Agreed! I had early religious training in the Protestant faith. (Methodist actually)
I tried other faiths and churches in my lifetime and always ended up pissed at something. A little voice (I hear voices!LOL!)said to me one day that I did not need to attend a church to serve God. That is it in a nutshell. I do what I can to help people find comfort in their lives and help the needy when I can but it is all done by me and not a group thing.
I suppose you could call me a loner. Jesus inferred somewhere that the church could be a mutiple of one.
As another Methodist, I feel your pain. The modern Methodist church has abandoned ALL of the core tenets of Christianity in favor of rampant feel-goodism. And then, they turn around and wonder why nobody is attending their churches...
I tried other faiths and churches in my lifetime and always ended up pissed at something. A little voice (I hear voices!LOL!) said to me one day that I did not need to attend a church to serve God. That is it in a nutshell. I do what I can to help people find comfort in their lives and help the needy when I can but it is all done by me and not a group thing.
I agree with you that there are certainly far too many false shepherds out there, infinitely harming their parishoners more than we will know in our lifetime. Did you take the teachings of Christ with you from the Church? Do you still study his teachings in depth, and the Judaic history upon which it is based?
If you are able to listen online, I cannot recommend enough the Calvary Satellite Network as a GREAT source of sound teachings. I highly recommend that you check it out online, or if you're unable to, see if they broadcast in your area. You won't regret what you learn from them!
(There's plenty of background information on the Calvary Chapel movement on their website, if you prefer to have that before jumping into new materials. The Chapel itself was started as a church for the outcasts of the day (in the 60's it was the surfer/hippy-types), and still to this day is a very great source for independent, un-fouled-by-tradition Biblical teachings...)
I suppose you could call me a loner. Jesus inferred somewhere that the church could be a mutiple of one.
Actually, he specifically warned us NOT to pay attention to the Christian walks of those around us, but to concentrate on OUR walk with Him. I would tend to say that most of us are unable to reliably walk with Him without interacting with other Believers, though. You're welcome to freep-mail me if you have any questions or flames re: stuff on the CSN.
:) ttt