Recent Posts
Learning to Be Kind When the Body Keeps the Score
My son Christopher died 28 years ago today. That's such a strange phrase to say--"My son Christopher died." I remember practising saying it when he was in the ICU, preparing myself for what may come. The words didn't seem to go together, like they were fighting hard...
Young Women Are STILL Fleeing the EVANGELICAL Church
Women have pretty much always attended church more than men. Christianity started off as a religion of “women and slaves”, which was a common insult hurled at the fledgling new religion by the Romans. And it has continued to be a religion with more women than men....
PODCAST: Making Faith More Tangible in the Holy Everyday
Ever feel like faith and holiness are out of reach? You want to look like Jesus, but you know you need to pray more. Read your Bible more. Do more spiritual disciplines. Volunteer at church more. It's a long list of things you don't get to, and you know God must be...
Was Purity Culture All Bad?
Should we be nuanced about the effects of purity culture? On episode 247 of The Bare Marriage Podcast, we decided to open things up to all of you to ask us anything you’d been dying to ask about sex, marriage, purity culture and everything else related to healthy...
What Do the “Obligation Sex Message” and the “All Men Lust” Message Have in Common?
What if there's a thread running through obligation sex and normalizing men's lust? Or rather, what if there are multiple threads? When we wrote The Great Sex Rescue, based on our surveys of 20,000 women, we identified four big teachings about sex that are common in...
Are You Caught in the FOG(C) of Coercive Control?
Sheila here! Last week, Bethany Jantzi joined us on the Bare Marriage podcast to talk about how the elements of coercive control are actually found in the marital dynamics that so much of our evangelical marriage advice creates. Which is horrifying! At the end of the...
The Podcast Where Sheila & Rebecca Answer Your Questions!
We're still reeling from our Facebook hack--so we decided to do a Q&A! Last week our Facebook Page was stolen right out from under us. They never hacked my account; they never had my passwords. They got in through our Business Profile, and it seems to be a...
Little Girls in Mini-Skirts in Church Parking Lots Aren’t the Enemy
Jesus would never have called a child an “enemy.” Yet that’s exactly what Josh Howerton did in a sermon on August 11, when he was telling men to fight for their families. I was sent this clip by someone who attends Lake Pointe church and was concerned–I don’t go...
What Do Complementarianism and Coercive Control Have in Common?
Does abuse show up more in complementarian circles? If you missed episode 246 of the Bare Marriage podcast, you missed out on a great one (and I highly recommend going back to listen when you have a chance!). I had the privilege of sitting down with Bethany Jantzi....
Should Engaged Couples Commit to a Certain Frequency of Sex Once They’re Married?
Sheila here! Recently I saw a great post on Instagram by my friend Shari Smith, who handles a lot of my social media behind the scenes (she’s been a big help with my Facebook page getting hacked this week–PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE follow our new page!). Shari wrote a...