Intro of an ex "Church Kid"

[aron]

Originally Posted by kappagamma

The dynamic experiences of a generation or two of people who CHOSE the LC were real to them and are valid and meaningful. Those (often) are not the experiences of "church kids" who choose to leave. Imagine being raised in that system without any of those dynamic experiences? How would you feel about Christianity? Being told your whole life this is reality and not seeing anything remotely real?

Absolutely fantastic bit of writing. People need to consider perspectives like this. Really, if there is any gospel, any good news, it needs to factor in these kinds of witnesses. Otherwise it is just "preaching to the choir" and has very little power to reach beyond itself.

kappagamma thank you.

Originally Posted by kappagamma

Also I will say that there's a lot of what sounds like victim blaming. If "church kids" leave I'd say that's the fault of the parents/CL society for not providing whatever it was that drew the first gen group to Jesus in the first place. If you aren't providing what drew you to your children you're feeding them something else. That's not the kids fault.

This also is important to consider. It has come to mind a few times recently. I SAW it in the Lord's Recovery but I coudn't really PROCESS what I saw.

What I've been considering on these same lines: here was this generation ('60s and '70s) that came into the LR, and would always tell each other and their children stories about leaving the RCC or the Baptists or SDA or whatever, because that experience was so deficient. Now, here they are "on the local ground" and "just enjoying Christ" etc. Over and over you would hear this narrative theme.

But why deny your kids the same experience? Why deny them the same journey? You got to leave "vanity" and find "reality" and now you're stuffing your "vanity" down someone else's throat day after day! Why? It was all about your choice once, now it's all about denying your kids the same choice, the same option to find a path and follow it. Everything in the "pipeline" was designed to carefully, bit by bit, remove any vestige of choice.

Yet they couldn't see it. They were so convinced that they could manufacture some crisis point (carefully built up since they were in diapers) to get the progeny to "choose Christ" which meant "choose Christ and the Church" which meant "submit to the Ministry of the Age" etc etc. The whole thing a big manufactured sham.

And yet they couldn't see it. The whole time they thought they were serving God.

kg, thanks for your voice. It is needed out here.