If you were indoctrinated with 5 or more of the below toxic lies, you have likely been impacted by religious trauma. Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) is a psychological trauma that can result from harmful religious experiences, such as abuse, indoctrination, or manipulation. It can occur when someone struggles to leave a religion or set of […]
Toxic Lies That Cause Religious Trauma Read More »
About ten years ago this young woman named Rachel Held Evans contacted me because she was beginning to see Christianity differently and wanted to write about it. She sent me her manuscript, and we worked on her book together. She published four books in total. I got to know her, we became friends, and I
You can’t be a Christian and an objectional human Read More »
Back in the day, Jim Palmer was a pastor at the largest church in North America. Eventually I walked away from my ministerial career and Christian religion because I no longer had faith in the beliefs and doctrines I learned in seminary. No person taught evangelical theology with the devotion and passion that I did,
I made at least these mistakes as a pastor Read More »
“There are 8 billion people are on the planet, and about 2.5 billion of them are Christians. Christians claim to have the only-true-God connection and view themselves as the only qualified ones called to minister the truth to save humankind. They believe that privilege is theirs because they are the Bible experts. There are 45,000
Christians claim to have the only-true-God Read More »
by Jim Palmer I’ve come to accept that I’m a late bloomer. For a long time I carried shame about that, as if arriving late to my own life was some kind of failure. But now I see it differently. Better late than never. For years I thought I was simply getting more emotional with
Religion once taught me that being human was the problem Read More »
From the “Dear Jim” folder (emails I receive): “I was an Evangelical for 27 years of my life. What I got most out of church was: read and pray every morning, go to church every Sunday and Wednesday, tithe (one church wanted a tithe of my student loans), be republican, it’s okay to joke about
Confessions of an Evangelical Read More »
For many years I served as an evangelical megachurch pastor. I entered ministry because I genuinely wanted to help people, and I trusted the belief‑system I inherited as the right framework for doing so. It took stepping outside that system—and a great deal of honest reflection— to recognize how many of those beliefs were harming
Recognize how the church beliefs were harming the very people I hoped to serve Read More »
I am an unbeliever in a “God” who is an external, superior, and separate being who must be pleased, obeyed, or reconciled with. I am an unbeliever in a “God” shrouded in maleness, establishing the foundation for the dominance of patriarchy. I am an unbeliever in a religious “God” who offers love that is conditional,
I have a public confession to make. I am an unbeliever. Let me explain Read More »
The conundrums of people… I’ve been attempting to communicate with various ‘maga’ts… I quickly realized some are just not mentally capable of having an intelligent dialog. Others, The ones that seem like they should have a wee bit of cognitive depth… I’d spend a fair amount of time outlining all the reasons not to support:
The Conundrums of People Read More »
The Natural Bliss of Being Essential Basics of Practice The most primary practice is the non-practice of just being awareness, your default condition. This would be practiced in a formal meditation session, sitting with no agenda, yet fully present without mental or conceptual engagement. This practice is actually the fruit of practice, yet it appears
Appendix: Summary of Methods and Exercises Read More »
Maui Marrying Man – Making Dreams Come True on Maui’s Romantic Beaches.
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Our business was doing great, but we still couldn’t afford to buy a house or a condo. Renting in Maui for another 30 years was not an option we wanted to take. Then, Bobbie Jo suggested we buy a sailboat that is comfortable to cruise and live in. By the end of January, we started looking for our new home.
After a long search, we found our dream boat in Mazatlan, Mexico. COVID-19 was not yet a concern when our boat hunt began, but masks were starting to appear at airports by the time we flew to Mazatlan. Originally, we had planned to get the boat ready as fast as possible to cover a full calendar for the busy wedding season. However, it was apparent our business was going to tank amid the pandemic, and the struggle went on until the end of the year.
Luckily, we scored an awesome condo for only $19 a day at Mazatlan. On the 10th day of our stay, we received the news that all harbors will be closed the next Monday morning. We thought we’d be stuck in Mexico longer, but another sailor advised us to leave before sunrise.
We felt the adrenalin of escaping the Mexican harbor master just before the sun rose that faithful day. The seas were rough as waves were building up in the tight channel that led us to the open ocean. We ended up anchored off an adorable little isle just a mile offshore. We enjoyed cruising to many spectacular anchorages and cute villages on our way to Puerto Vallarta, where we would depart for Maui on May 7. On May 30, 2020, we completed our 24-day passage from Mexico to Maui.
