Quote:
Originally Posted by HERn
Thanks for the levity OBW! I needed that! I'm fortunate in that I had a long history in Protestant evangelical Christianity before I came into the "recovery", so I know there is life, reality and even God's move "out there". I think it must be much harder for those who are saved into the "recovery" and have no baseline to use for comparison. I appreciate all the comments and "fellowship".
|
I was just a month or so short of 18 when we entered the "recovery." I had already spent a year singing in the adult choir of a somewhat large AOG. And then a little over a year after leaving, I again considered joining the choir and eventually did just that. Now 27 years later, my voice is not consistent enough to really do it regularly, so no more choir.
I wasn't saved in the LRC, or raised there. But I learned more of my core theology there. And despite what I said in my rather lengthy post, there is a lot of solid base. It is just peppered with nonsense.
Now in response to Ohio's comment about people going off the deep end, I am not saying to dump everything while in some unsettled place —like just staying home on your own and in a blue funk over leaving (and wondering whether all those stories about calamity will fall on you). I did start with (and suggest others start with) an intentional association with some substantial Christian group. While there are many independents that are probably fine, I have no way to endorse or suggest to avoid those. But for the most part, the primary evangelical denominations are good — and a lot of others. Baptists, Bible churches, Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodists (sometimes that is almost assembly-by-assembly), substantial Pentecostal or charismatic groups (if you are prone that way), evangelical Lutheran, and others. I am not necessarily saying to avoid anyone I did not name. But in some cases, you probably need to use discretion. Or at least think about it hard.
Some of those places that do a lot of recitations, standing, sitting, kneeling, etc., according to a script are not so poor. Consider what they are actually saying. I've only been to one RCC mass in my life and while I would not make a regular thing of it, I found the content and experience to be totally different from my expectations. Yes, they did do their "Hail Mary" a couple of times. But the priest made a fairly clear homily concerning the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. Surely some surrounding practices to be leery of. But still a church. And one that was preaching the gospel. And when the time for communion came, the priest again reiterated that Christ was not sacrificed again, but that the sacrifice was made available "today" (in so many words).
But if you start within some existing group and then willfully ignore those "but we learned _____ in the LRC" moments and let the truth reestablish itself within you, it should be a good experience. I'm not saying it will be easy. But it should be good.