Help! Friend in grip of evangelical Christianity

[GloriaGaynor]

Not a Christian so I'm trying to be as open-minded as possible.

But what she's involved in seems so narrow and sort of fundamentalist. It's rather like a cult.

Does anyone have experience of evangelicalism either from within or without?

We've been friends for 30 years, but I don't know if our friendship can survive this.

It's common for food addicts to try to control the addiction with nutrition, so she's not alone there.

As you know, addicts have to bottom out in order to get into recovery - until then, there is very little anyone can do. Whether it's the food or the religion, there's nothing you can do until her soul revolts and strives for health. Some never get to that. Perhaps she may settle for the essentially fake intimacy and connection she is getting through this dodgy fellowship. Not everyone can be, or even wants to be, healthy.

the church may not be actively encouraging her isolation - it's just a product of a cultish clique.

I've only known people in vulnerable situations to get involved with evangelical Christianity. It was as if they waited for and preyed upon their vulnerability to pull them in. I had got back in touch with my high school friend after the death of her husband and she had become involved with a local church. She used to be very open minded and accepting of things like disability but told me my disability was the result of being bad in a previous life and that's what her church taught her. I didn't even know Christianity believed in reincarnation but apparently my disability was all my own fault and I deserved it. We didn't stay in touch for long after that.

Just to put another spin on it, the church friends/leaders could be nothing to do with her behaviour. I am a Christian in a charismatic church and it is very common for new Christians to become excited and passionate about their faith, often to the extent that they suddenly want to cut out all other things and want to only concentrate on their new found faith and only talk about Jesus, etc. If you were a fly on the wall at our homegroup meetings (the small group meetings we hold mid-week for Church members to meet and encourage each other and spend time together), you'd actually hear the more seasoned Christians saying 'hold on, calm down, not every thought you have is God speaking to you. Not every decision you make is ordained from God. If you fancy that tuna sandwich it's because you fancy a tuna sandwich, not because God told you to eat one. It's fine, in fact great, to spend time with people outside the church....go, do it! And so on.

So don't assume that because she is behaving like this that the behaviour had been prompted or encouraged by her church. It could well be all her, and her church leaders could be trying to tackle it with her.

Great post, lougle.