Quote:
Originally Posted by Davis
I grew up in a medium-sized locality ...My grandparents gave their lives to the Recovery and we hosted Tuesday prayer meetings, Friday/Saturday home meetings, and rarely missed Sunday meetings.
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It's cathartic to be able to look at ourselves, talk about our history, to struggle to make sense and communicate what meaning may emerge. And it's not only cathartic but it helps others realize, "Hey, I'm not the only one". I suspect that a lot of the children raised in the LC came to similar conclusions and reactions as you did, so you are being "normal" to paraphrase Watchman Nee's book - "The Normal Ex Church Kid Life".
Your grandparents gave their lives to the Recovery and that's normal, too. People grow up alienated, confused, looking for answers, for comfort. Many find those answers in religion. But to impose their answers on others, as a one-size-fits-all objective reality, not to be questioned or modified or even rejected, I disagree. Why did they get the right to leave their grandparents' religion, but deny that same right to their grand-kids? To me that seems unhealthy, and not normal at all. If you want freedom to choose, you should extend the same privilege to others.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davis
I pushed God away. For a while I tried to appear like I was still interested, but mentally I was almost completely removed and I eventually gave up trying.
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Here's a poem by a Canadian musician named Neil Peart. Called 'Subdivisions'
Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In-between the bright lights
And the far, unlit unknown
Growing up, it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass-production zone
Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone
Subdivisions
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth
Drawn like moths, we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night
Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight
Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights
Subdivisions
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth
I quote this because this shows a young person growing up in secular, materialist culture and the rootless anxiety that it produces. It's normal for young people to look around and be dissatisfied, to want more. Some find answers in religion. Some don't. I think "normal" parents let their children find their own way. It's abnormal to tell your children they can't think for themselves. It's unhealthy. It's repressive. So it shouldn't be surprising that the majority of ex-LC youth, once grown, end up not only out of that group but allergic to any religious expression at all. It's perfectly normal.