Need some advice

[thehow1963]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for some input. I feel very detached form Christianity right now. The only thing I am holding onto right now it that I know Jesus loves me. I used to be very much into the charismania of Christianity and have completely backed away from it. I have been going to a Wesleyan church lately. However even going there doesn't seem right. I have been to some other wesleyan and free methodist churches in the past year. it appears that they all have the same type of service. comtempory with upbeat music. it seem weird because i am the type of person that would like this stuff but it just doesn't seem to be working. can any of you recommend a different type of setting.

thanks,
howie

[Jerry]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for some input. I feel very detached form Christianity right now. The only thing I am holding onto right now it that I know Jesus loves me. I used to be very much into the charismania of Christianity and have completely backed away from it. I have been going to a Wesleyan church lately. However even going there doesn't seem right. I have been to some other wesleyan and free methodist churches in the past year. it appears that they all have the same type of service. comtempory with upbeat music. it seem weird because i am the type of person that would like this stuff but it just doesn't seem to be working. can any of you recommend a different type of setting.

thanks,
howie

Dear Howie,,,
Yes Howie,,,,since you were a child you have known that there is more to Christianity than you have ever been taught ;) All of us here sense that.All of us here for the most part study scripture on our own..Personally I find that study on my own is much more rewarding than going to a Church that teaches fairy tales,half truths,and various other absurditys......
Love Jerry

[hornblower]

Hi Howie,

I can relate to everything you have said. I had an experience over 30 years ago and from that experience and studying the word having a few friends i got into the charismatic movement.......its taken me years to get out of it and I still dont know what to do about it. My original experience was the baptism of the Holy Spirit so to go to a church that doesnt believe in that or tries to hide it....it just doesnt seem right to me. I love Jesus and I know He loves me so mostly I just listen and talk to a lot of variety of other Christians. Right now Im seeing a stevens ministry lady once a week. My abuse hurt me a lot......the SA. Its hard and for the most part I agree with Jerry I still cant go to a bible study its just too stilted for me. With all of my heart I wish I could find something with some freedom but also some love and caring but so far its alluded me. I visit around. One church is charismatic......I trust the pastor and wife but still somethings phoney so I kind of stay away.......then I go to the Methodist church down the street they are very straight....thats what I call it......but there are people there that study how to help people and they do a lot of help for the community and the poor and so forth. I appreciate that very much. So I so far havent found what I am looking for and its been over six years. I wish I had an answer for you but I dont. Its very difficult.
I still have quite a few charismatic friends and they I know keep trying to get nme back into the fold so to speak........no way, they are so decieved about some things..........I know what I hear from God is the truth......I just have that true witness on the inside.
They go to their churches and I dont even know where these teachings they get into come from but I dont want any part of it and I TELL them too!
All of that crap about people having spirits to make them do this or that and spirits hopping on them when they just brush up against someone its such hogwash crap!
They just dont want to live in the real world and call things what they are........sin and lust....painful experiences in the past....and we all have it........you cant use it as an excuse to do harm to someone or get out of working or caring or anything else. The whole thing makes me sick its so unscriptural its pathetic.
Then the whole money thing the tithing the buildings and never giving to the poor or the needy the cligues......just makes me so sad and frustrated. They like to call me a prophet but the truth is Im just a believer and thats all Ive ever been they just want to get out of doing what they should be doing. We are all prophets now, thats the way I see it, we should be uplifting each other and loving and caring like the bible says.
I dont think anything has changed from the timeof Paul. People just dont want to do good things ane expose their own sins........they want to play at religion...........well good luck thats all I can say to them. Its lonely but God is with me. Its nothing Jesus didnt experience so who am I to complain?

Come back and maybe we can help each other.........theres just got to be some place somewhere doesnt there?
There probably is Im just so afraid of getting back out there and trying.
Then I go to other christians

[SpinningHead]

Christian Churches is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get....

...until you go inside. ;)

[mary]

I could offer some opinions as to why you feel detached from Christmas, TH1963 (I am totally detached from it, and have discussed it on other threads), and I believe that you are correct and blessed for doing so. However, one is not to advance doctrinal beliefs on this forum and so I'll not do so. If you want to PM about it, that'd be fine.

