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Cal · 08-20-2014, 09:01 AM

The common symptom I see with people who never seem to shake oppressive memories of the LC--and that includes these people you see floating around the fringes of it for years, going back, trying to fix it and forever worrying about it--is this:

They never developed their own personal relationship with God.

I'm not talking about feeling or "enjoying" God or having some general appreciation of him. I'm talking about those who pray, read the word, are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, who ask, seek and knock, and do not let God go until they know they have encountered him and gotten a direct speaking from him. And they do this over and over and over again.

The LC, for all its claims of being so full of reality, steeped us in a pseudo, group-based, feelings-based spirituality that, when push came to shove, could not carry its own weight. Take away the support mechanism of peer approval, familiar culture and good feelings, and we fell apart.

Why? Because we had no real relationship with God. Our Christian experience was based on feelings, assenting to the correct doctrines, and being approved by others. Sure, we had some shallow "enjoyment." But few of us ever dealt with God to the point where (1) we really got to know him and (2) he really changed us. Very few.

The result was we remained "infants, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine." And that includes these guys who think they have to fix or get back in the LC. Sorry but that's my assessment, and my experience.

The fact is if you are still wrangling and struggling with the LC it just shows you haven't grown enough. It's that simple. You don't know the living God and His living Word enough. You don't know the Son of Righteousness with healing in his wings enough. He expects you to get to know him, not be spoon-fed by someone else for the rest of your life. You need to get serious, hunker down, pray, read the word, find a way to serve, set your sights on the present and future, and dig your salvation out of the ground. It's not going to just fall on you while you are brooding.

God doesn't respond to desperation, pleading, begging or histrionics. He responds to one thing: FAITH. That's the currency of his kingdom. And you'd darn well better get yourself some or you are going to waste your whole life worrying about something he didn't give a hoot about, just because you never really got to know him and what he really cared for.

(Note: This is a general exhortation. Not intended to be directly for "lost soul.")

08-20-2014, 09:01 AM	#11
Cal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: USA Posts: 4,333	Re: A lost soul The common symptom I see with people who never seem to shake oppressive memories of the LC--and that includes these people you see floating around the fringes of it for years, going back, trying to fix it and forever worrying about it--is this: They never developed their own personal relationship with God. I'm not talking about feeling or "enjoying" God or having some general appreciation of him. I'm talking about those who pray, read the word, are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, who ask, seek and knock, and do not let God go until they know they have encountered him and gotten a direct speaking from him. And they do this over and over and over again. The LC, for all its claims of being so full of reality, steeped us in a pseudo, group-based, feelings-based spirituality that, when push came to shove, could not carry its own weight. Take away the support mechanism of peer approval, familiar culture and good feelings, and we fell apart. Why? Because we had no real relationship with God. Our Christian experience was based on feelings, assenting to the correct doctrines, and being approved by others. Sure, we had some shallow "enjoyment." But few of us ever dealt with God to the point where (1) we really got to know him and (2) he really changed us. Very few. The result was we remained "infants, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine." And that includes these guys who think they have to fix or get back in the LC. Sorry but that's my assessment, and my experience. The fact is if you are still wrangling and struggling with the LC it just shows you haven't grown enough. It's that simple. You don't know the living God and His living Word enough. You don't know the Son of Righteousness with healing in his wings enough. He expects you to get to know him, not be spoon-fed by someone else for the rest of your life. You need to get serious, hunker down, pray, read the word, find a way to serve, set your sights on the present and future, and dig your salvation out of the ground. It's not going to just fall on you while you are brooding. God doesn't respond to desperation, pleading, begging or histrionics. He responds to one thing: FAITH. That's the currency of his kingdom. And you'd darn well better get yourself some or you are going to waste your whole life worrying about something he didn't give a hoot about, just because you never really got to know him and what he really cared for. (Note: This is a general exhortation. Not intended to be directly for "lost soul.")