One of life’s greatest challenges is learning to deal with people who are draining, unsupportive, difficult, and adversarial; with people who are bent on systematically diminishing—and even finally destroying—your inner life. And, given the teeming ecosystem of toxic people laid before us in history and public life, how can we go about identifying the archetypal [ Read More ]
Now that we have explored the concept of toxicity and delved into how we can identify people who are toxic to us, we can explore the concept theologically, employing biblical-theological categories to understand the phenomenon and to craft a faithfully Christian posture toward toxic people. As Gary Thomas writes in When to Walk Away, Scripture [ Read More ]
Author Robert Tew once wrote, “Don’t let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out.” And he’s right; his modern proverb expresses well the way Jesus and other biblical exemplars such as Nehemiah treated toxic people. Thus, the first installment of this series focused briefly on the [ Read More ]
Does somebody in your life continually and intentionally distract you from who you need to be and what you need to do? Can you identify people who—whether in-person or on social media—seem to enjoy pestering you, guilt-tripping you, and manipulating your emotions. If so, you might be dealing with a toxic person (TP)—a person who [ Read More ]
One of life’s greatest challenges is learning to deal with people who are draining, unsupportive, difficult, and adversarial; with people who are bent on systematically diminishing and finally destroying your inner life. In this series of posts, I will talk about how to identify and respond to the words and actions of such toxic persons. [ Read More ]
Recently, I published a series of three articles on how to spot manipulation and stop it dead in its tracks. I explained how manipulation works, gave advice on how to spot it and stop it dead in its tracks. The first article dealt with interpersonal manipulation, revealing 12 ways manipulators attempt to control their target [ Read More ]
In any sphere of culture, leaders are trying to sell themselves and their views. In fact, the very reason these leaders often rise to the top is their ability to persuade people of the rightness of their views and decisions. Yet, often these leaders are so charismatic and persuasive that we are easily duped by [ Read More ]
There are two sides to every news story. The one that your favorite media outlet prefers, and the other side, which is the one that they will mislead you about. Or, so it often turns out. This is unfortunate. Media institutions play an outsized role in the life and health of communities and nations, and [ Read More ]
Recently, I published a series of articles on the personal, social, and political implications of the Bible’s Ten Commandments. The article on the eighth commandment—the prohibition against theft—included a small section on “manipulation” as a form of heart theft. This portion of the article triggered a number of inquiries, which has prompted me to follow [ Read More ]
During the winter of 2003, I was drugged and robbed when abroad on an overseas trip. I had never undergone such a thing, and never before had I experienced the subsequent cocktail of anger, fear, and indignation. That is because God created a world in which individuals have a right to their own body, heart, [ Read More ]