Hello,
I was raised CoC and was very involved in the church until the last few years when I went to boarding school and college. Following school I (in private) began to mostly identify with agnosticism because God seemed far away, cold, and judgmental to me. However, I now believe that God wasn't the problem, it was the group I was worshiping with. Going to college I was exposed to many other denominations and have been looking around to find the way that I can worship God that doesn't make me hate myself or others, I want to feel the love and support that God is supposed to lend to his people. This website (among other resources and friends) has given me hope that I can be happy in my faith outside of the CoC instead of demoralized for being sinful and choosing to worship God "incorrectly." Thank you all for your support, and the resources found here, they are tremendous.
Hello
Re: Hello
Welcome! We are glad to have you here. 
Moogy
NI COC for over 30 years, but out for over 40 years now
Mostly Methodist for about 30 years.
Left the UMC in 2019 based on their decision to condemn LGBT+ persons and to discipline Pastors who perform same-sex marriages
NI COC for over 30 years, but out for over 40 years now
Mostly Methodist for about 30 years.
Left the UMC in 2019 based on their decision to condemn LGBT+ persons and to discipline Pastors who perform same-sex marriages
Re: Hello
The coc is probably not unique in this - but it is very good at making members think 'god' and 'the church' are equal and the same - so that leaving 'the church' is also 'leaving god'. Don't go there if you can avoid it. The coc is not god, no matter how much it might like to make it seem that way.
You have gone to college, so you are probably used to doing some research and reading - carry that over, and do some research and reading on religion and Christianity. You'll find - as we have - that the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
You have gone to college, so you are probably used to doing some research and reading - carry that over, and do some research and reading on religion and Christianity. You'll find - as we have - that the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
History is the fiction we invent to persuade ourselves that events are knowable and that life has order and direction. That's why events are always reinterpreted when values change. We need new versions of history to allow for our current prejudices.
Re: Hello
WELCOME
Change can be difficult ... especially when you finally decide to run like mad from a church that saps your spiritual vitality, then puts a guilt trip on you when you decide to leave. Hope you can find something useful here that will help you.
Change can be difficult ... especially when you finally decide to run like mad from a church that saps your spiritual vitality, then puts a guilt trip on you when you decide to leave. Hope you can find something useful here that will help you.
Unity in diversity
Re: Hello
Welcome, UMStudent!! So glad you found us.
Just had a couple of comments r/t Agri's post, if you don't mind.
You'll find - as we have - that the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
On a more sober note.....what a burden they placed on small, vulnerable children by saddling us with
their crippling, suffocating world view, and threatening us with eternal death if
we dare to escape from it.
Just had a couple of comments r/t Agri's post, if you don't mind.
Amen, Agri....well stated. This thought especially cracked me up:agricola wrote:The coc is probably not unique in this - but it is very good at making members think 'god' and 'the church' are equal and the same - so that leaving 'the church' is also 'leaving god'. Don't go there if you can avoid it. The coc is not god, no matter how much it might like to make it seem that way.
You have gone to college, so you are probably used to doing some research and reading - carry that over, and do some research and reading on religion and Christianity. You'll find - as we have - that the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
You'll find - as we have - that the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
On a more sober note.....what a burden they placed on small, vulnerable children by saddling us with
their crippling, suffocating world view, and threatening us with eternal death if
we dare to escape from it.
~Stone Cold Ivyrose Austin~
Re: Hello
Yes, that's an important observation that I'm keen to forget. When you grow up with everyone believing the same heavy ideas you begin to believe that everyone thinks that way, when it's really a very small minority.agricola wrote:the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
Re: Hello
Yeah - and you know what? they don't even do THAT well! I mean, look at Jim Jones! Or that Waco crackpot. Or the Westbury loonie tunes. The coc can't even do EVIL MINDF**K properly!Ivy wrote:Welcome, UMStudent!! So glad you found us.
Just had a couple of comments r/t Agri's post, if you don't mind.
Amen, Agri....well stated. This thought especially cracked me up:agricola wrote:The coc is probably not unique in this - but it is very good at making members think 'god' and 'the church' are equal and the same - so that leaving 'the church' is also 'leaving god'. Don't go there if you can avoid it. The coc is not god, no matter how much it might like to make it seem that way.
You have gone to college, so you are probably used to doing some research and reading - carry that over, and do some research and reading on religion and Christianity. You'll find - as we have - that the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
You'll find - as we have - that the coc is a minor twig on an outlying branch of the whole tree of 'Christianity', and barely a blip on the whole array of 'religion' worldwide. Tiny, out of the mainstream, and quite frankly, not even terribly interesting.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
On a more sober note.....what a burden they placed on small, vulnerable children by saddling us with
their crippling, suffocating world view, and threatening us with eternal death if
we dare to escape from it.
Sheesh.
I mean, it's certainly bad enough, it just isn't bad enough to entice a bunch of blockbusters or pulitzer prize winning exposes, or ANYTHING.
History is the fiction we invent to persuade ourselves that events are knowable and that life has order and direction. That's why events are always reinterpreted when values change. We need new versions of history to allow for our current prejudices.