Quote:
Originally Posted by Recovering
I had two thoughts. (1) If he (or anyone else there we'd been in relationship with) truly believed we'd lost the Lord's blessing by leaving, why not desperately engage with us to convince us to return? If leaving TLR would cause us to "lose the kingdom", shouldn't we be the top priority for their outreach? But their words and actions (Ben Philip's exhortation being a prime example) are a performance that seems primarily aimed at those inside. And I wonder how much the saints actually believe those things. (2) I think my friend was probably very worried about what he would find out if he asked my story, because then he would have to confront his own doubts and dissonances.
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The simplest possible answer is their "leper" ideology. Talking about why you left may "poison" him and bring him "death," so he would rather avoid it. I remember what they recommended to us when saints started to drift: don't try to convince them, just love on them. Chances are, he doesn't want to hear what you have to say and subsequently try to convince you that you are wrong. If anything, he just wants to "love on you" until his love makes you wanna come back. After all, it's not about "knowledge" or about "right vs. wrong," but about "life vs. death" and "taking Christ."
It's so much easier to do this than to actually hear someone out and go through the pain of figuring this stuff out together.