Here’s a fun topic: Fundamentalist Christianity and Business
Hooray!!!!! Warm fuzzies all over, right?
I never used to talk much about the church in which I was raised because it’s really personal. My Grandpa, who I loved dearly, was the preacher. I became the music department 🎶 (yes, me) and our family made up most of the congregation.
I remember my Grandpa happy. He got up early every morning and read the Bible at the kitchen table. He whistled a lot. He liked West Virginia college football. He was a machinist at the plant (where all the men in the community worked, including my Dad) and he didn’t join the church til later in his life. 📖
As a kid, I had several surgeries for my disability. The last person I would see before I went into surgery was my Grandpa, dressed in his blue suit holding his Bible. He would say, “Papaw is praying for you, Sissy,” as I was wheeled behind the swinging doors.
He had a 7th grade education and couldn’t read well, but he *could* read the Bible, King James version only.
I came to write Christian music because of his sermons. My Mom took us to church two times on Sunday, once on Wednesday, and any other time the church doors were open. ⛪️
I don’t blame my interpretation of God on my Grandpa or the church, per se, but as an adult, I can look back and see so clearly how my personal perception of God became very damaging to me.
Where some people believe in a God who is fully loving, early on something flipped in my brain and I started to only see a God whose love was conditional and always a moving target.
It was like I was immersed in a faith where God was sitting on his almighty throne just waiting for me to screw up so he could promptly damn me to hell for eternity. 🔥
Imagine the pressure.
Now, I equate it to being in an emotionally abusive relationship with an entity I can’t see. My entire eternity was resting on the choices of an 8 year-old human brain making an error…or a 12 year-old brain…or…you get the picture.
Obviously I’m condensing this for the sake of brevity, but recently, my coach asked me what happened if I actually did end up “earning” God’s love.
My serious answer: I die.
We were taught that we strive for perfection and once we get to it, God takes us straight to Heaven. ✨
I remember a lady standing up in church telling us that the previous week she got so scared because she thought she’d achieved perfection and she was going to die. …but then she realized she couldn’t be “perfect” or she wouldn’t be afraid of dying. (Whew. Load lifted. 😉 )
Here’s the thing: until I put this together, I didn’t realize that the constant assumption that God secretly isn’t rooting for me, that I can’t do enough to get his love and that his love is a moving target had EVERYTHING to do with ALL my endeavors.
I’ll skip the more personal ones because I’m talking about business here, but think about it.
➡️ Why would I want my business to be successful?
➡️ Could it even actually BE successful or is that just a goal I set because I’m supposed to?
➡️ If it IS successful, then will I die? (Insane, but right?)
This isn’t the kind of unpacking that gets finished in a conversation and a couple of journal entries. There is some serious programming to deal with in my case.
And Game On.
But, having talked to MANY women in business who identify as “recovering fundamentalists,” I want you to know you’re not alone.
You’re not broken.
Remember, we are here with our own set of experiences, expertise and passions.
You are not a mistake.
And, if this post doesn’t demonstrate the power of mindset work, then I don’t know what does. ☺️