I ran across this in one of the former-fundie Facebook support groups. This is a description for an actual book, called Pots, Pans, & Prophecies.

Okay… Explain to me again how this is not dehumanizing, manipulative, and abusive?

What if the pots and pans in your kitchen were alive, living beings, each with their own personality? What if they were the ones trying to decide when and for what they would be used and could argue and reason with you about your choices for their use? What if the pots thought they had to plan the meals and purchase the ingredients? If the pots and pans could decide, chances are they would never want a tasteless or bitter or sour ingredient placed in them. It is likely that they would choose only the sweet and tasteful ingredients for themselves!

Just like the pots and pans in our kitchens, as vessels in the Father’s house, we do not decide when or for what we are used. We are to trust Him to make those choices and believe Him for the end accomplishments He has promised when we yield ourselves to Him in service. Complete trust requires us to lay aside our logic and reasoning. It is impossible to do that without a very real revelation of Who God is!

When I was an Evangelical, yes, we actually did see ourselves as having no more agency than a piece of cookware. This attitude was wonderfully reflected in the lyrics of one of my favorite worship songs at the time, “The Potter’s Hand”: “All of my days are held in Your hands and crafted into Your perfect plan… Teach me, dear Lord, to live all of my life through Your eyes…Take me, mold me, use me, fill me; I give my life to the potter’s hand.”

To that end, we suppressed our rational mind and the cognitive dissonance it inspired: our thoughts were mired in our sinful nature, and we simply could not understand God’s infinite thoughts. And not just that, we demeaned our own desires, especially in areas like sex and personal boundaries. We gave glory to God for all of our accomplishments, and we accepted the blame for all of his failures. And then we isolated ourselves from all the people who could alert us to the spiritual danger we were in.

When I finally escaped, it took a long time and a lot of work to readjust my attitude toward myself. I needed to quell the core shame with which I had been indoctrinated and to accept that, as Brené Brown puts it, “I am enough.”