I’m struggling

[Lisalanell]

Hi. I am new here. My name is Lisa. I hope I’m in the right group. I have been a member of the church for 38 years. Played church and never really had a personal relationship wirh Jesus. In fact one of my preachers said no where in the Bible is found where it talks about a personal relationship wirh Jesus. So I have attended All my life but struggles with alcoholism all these years. I went to aa on and off. About 18 months ago I went to treatment and found celebrate recovery. I have been transformed by this recovery program. It’s all about a personal relationship with Jesus. So the church doesn’t approve of members being in agreement with denominational groups. So I’m so I’ll about it all. I feel nothing but condemnation from the church. Whereas wirh my denominational friends I see fruit bearing in their lives and hope. I have got to move on. But it’s so hard. My mind keeps saying you will be lost. You will not be on the ark. Anyone out there?

[FinallyFree]

So glad you have joined us and so glad recovery is working for you. I have a son who has struggled with alcoholism and is currently in a rehab program.

[flawed]

Hi Lisa, the COC I sometimes still attend actually hosts a Celebrate Recovery every week. There are plenty of “liberal” COC’s out there. Perhaps you can find one like mine. I hope you find some comfort here.

[Lisalanell]

Thanks for yalls reply! It’s encouraging. So do “liberal “ churches believe that the denominational believers are lost? I’m so over it. I find myself saying amen out loud and sometimes I just want to lift my hands in praise. I’m living life on the edge! We actually have a preacher who has avoided all of the condemnation and I’m wanting to stay. We previously had 2 Memphis school of preachers and all we ever heard about was unity false doctrine and teachers. That’s enough to drive somebody to drink!

[FinallyFree]

I agree with Flawed. I have seen many CofC’s that have Celebrate Recovery. And, yes, there are CofC’s that do NOT teach that they are the only ones going to heaven. I used to go to one.

[agricola]

Hi Lisa and welcome to the ex-board. Feel free to explore the discussions.

[Shrubbery]

Welcome! I find it telling when you're supposed to be able to recognize God's people by their fruit, and we find it outside the NICOC. I agree with others that you might find a more liberal COC if you still believe generic COC doctrine. Many liberal COC's worship the same way (a capella music, Lord's Supper every Sunday, etc.), but they have a fellowship hall and get together to eat at the church building. They might be involved in local charities, have programs like the one you have mentioned, etc. Their sermons will be more in applying the Bible to our lives and dealing with things going on in the world. For example, when the #metoo movement started, my local progressive COC did a sermon on that, and the preacher had previously asked members of the congregation to submit #metoo stories to him... he was saddened to receive one from his own daughter, and the occurrence had been at a COC college... he never once blamed the women in his sermon, as the NICOC preachers would often do, suggesting that they are dressing immodestly or putting themselves into situations where they could get assaulted... he put the blame solely on the perpetrators of those acts. It was a really good sermon.

I find it immensely sad that anyone would chastise you for using a denominational program that is helping you recover! I hope your recovery continues and is long lasting. Good for you getting the support you need!

[gordie91]

Welcome, hopefully you will find some strength and help here on the boards. I know I did.

Best wishes.

[Lisalanell]

Thank you for replies shrubbery finally free and Gordie9. Yes. Well said Geordi9. It is outside my coc that I find people producing the fruits!!! I want to be around those people. Thy have hope and I need hope to move forward. Enough with the condemnation. I am so happy to be part of this group. I look over the content every night and really have found some answers. But that still doesn’t remove the years of legalistic thinking that I have adopted. There is a better life out there and I learned it from people outside of the church. See “the church”. I’ve been schooled for a long time. They showed me how to grow my relationship wirh Jesus. I have so much hope and so many conversation about what God is doing in my life. Sadly I have never had these at my church. But if I remain there I must challenge the status quo. I am unsure if I will offend others and if it does that will be my nudge to move on. I was taught that worship consisted of five acts and if it didn’t have all of them then it wasn’t true worship. Saying this now sounds crazy. Anyway I’m sure this is addressed somewhere on here. I am grateful for support! Thank y’all

[SolaDude]

..... I was taught that worship consisted of five acts and if it didn’t have all of them then it wasn’t true worship. Saying this now sounds crazy......

It's all about "you" and what you "do" in the CofC, nothing of what God "already did" for you so that you don't have to do all the "doing" anymore, the five acts or whatever, to gain God's favor..... when He's already freely given His favor to you by what He "already did"...hence the verbiage in scripture of having now "entered His rest" because of what He already did for us on our behalf....our worship (from the heart) of thankfulness and joy comes as a natural result of being made a new creature (by Him, not by our own acts) and living in that rest by the power of the HS, i.e., not viewing worship as contrived "do's" (from the intellect) that you can never possibly attain to.....in short, the CofC is another works-based salvation theology.....