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My Top 5 Blog Posts on Patheos in 2021

My Top 5 Blog Posts on Patheos in 2021

Last updated on: January 2, 2022 at 7:30 pm by Karl J. Forehand

My Top 5 Blog Posts on Patheos in 2021 2022-01-02T19:30:18-06:00 Karl J. Forehand

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I am grateful for the opportunity to write on this site. Sometimes it surprises me how much attention a post gets. I sit down every few days and write or report what I read, and then people either read it or they don’t. My actual favorite was #3, but maybe you have a preference. Feel free to share your favorites with your audience.

If you enjoy my writing, check us out on our Facebook group and at my website.

The Top 5 most popular blogs of 2021

(LINKS PROVIDED NEXT TO EACH NUMBER!)

1. The Problem with Preachers

An article made the rounds last year about a pastor that suggested from the pulpit that women should make themselves attractive so that their husbands wouldn’t stray. There was tremendous backlash and the public responded negatively. The church and the denomination responded by placing the preacher on administrative leave and reported that he would be attending counseling.

I don’t want to continue to berate the guy. He is most likely internationally famous now and I can’t imagine what his wife and family are going through. I definitely condemn what he did, but I understand why he did it. It is like most things in the church, it’s not that the pastors and parishioners are inherently bad. They usually have good intentions, but the system is all wrong.

2. Why Churches Generally Don’t Heal Our Trauma

I am not saying you aren’t having good experiences. I had some good experiences at work today and I’m generally happy to be working there. I get some things out of it including community. But if I am honest, I must admit that this manufacturing plant was designed wrong for healing my trauma. For one thing, there is never enough time. If we are honest, I believe we can admit that the Western Church (and most others) was not designed right for healing our trauma.

3. Christianity is Not Under Attack, It is Under Review

This blog started from a Tic Toc video from Joseph Yoo He appears to be an Episcopal Priest who was engaged by someone in Starbucks that wanted him to commiserate about the way the church is being persecuted. I remember conversations like that when I was a pastor and I always came to a similar conclusion as Pastor Yoo, “The church in American is not being persecuted.”

But I also agree with his second conclusion that the church might be under review.

4. An Open Letter to Evangelicals

I want3d to be precisely clear when I expressed what I am disturbed by. I see most of the issues that trouble our world originating inside of organized religion. It’s time for change. The 500 year garage sale is already underway. These are my thoughts.

5. The Natural Death of Organized Religion

Recently, I finished listening to the podcast series, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” Being in ministry for 20 years made it very painful to listen to. Even though my churches were on a smaller scale, I could see many of my painful memories in the stories of the people and even in the pastor’s themselves. The moment I finished the podcast I began to weep for all the people involved, not just in Mars Hill, but also in all of organized religion.

Honorable Mention – Created Late in the Year:

The Reasons I Deconstructed / Evolved

Becoming What We Are

Happy New Year!

Be where you are, be who you are,

Karl Forehand

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