Spiritual Abuse
Dale Fincher, our guest on this show, makes a compelling case that some of the largest, most powerful denominations and church organizations have deeply accepted patterns of spiritual abuse - and they may not even be aware of it.  This is a serious charge, but after talking with Dale, it would be difficult to find someone with better credentials to give this diagnosis.  After ten minutes into our interview, I realized just how poorly educated I was on this topic and why I now feel that we need qualified people, like Dale and his wife Jonalyn, leading the charge against spiritual abuse.  Together, they run Soulation.org (http://www.soulation.org) and an online community called Freedom Builders (http://soulation.org/freedombuilders/).

 

Dale brings a rare mix of intellectualism, compassion, and understanding to his work.  Rather than trying to "fix" people with a particular psychological approach, they have built a community designed heal the entire person and bring them into a healthy relationship with a God that is not defined by dysfunctional expectations and rules.  "We all come to know God in different ways," Dale said before our show, "our goal is to help people find that way."

We hope you enjoy this episode, and if you have questions you would like to ask Dale, leave them in the comments section below, on our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/outsiderspodcast), or privately via email.
Mentioned in this show:
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse (http://amzn.to/1MlRLqK) (book)

Ragamuffin Gospel (http://amzn.to/1HSVC9q) (book)

Daring Greatly (http://amzn.to/1ehT647) (book)

Betrayal Bond (http://amzn.to/1Mp3iXp) (book)

The Wartberg watch (http://thewartburgwatch.com/) (website)
Show Notes
3:05 - Dale talks about his history and the goal behind Soulation.org (http://www.soulation.org).
4:28 - Dale shares his experience with spiritual abuse at Pensacola Christian College.
7:43 - The problem with "rules" based systems and how they convey misconceptions about God.
14:00 - Dale describes when he began to identify his experiences at PCC as spiritual abuse. 
10:03 - Dale reveals why he decided to talk about his experience with spiritual abuse.
21:21 - What is spiritual abuse?  How should we define it? 
25:05 - How do we speak to people in our lives who are trapped in a cycle of abuse?
29:45 - What are some examples in our culture of spiritual abuse? Are there clear examples of spiritual abuse that are commonly accepted in evangelical culture?
39:00 - Serving in the church and what spiritual obedience really means.
41:33 - What is/are the causes of spiritual abuse? 
43:12 - Ten questions we can use to evaluate our environment.
46:22 - Isn’t all abuse, spiritual abuse to some extent?
47:01 - Why are we hearing so much more about spiritual abuse lately? 
49:49 - What has been the evangelical response to spiritual abuse?
55:17 - What it feels like to live as an Outsider.
1:01:57 - How do people heal from Spiritual abuse?
1:07:40 - What do you personally tell someone who is feeling like they are in a spiritually abusive relationship?