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Originally Posted by stillseekingtruth
Thank you. I'm so overwhelmed right now. I keep imagining myself talking to a sister and accidentally bringing all this out. Leaving the LR is hard. There are so many memories swamping me.
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Maybe you need to PM one of the women on this forum, or maybe one (or more) can PM you. Maybe you need more than doctrinal questions addressed.
It's mind- boggling when you think how many human souls have been ejected from the LC system as you are: overwhelmed and disoriented. Many are discouraged, frightened and confused. The LC system didn't work for them and it "wrecked" them (their words) from finding any path at all. Many abandoned the faith.
You are not alone. And you are speaking (writing). Both are good things.
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Originally Posted by stillseekingtruth
Is mental illness a heart issue? What of biblical counseling and those who believe that everything you need is in God's word? Psychologically speaking.
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In the LC, you got one answer: the Deputy God. The Oracle has spoken. Out in the real world, if you ask 100 people, you get 100 opinions. I'll give you mine.
There is only one question: is God really out there? Or is it myth? If you answer in the negative, then you have to make do in a universe without God. Some seem to do well at it.
Myself, I just prefer God existing to non-existing. I'm funny that way. I just think there's a good God, who cares. Somehow that is preferable to the Big Empty Nothing. This leads me to consider paths to God. Now, if I grew up in a tribe in Lesotho or Swaziland then I might pick another path, but my destiny was to find myself one day on the "sawdust trail" of a Bible church, and here I am.
So, Question 1 (God) leads to Question 2 (Christ). Did Jesus really exist? Did he rise to glory and eternal kingship? Well, the only witnesses are in the Bible, an obviously biased source. It is of polemical and not historical nature.
But the Twelve were witnessed by Paul. Was Paul a myth? Was Polycarp? Or Irenaeus? At some point the crowd of interlocking testimonies lead me to conclude that I'm either facing the most clever forgery of human history or there's something behind all this. But what?
Believe, confess, love your (usually unlovable) neighbour. Try to be kind to others. Give to those who can't repay you in this age. Remember the poor and the sick. Don't steal, don't lie. Basic stuff.
And yes the New Jerusalem is there in the holy writ but if you don't get the basics it doesn't matter. I am still learning about the NJ. Who are the nations that walk in its light? Who are the kings that bring their glory in? Does Lee's answer make any sense to you? It does not, to me. So the journey continues.
As to your questions, if you can get a firm grasp of One and Two, that may help to navigate the rest. Godspeed.