Out of the loop

[Jubileesong]

Wow...I've been gone a while. Everything's changed. I want so much to be here more. It's me...Hannah/Jubileesong. I am now living in Seattle instead of Dallas and I love it here for the most part. I'm a little tired today and I have to get ready for work so I can't write much - but I miss coming on here.

The format is new and will take a while to get used to, but I've seen it before in other places. I'll try to catch up with what's going on.

But, I have a question for you...those of you who don't go to church any more since leaving a cult - what are your top three reasons/complaints about church?

Have a SPLENDID day! :0)

Hannah

[Voyager]

But, I have a question for you...those of you who don't go to church any more since leaving a cult - what are your top three reasons/complaints about church?

1. I can no longer trust people in churches. The main theme seems to be "Do what we say, or we will treat you as an infidel." You cannot maintain healthy relationships in a codependent environment such as this. You cannot find long-lasting friendships in churches - they are "fair weather" relationships, and usually last only as long as you are attending their church and following their rules.

2. I don't want my kids to be raised with shame, fear, and guilt. I hear too many horror stories about Sunday School teachers privately putting the "fear of God" into children with stories about how "bad little girls and boys will be cast into eternal hellfire". This can cause kids to have nightmares, and ruin their belief of a loving, caring God for the rest of their lives.

3. I no longer believe that church is a requirement to getting into heaven. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you have to go to a church. It talks about not forsaking the fellowship of other believers, but it does not say you have to attend a church. For many years I was taught that if I didn't go to a church with a dictator, hymms, sermons, offerings, etc., that I would go to hell. It took me about four years to break the religious addiction that caused me to go through "church withdrawals", but now I am free and very happy to have that monkey off of my back.

There you have my top three reasons/complaints about why I cannot and will not attend a church ever again.

:cool:

[Reg]

Hi Voyager & Hanna,

Just wanted to say HI and I couldn't agree with you more about your three reasons.


Trust is the biggest. We have been violated at the most sensitive level of our beings. The center of our belief structure on a spiritual level. The wound is deep and the scar is always going to be with us. Although healed, still evident in our minds.

It's similar to when a reputation that has been broken like a delicate vase that has been repaired. Although repaired, the world will always keep it's eyes on the place where the crack was. :(