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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Let's just say the local church is not for me. I'm incapable of being a member there and having a natural relationship with God, the way it should be... yes God should be first place I believe but for me the local church is taking God and making him an ambition like I had in the video games or in schoolwork... not to mention (for me) their strange anxiety producing doctrines. They drew me in real far and started peer pressuring me I feel.
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They definitely peer-pressure you. If you don't have healthy and well-developed boundaries you will crumble before them and they'll be in your head and in your soul quick as a wink. Believe me, I know.
And they are hard to get out, once in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
I always find a way to take SOMETHING to the extreme.
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Unfortunately I'm the wrong person to give advice on being normal, and balanced. Believe me I'd love to, but it's just a mystery to me.
But I'll offer this, not as a superior alternative to a balanced and healthy lifestyle but at least as a sort of "holding pen" to keep you going until you do find the elusive "normal" life that's supposed to exist out there.
My alternative is Jesus Christ. "Zeal of Thy house has eaten Me up". Jesus was on fire for God. Uncompromising. Try to cut corners with Him and you got, "Get behind Me, Satan". Poof! You got smoked. No warm, soft fuzzies from the Great Shepherd of the Sheep.
The LC group is zealous, but zealous for the group, not for Jesus Christ. Their "Christ" is proprietary to the LC, and as such is missing a LOT of essentials. They call it "The Body" and "The Kingdom" and "The Temple" and so forth, all of which are "corporate" now, supposedly. Jesus now is The Church, which just so happens (surprise!) to be their group.
So the Group, and thus the Leadership, and thus the Edicts of the Leadership, are all God to them, and they burn with fire for these things. But show them Jesus the Christ, who was an actual person, and they are moderately interested at best. If they can line up the Christ you show them with their "Processed God", then you may have some interaction. But it's remarkable how quick they will look away from the Bible, if you show them stuff that doesn't line up with the Teachings of Our Brother (you know who).
Jesus, on the other hand, was unyieldingly fixated upon His Father in heaven. And He found the Father's will in lepers, sick people, drunks and thieves. He met them where they were, and transformed them.
I am not saying that you should pursue Great Works; no far from it. What I am saying is that if you see the One who actually did this, you will automatically be taken to someplace great. It is like reading Tolkien's Middle Earth: suddenly you are there, with wolves and orcs and giant spiders. Unfortunately I'm an obsessive reader and read those books when I was something like 10 years old. I got sucked into another realm. I was weak-willed and impressionable, you know? Young and naive, and full of fantastic imagination.
Eventually as an adult, I realized Jesus is the Other Realm, personified. He is the Way. He's the Truth made flesh. He's the life that God wants for us all. Not some culturally-derived "church life". Jesus is the way.
Now, all of this probably won't help you a bit. Sorry. It might even lead you astray. So don't feel obliged to lay hold, or even attempt. But I had to share this, as one who's been down the proverbial road a mile or two. I can't say anything else. Peace and God bless you. God began a great work in you, and is quite capable of finishing it. Don't give up before God gives up. Peace.