Joy LaPrade
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joylaprade.bsky.social
Joy LaPrade
@joylaprade.bsky.social
Late to the party, but I’m here. Reader, writer, reconstructing my faith.

joylaprade.substack.com
It’s easier to blame a victim than confront a perpetrator

It’s easier to dismiss those without power than question the guy with the platform

It’s easier to say “this was blown out of proportion” than find out what’s at stake

It’s easier to assume you’re right than examine whether you’re complicit
March 25, 2025 at 2:44 AM
When you are determined to deny women any and all forms of agency, you will even deny that women could be responsible for feminism.

(From Doug Wilson’s book “Reforming Marriage”)
March 20, 2025 at 8:19 PM
“This is my body, broken for you.” This is what Jesus communicates to the friend whose heart and hope are broken.

He doesn’t condemn Thomas in his doubt, but gently draws him near.

A post for those seeking Jesus's body after they were harmed by his church:
open.substack.com/pub/joylapra...
Is this really your body, Lord?
How I'm joining Thomas in doubt as I look for Jesus again
open.substack.com
March 10, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Please read this, and then subscribe to your local newspaper (if your town even has one anymore.)

It’s not a coincidence that Trump has risen as community news was dying.
It's ironic that the playbook being executed against our government is the one that was refined in the destruction of hundreds of the country's small newspapers that held communities together and held local power accountable.
Vulture Capitalism Comes for Democracy
The playbook Trump and Musk are following to dismantle government resembles the one used to pick apart America’s newspapers.
www.thebulwark.com
March 5, 2025 at 3:42 AM
"Maybe it's not the women or the 'woke' who are too empathetic. Maybe it's the men."

open.substack.com/pub/joylapra...
Actually, there IS such a thing as toxic empathy...
... it's just not what you've heard. Here's what I learned from the story of Potiphar's wife and Joseph:
open.substack.com
March 4, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I made a game called “Church, Cruise Ship, or Country Club?”

Inspired by what I saw while ‘church shopping’ online, I hope it sparks discussion:

open.substack.com/pub/joylapra...
Church, Cruise Ship, or Country Club?
A quiz to spark discussion, inspired by what I saw while 'church shopping'
open.substack.com
February 25, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
Trump Sick And Tired Of Mainstream Media Always Trying To Put His Words Into Some Sort Of Context
theonion.com/trump-s...
Trump Sick And Tired Of Mainstream Media Always Trying To Put His Words Into Some Sort Of Context
NEW YORK—Emphasizing that the practice was just more evidence of journalists’ bias against him, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stated Thursday that he was sick and tired of the mainstream media always attempting to place his words into some kind of context. “The corrupt news media is constantly taking the things I say and putting them within the larger context of politics and global events—it’s absolutely sickening what they do,” said Trump, adding that many of the comments he has made—including his call yesterday for Russia to hack into the emails of his presidential opponent Hillary Clinton and publish the contents—had been repeatedly and unfairly contextualized with relevant facts about the world and pertinent information about the situation in which they were stated. “It’s completely shameful to take words I’ve spoken or written and try to connect them to some kind of objective reality. I say something, and the next thing I know, a crooked reporter is telling everyone what I said along with a fact-based explanation of what its implications are and why it matters. It’s ridiculous, and it has to stop.” Trump added that he would not hesitate to ban any news organization from his campaign that continued to twist his statements by implying they held any specific meaning about or relation to the world we inhabit.
theonion.com
February 20, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
"Everybody calm down and send us twenty dollars"

😂😂
GOP: "The Revolutionary War was fought against King George, whose taxes hampered freedom. Not against kings."
Democrats: "Just because he's wearing a robe and a crown doesn't mean he meant this literally. Everybody calm down and send us twenty dollars"
newspapers: "What did he mean by 'king'?"
Trump calls himself “THE KING”
February 20, 2025 at 9:12 PM
When I volunteered to run a special dinner at our new church, I expected a long night. I'd recruited a few cleanup volunteers, but with over 100 at the meal, we had a mess to take care of.
I couldn't believe what happened instead. Before I told anyone what to do, I noticed a couple guys already
1/
February 15, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
‘You Can’t Let This Happen,’ Says Fundraising Email From Sitting U.S. Congressperson
February 12, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
Most of us have used Global Positioning System (GPS) for navigation & we can thank Gladys West for creating the foundation for GPS.

She used her mathematical & programming expertise to invent an accurate model of the Earth.

She was inducted into the US Air Force Hall of Fame.
February 12, 2025 at 11:48 AM
How can you know if a church is safe?

I’ve been asking this for the last few years, ever since I was “run out of town” by the pastor & church family I trusted.

We recently moved & started looking for a new church to attend.

So you can imagine how I felt when I saw THIS on Sunday 👇
1/
February 12, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
It only took 50 years to acknowledge Susan Foh’s interpretation of Genesis was flawed.
www.esv.org/about/2025-u...
ESV Text Change Summary (2025) | ESV.org
www.esv.org
February 11, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
The Church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
February 8, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Mary Magdalene wasn’t really preaching,” was an argument I heard in my complementarian days.

The risen Jesus sent her to the disciples, they would say, but that didn’t mean women could be pastors. “She was just relaying information.”

Today, I don't know how I missed it...
1/
February 7, 2025 at 10:46 PM
A pastor recently asked me a question I’m still thinking about.

What are reasonable guidelines for a youth pastor that are NOT the Billy Graham Rule?

I don’t believe in the BGR for adults, but age/power dynamic between teenager & pastor is another level of complexity

anyone seen this done well?
February 5, 2025 at 7:29 PM
One of the most confusing & painful parts of my church abuse was watching friend after friend turn their back on me.
One by one, the people who initially spoke up for me slowly but surely disappeared from my life.
Standing with me was too costly.
New post: joylaprade.substack.com/p/what-price...
What price will we pay to belong?
When true community is hard to find, we might settle for cheap imitations
joylaprade.substack.com
February 4, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
This man is one of Marco Rubio's newest hires at the State Department. It's hard to even comprehend the mindset that says that he's qualified to represent the United States in any capacity at all.
February 3, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
WRITING TIP: if you get stuck, try making the font really really big. This will remind you of being a baby, when you only knew twelve words and didn't know about death
February 4, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
He saw something wasn’t working in our shared public space. He had the power to fix it. He went and fixed it. wapo.st/4hyxNf6
An airport piano was filthy and out of tune. He fixed it during a layover.
“It was in very rough shape: Dust was everywhere, and there was a gluey substance under the keys that prevented them from working,” said passenger Josiah Jackson.
wapo.st
February 4, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
“As a self-confident young man, I was delighted to learn that God had given “headship”/leadership to men. I enthusiastically became a “complementarian,” to use a term of more recent origin. I remained so for nearly ten years until, after months of careful study,

/1
February 4, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
I honestly don’t want to post something every time the administration does something like this, tapping Darren Beattie to be acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. But what does it say to my black sons who are now in the workforce and about to turn 18 +
February 4, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Three years ago today I sat in a windowless room with a pastor I trusted, who had called me a dear friend. I listened in shock as he read a list of “charges” against me. I was being removed from my volunteer role as a deacon & leader of our women’s ministry.
I had no warning this was coming,
1/
February 4, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Reposted by Joy LaPrade
As someone who sat through far too many pathetic and boring sermons from 28-year-old youth pastors--two of whom went on to groom and abuse youth group members--I concur.

Especially when so many gifted women were in the pews!
January 25, 2025 at 12:07 AM