Posted on 02/10/2018 7:10:14 AM PST by tiredofallofit
When I tell people about my childhood church, they will usually insist that I was in a cult. While I strongly suspect that they are correct, I never thought of myself as a cult member. Sure, my church may have shunned the outside world and taught that it alone possessed “the truth” but we never had to swear our undying loyalty to the leaders or live in a compound or drink poison. Should you wish to stop attending the church, you were free to do so, but you had to accept that the members who remained were no longer your brothers in the Lord or even friends; you were automatically disfellowshipped and labeled an apostate.
Most who hear my story (and there is much more to it) shake their heads and tell me how unlucky I was to end up in such an “extremist” church. That is not normal they tell me. Why would your parents go to a church like that?
Frankly, I believe that these types of churches are far more “normal” then people think. Thousands of small independent fundamentalist churches dot the American landscape; you probably drive past a couple every week on your way to church. I know that I do. You don’t know about them because you don’t attend them; you have your own place of worship. But yet, these churches do exist and each one has a story. Granted, not every one has a story like mine – but many do.
“There are churches like that?” I remember a close friend of mine asking me a few months ago after hearing my story. “I’ve never heard of such a thing”. Well of course not. He grew up in a well-structured denominational church that had little contact with these smaller churches.
(Excerpt) Read more at runningawayfrommychurch.com ...
1 Timothy 3:15
Good morning.
Since you gave me the courtesy of a reply, I’ll just ask: If this was (is) important, and since your audience is gathered right here, and since all the discussion happens right here, why didn’t you just post the last couple paragraphs right here?
My (only slightly flippant) definition of a cultist: Someone who stops in the middle of a street sermon, and says you have to come to his “hideout” for more.
“Q”
Que?
Name it and claim it.
Shouldn't you be out shoveling snow????
Ummm...because there is a 300 word limit? I would if I could.
There is no limit! It’s your work! You can post it all!
:-)
Done!
One of my sisters belongs to a cult.
Then it’s nap time.......
u can post the rest in the #1 post
Sorry for yelling.
There is no limit. You can post your entire work.
Always.
Okay. Thanks for letting me know. I didn’t know that.
That’s why I left the Episcopal “church” ... you had to believe a gay Bishop was God’s Law ... c ‘ya ... that “church” is no loss to me, but I am a loss for them! I don’t like socializing with liberals, darned if I’m going to be told how to pray with them.
+1. Thank you.
Well, the writer has an agenda to bad mouth those churches.
By implying that they are by default organizations which shun the *outside* world, just because they are small and independent is intellectual dishonesty.
Being part of a big name organization is not any guarantee of not being a cult or not shunning the *outside* world either.
Scripture gives us the warnings we need to avoid false teaching.
1 Timothy 4:1-5 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
My sister, too. She’s a Socialist.
The 300 word limit is only for excerpting things.
NOTHING is preventing you from posting the entire thing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.