I had a particularly difficult Christmas this year... On Dec. 23, Sunday evening, at 6:30 p.m., I received a phone call from my health insurer that an election that I'd made to go with a particular Blue Cross plan starting Jan. 1, 2008 had been rejected and as of that date, I would no longer have health insurance. When one has two blood diseases, both with fatal prognoses, as I do, this is extremely upsetting. I became so upset and annoying that my husband (never my strongest ally) decided that he would phone the police and concoct a story that I was "self-destructive," thereby insuring that I would be taken out of his earshot and into police custody, which I was. I spent early Christmas Eve, well into the morning, in the company of local police officers, trying to explain that I was merely upset about not having health insurance anymore, not suicidal. They insisted that I be hospitalized merely on the basis that they had my husband's voice on a 911 tape, saying that I was "self-destructive." Once at the hospital, however, a social worker vehemently informed my husband that to hospitalize me would be "violating (my) civil rights," and he was going to discharge me, whether my husband liked it or not.

On the bright side, as my "big gift," my husband did give me an electrical back and neck massager - mostly to help me with soft-tissue pain that I sustained in an injury that he "didn't mean" last year. I felt so loved... :cool: :rolleyes:

Whatever. It was a spectacularly miserable Christmas, but then, I thought, it's "that holiday" again, and what should I have expected? :( :( :( :( Exactly what I got.

The social worker I saw at the hospital used to work for my health insurer, and in the next few hours, even though he works midnights, he made some phone calls for me among his valued contacts. Long story short: I may very well have access to health care after Jan. 1, but some details are still to be worked out. I thank my Lord and Savior, the One Whose death and resurrection we are to commemorate, for this social worker, who went way beyond the call of duty for me. It was he who was "Santa" for me this year - and my Heavenly Father provided well for me. :) I was blessed after all.

To reiterate, there are reasons that many real Christians can't "totally connect" with Christmas. I've never connected with it, but at least I finally figured out why.

(For a health insurance company to phone people on the evening before Christmas Eve to tell them that their insurance application had been rejected and they would be uninsured in eight days was "intentionally cruel," the social worker said. But that's what we get from the world. And that's what I've gotten in churches, too. Very reliably, I might add. But that's another story.)

"Christmas disconnect" - been there, done that - and know why, too.

Love to all, and prayers for everyone here,

mary

[FreeinJesus]

Hi everyone,
I am looking for some input. I feel very detached form Christianity right now. The only thing I am holding onto right now it that I know Jesus loves me...

...can any of you recommend a different type of setting.

thanks,
howie

Hello Howie,

I think I can relate to what you are experiencing, in my own way. After our SA experience I had been attending a denominational church that is good, seems safe, but I have stopped going. I guess I just want to connect with GOD & also to not feel as if I *need* to go to *church* to be right or on good terms w/ God. I believe that much of "religion" today is not what Jesus said 'true religion & undefiled' is...Jesus definition of "pure religion" is so very different than what my family & I experienced in our old abusive *organization*.

So I told my husband that I'd rather be a lamb wandering in the wilderness with GOD THE FATHER as my true shepherd (psalm 23) then to have continued in that "group" that calls itself a "true church" and live under the iron fist of a supposed "pastor". (X had no accountability or checks & balances whatsoever....oh, of course he would say he's 'accountable to God & scripture', but the reality was he was a man cushioned by a system & doing exactly what *he* wanted/wants.) So....I'm a wandering lamb......but I have my freedom in JESUS!

I *think* that if I ever did join an *organization* that it would probably be the Lutherans...I think there are more conservative Lutherans & then the more liberal, so I'd just check it out.
Even though I believe in God's sovereign grace I truely believe that I'd get along w/ Martin Luther way better than I'd get along w/ Johanne Calvin. :rolleyes:

I like the Lutheran church we'd been attending.....but I'm burnt out on *religion*/*church*. I hope you can find your way. Also, the good thing I've noticed w/ the Lutherans is that some services are more traditional & some are more modern, so for those who wince at the more modern music, they can attend services that they feel more comfortable with & visa versa. For what it's worth.

The best thing is that we have JESUS & GOD & HIS SPIRIT & NO man-made organization or *ordained pastor* can give us that! That comes to a man only through God's grace & NO ORGANIZATION can dispense God's grace, though some will contend "they" are the "true church" or whatever.....to which I say Bu11sh1t!!! I know I'm being tough here on "religion" but men need to know what is going on out there in the name of "true religion"...and me thinks God aint happy about lots of it. :(:mad:
Howie, I've rambled on....forgive please, I just feel so emotional about this issue because I've experience great damage & hurt in God's name. :(

I do hope you find what you are searching for......
God Bless!

[FreeinJesus]

Christian Churches is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get....

...until you go inside. ;)

Oh SpinningHead that is too good!!!! :D
A little 'Forrest' inspiration there eh? :p

[SpinningHead]

Oh SpinningHead that is too good!!!! :D
A little 'Forrest' inspiration there eh? :p

Picked up on that, did ya? :p

[mountain]

Christian Churches is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get....

...until you go inside. ;)

my vote for quote of the year...

Why do I always find the one with onions??

mtn