within our Christian culture? Why are so many well-known leaders suddenly being exposed? Last week Christy tackled the topic of Biblical authority. She questioned if the definition of authority that many leaders use is actually accurate and she pointed her listeners back to the example of...

Based on some of the recent tragic news within the Christian community, Christy dives into the question of how we got here. How did we get to the place where it's common (although still devastating) for Christian leaders to be caught in sin and abuse? How did we create a culture where abuse is covered up or ignored? Today Christy explores the concept of Biblical Authority and wonders if it's actua...

Christy talks about watching the animated movie Smallfoot with her family and how it was unexpectedly triggering. The yetis were encouraged to push their questions down and ignore them much like Christy was back in her cultic days. And yet ,much like Christy's personal experience, when the yetis ignored the "stones" and asked their questions they discovered a truth that was bigger than their false...

As Christy finishes up her series on missing theology she takes a philosophical look at death and life. What are they really? How could our understanding of them change the way we view sin and the effects of it? What if death is really about separation? Separation from God, others, and even ourselves? Sin does indeed bring separation and death. But if death is about separation, could life be about...

As she continues to ponder missing theological building blocks, Christy ponders the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom? And what happens to us when we fail to recognize it? Christy explores two kingdoms that Christians are currently trying to build to replace the backwards, inside out, upside down Kingdom of Jesus Christ: Christian celebrity culture, and Christian nationalism. She again digs into...

Christy continues her thoughts on the theological building blocks that we might be missing. Today she shares thoughts on embracing paradox. A paradox is something that initially seems illogical or impossible but upon further study you realize that it's actually correct. There are many paradoxes that Christy has become sure of in her own journey to discover the Real God. She invites her listeners t...

Christy continues her series on missing theological building blocks by tackling the issue of suffering. How can we reconcile a good God with all the evil and pain that happens in our world? Is there a way to avoid suffering? Is it the result of a lack of faith? Does God cause or allow bad things to happen? Christy dives into the ways we view suffering and picks apart some popular views within Chri...

Christy begins a mini-series on foundational theological blocks that we need in order to flourish in this world of ours. Unfortunately these foundational beliefs seem to be missing for many of us. Digging into Scriptural themes, Christy begins by exploring the brokenness of the world and the people in it. Somehow we all know that the world needs fixing -- even if we don't agree on how to fix it --...

After experiencing the brokenness that can be found even in traditional Christianity, Christy wondered what connected the experiences she'd had in her religious cult with the more recent painful experiences with "normal" Christians. She never imagined that she would find the answer at Book Club thanks to a book on spiritual disciplines. Christy shares the word that made everything make sense and t...

Christy shares a more recent season of her life where she experienced pain and brokenness at the hands of other Christians. Although this year of loss was devastating and the pain was so deep that she wanted to die, Christy is able to look back with gratefulness. Can brokenness really be a gift? It has been for Christy. Sharing the beauty that God has brought from the brokenness, Christy explains...

The next step in Christy's journey after discovering she'd spent a decade in a Christian cult was attempting to write a book. Writing a book and then actually publishing it is a much bigger and longer task than Christy ever anticipated originally. Seven years have gone by since she first thought God asked her to write. Christy's blog, website, social media accounts, her monthly newsletter, and thi...

Christy opens Season Four with a glimpse into her decade of life in a Christian cult. After three seasons, she actually names the organization she was part of and the leader they followed. Christy talks about what happened when she realized about eight years ago that it was indeed a cult and then began the process of deconstruction. Deconstruction is difficult, but also necessary if we hope to rec...

Christy finishes Season Three by contemplating Advent and the birth of Christ in light of the year we've all just been through. She shares that going through the uncertainty and loss of 2020 has amplified her own longing for a Savior. We rejoice that Jesus came as a baby to live among us, show us God, die for our sins, and rise again. But, we are still living in a broken world full of pain and sad...

In this episode and corresponding blog post, Christy shares her heart for the church inspired by an article she read written by an unbeliever. Hearing someone from the outside so clearly identify the problem with modern Christianity broke Christy's heart. The world looking on can see that the modern church cares more about making this world work than they do about following Jesus, but too often th...

Christy passionately shares her heart in this second part of Why Read the Bible. We don't read Scripture to get spiritual points with God or because we should, we read the Bible so that we will know the truth about God for ourselves. The world and even things that seem Christian are often full of lies, but Jesus is the truth that will set us free. And we will know the truth as we read the revelati...

Christy discusses the importance of reading Scripture for ourselves -- not as a magic formula to ward off evil but as a way to know truth. False teachers use the Bible to spread lies either because they are misinformed or because they have bad motives. How can we discern the truth if we aren't familiar with the Bible ourselves? Sharing questions to help understand context, Christy tells a story fr...

Christy jumps into current evens by looking at this year that is 2020. Despite it seeming like everything is falling apart around us, Christy considers that maybe God is using the brokenness to share His true gospel with the world. The gospel is one of those things that should be foundational to Christianity, but even this has been twisted by religion and man-made tradition. What if this year -- t...

Christy finishes up the stories of Jesus back in the book of John looking at Jesus' unexpected and slightly uncomfortable message. She ponders the way Jesus didn't care about crowd size or popularity but instead spoke truth in a way that made followers leave. Truth isn't found within religious or progressive Christianity but instead within the very Person of Jesus Christ. Scriptures Referenced: Jo...

Christy ponders the plaque of abusive leaders within religious Christianity while telling the story of Jesus -- the ultimate authority -- who chose instead to be a humble servant and wash his disciples' feet. Looking back through history, humans seems to be obsessed with trying to gain power, money, and fame. Religion is a perfect system to help broken people to achieve their goals. Jesus tore tha...

Christy begins a mini-series on some of her favorite stories of Jesus. Christians often focus on Jesus coming to save the world from their sins, and that was a huge part of His purpose. But He also came to show us God. Christy explores Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Then she ponders what it means for us that Jesus came to find sinners. We can easily focus on appeasing the god of religi...

In this last part to the series Tools for Healing, Christy shares how she discovered the Enneagram just about a year ago. Learning about the Enneagram and discovering that she is a 4 has been a huge part of Christy's growth this past year. Although far from an expert, Christy encourages her listeners to do some exploring on their own. The enneagram is a fantastic tool for healing and growth. Resou...

In the second part of this series on tools for healing, Christy shares about Soul Care from Dr. Larry Crab. Christy discovered the beauty of Christian psychology since joining her new church over three years ago and has found healing from things she didn't even know were broken. Even though she left the cultic church and organization over a decade ago, Christy still struggled with defensiveness ov...