ONTD Original - Scandals in the Evangelical Church

[ladyjj]

The anniversary of this shitshow is upcoming, so that's why it's being featured in this edition of ONTD Divinity School. Get your calculators out, jackals. Numbers abound!

Welcome to the

Comments

[curlycutie016]

i mean can you even say you were raised in the evangelical church if you didn't have a jump scare 'where they raptured' panic when you called out for your family in the house and no one answered?

[wwgrogudo]

That was like every 2nd Tuesday at my house. 🫠

[ladyjj]

And they then told you that you clearly weren't praying enough if you thought you got left behind.

[curlycutie016]

oh I never told them, instead I kept it a secret that the Lord was testing me

[koushiba]

The word 'Rapture' never appears in the actual text of the New Testament. The origin of the term extends from passages in First Thessalonians, which use the Greek word harpazo which translates to 'seize' or 'snatch up'. The concept of The Rapture as the precursor to the Great Tribulation started in approximately 1830 in the United States and has spread worldwide as a core tenet of Evangelical doctrine.

I had NO idea! I now feel the need to do a deep dive.

[ladyjj]

The construction of the Bible and how varied key doctrine pieces became mainstream is fascinating. It's also interesting how church leadership doesn't want you to have this information.

[espressotorte]

The best courses I ever took outside my core anthropology stuff were my Afro Caribbean religion and Jewish History classes. It helped lend a TON of context to a lot of the construction of it.

[koushiba]

This something I found out about like five years ago but is such a DUH like of course they do moment lmao. Yet I’m still finding ways things have been twisted or changed and become mainstream that tbh I didn’t really think about or question cuz I didn’t grow up with that and so it never crossed my mind!

[varioussaints]

I know we have religious headcases here in Canada as well/no country is without sin, so to speak, but I wanted to say thank you so much, ladyjj, for your detailed posts! I had no idea about so many of these issues (the Jerry Falwell/Liberty University/Jerry Falwell Jr post in particular still has me reeling as I've met a handful of people that have either attended or worked at Liberty University and they all acted like it was a totally normal institution, so I was not all prepared to read any of what you included in your post) and it's also providing a lot of interesting and necessary context for the things I was aware about (like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, via the Duggars). I'm still processing this, so I don't have much more to add other than I'm glad that you and your mom have been able to have some moments where you were both on the same page.

[ladyjj]

The power of the evangelical church to whitewash (literally) their worst traits is both amazing and terrifying. There's a reason why such a large chunk of Evangelical Christians gravitate towards Tr*mp.

I am currently NC with Mom, but it was nice to see that she could occasionally pull her head our of her ass.

[anagramofbrat]

[lurkurheartout]

OP I love these posts. There is something about church scandals that are so interesting to learn about. It always feels like the juiciest gossip. Thank you for the amazing research and write up.