Josh Ryan
A
thread 1/13
To echo the sentiments of the thread, I am myself a former Christian (if you count leaving the church at the age of 12 in that category), and from my experience the Church not only offers no net good, it offers severe psychological abuse, which is a tactic popular with Evangelicals.
Dennis A @DharmaDog
Brynn Tannehill did an incredible bird thread in which she absolutely roasted, set on fire, then nuked the Christian church in America. 😬
https://threadreaderapp.co...
06:25 PM - Jun 18, 2023
03:27 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
A
thread 2/13
I did a thread about this on Twitter some years ago. I was brought up in the church by my mother as a baby, and my mother worked for the pastors as a personal assistant (virtual slave), so I was very connected to the institution and its leaders.
03:29 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 3/13
My mother had her own experience, which was in itself dreadful. They manipulated her mental brokenness and her economic system at the time, and played on her need for guidance and support to keep her from pursuing self improvement (including seeking a nursing course in the UK, that was all paid for)
03:31 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 4/13
An interesting dynamic was the simple manipulation of offering love and then taking it away. They'd show open support and care in a few ways, and then take it away with demeaning comments and condemnation later on, which for a lot of people, leaves them seeking the validation they felt initially.
03:33 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 5/13
In my own experience, ever since I was a child, I have never been particularly "masculine" and liked being around the girls and women in my life. I was also obviously gay. The pastor always saw this as an issue, even the fact that I was closer to his wife than I was to him.
03:36 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 6/13
What would ensue from this would be years of psychological abuse against me. They would've had a conference and spoke about my sexuality (before I was even 10 years old) in front of dozens of other church members, openly confronting my mother.
03:37 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 7/13
The pastor engaged other men in the church to "make me a man" (I wasn't even a teenager yet). I was on the church band, some of the men on the church band would constantly say "put some bass in your voice". The way I walked was criticized. Even me, a 10-11 year old, referring to a dog as a "doggy".
03:41 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 8/13
Things came to a head after they took me on a trip to Colombia for a Christian conference. When we returned to our country, an onslaught of accusations including being demon possessed, prone to influence of homosexuality because of my love of music and the arts and my laptop being a portal of sin.
03:45 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 9/13
I should say that I unknowingly had exposed them in a pool of lies they were telling their partner church in Colombia... all by simply creating a facebook group for our church to share songs with my church friends. But that isn't the focus of the story here.
03:47 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 10/13
After a short battle with them, I left the church and then they started a hate campaign against me. The pastor's wife told my close friends' parents not to have anything to do with me and not to allow my friends to have contact with me at all.
03:50 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 11/13
Again, I was 12 years old at this time. I felt alone and destroyed, which is what they wanted, so that I would conform. It is something they practiced with adults. Some of my mothers friends were cut off, and members were told to have no contact with them and not to support them in anything they do.
03:52 AM - Jun 19, 2023 (Edited)
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Josh Ryan
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thread 12/13
They would already cut you off from family and friends outside of the church, who they said were a threat to your faith. Isolating you to depend on them and church members as friends and community is how they gain control. Apparently "Moms 4 Liberty" does the same.
03:56 AM - Jun 19, 2023
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Josh Ryan
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thread 13/13
They were vicious and calculating, and encouraged the leaders under them to be the same way. One thing I will never forget is the pastors telling my best friend's mom, at her baby's funeral, that her baby died because of her own sin.
03:59 AM - Jun 19, 2023 (Edited)
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