Toxic Faith: Experiencing Healing Over Painful Spiritual Abuse

The entire book was descriptive to the experience I had in the International Churches of Christ, where I was a member for 12 years. There were several parts of the book that moved me to tears, it was very validating. The "10 rules of a toxic faith system" as well as the "5 roles in a toxic faith system" very accurately describe the church I was apart of. The authors have done an excellent job of describing toxic faith (even as it is sometimes masked in seemingly spiritual acts).

This book helped me to see that any Christian can have unhealthy faith without realizing it! I really liked how Arterburn specifically explained each element of toxic faith. In addition, "Toxic Faith" helped me to understand the structure of an unhealthy system (i.e. a religious organization) and the role of all the players involved. This is a must-read for any Christian who wants to grow in his/her relationship with God. Also recommended for victims/former members of destructive religious cults.

This book exposes the beliefs, characteristics and rules of toxic faith. For the most part, these aren't practices we will stumble across and recognize. In fact, that's the problem: they come disguised as respectable and often successful, or as strong and effective leadership. Once exposed, however, many will recognize these experiences all too well. In these settings, for example, you don't ask questions, you don't express your feelings, you don't do anything outside your role and you don't trust anyone (four of the ten rules of the toxic faith system). These are religion systems that are often subtle yet abusive, significantly materialistic (money is viewed as an indicator of spiritual strength), manipulative and, at heart, mean. The combination of naivete and the general desire of religious folks to serve their churches, schools and organizations have caused many to succumb and become innocent victims. Paradoxically, it may take faithful followers willing to commit "organizational suicide" and become "outcasts" of the system in order to force other religious addicts to face reality. Religious addicts are experts at setting up "exclusive societies" of toxic faith believers. People prosper and succeed by supporting the beliefs and practices of the "persecuting leader(s)." Once inside, you may not be aware of a "destructive system," but you will likely notice that your guilt and anger only increases while your self-worth decreases. Addictive, hateful, destructive religion in America seems to have exploded since the first publication of this book in 1991. Recovery, hope and freedom are available. "Overcoming" starts with "understanding" the truths contained in this book.

This book exposes how religion becomes unhealthy and addictive, and how it hinders our growth, faith, and perspective of God. It addresses both the believers, and the leaders. This book helped me gain valuable insight into my own personality, and what caused me to be attracted to cults and churches that were unhealthy, and also understanding of unhealthy leaders. It was very hard for me to understand how a leader could believe they were doing right, when in fact they were very far off base, and practices did not line up with scripture. My husband & I would often discuss whether leaders made a conscious effect to manipulate people and hurt people, or if they really thought they were doing right in God's eyes. This book answered a lot of puzzling questions, and helped me see what really happened. If a pastor was taught or believes he/she has to earn God's favor, and never grasped the concept of a healthy faith and grace in their own lives, they will project those same views to other believers and their congregations. This book gave me understanding. And understanding helped me to gain some empathy for those leaders who harmed us, and I was able to begin to overcome the resentment and anger I felt toward them. I find that Steven Arterburn and Jack Fenton's books are power packed with valuable insight, healthy balance, and key to helping people in recovery of any kind of addiction. I was truly blessed by their ministry, and found true fulfillment as a Christian believer, that was once tainted by spiritual abuse.

In Toxic Faith: Experiencing Healing From Painful Spiritual Abuse, Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton effectively collaborate to show how personal disappointments, loss, betrayal, distortion of religious concepts and scriptures, as well as unrealistic expectations of God, can damage faith. They then show how to heal distorted views of God as weak, distant, or uncaring; find release from striving to earn God's love; break free from an unhealthy dependency on religion at the expense of a personal relationship with God; and how to rediscover the reality of true faith in a loving God and move beyond the suffocating, distorting, spiritually impairing limits of a "toxic faith".