Please allow me to introduce myself...
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 12:08 pm
You might recognize that line from the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil", but I'm only the Devil in CoCer minds.
I married in to the Church of Christ, and I attended my husband's church for about 20 years. My husband still attends, but I walked out a few years ago when the preacher at that time went on a tirade from the pulpit which was directed at me. He turned red in the face started jumping up and down, and proceeded to declare that anyone who sat in church week after week and didn't respond and be baptized was just "mean". He did send a postcard after I stopped attending to apologize. He wrote, "I'm sorry if I offended you." I suppose he fulfilled his Christian duty to apologize, and I was the one who erred because I didn't accept his half hearted apology.
I'm out of that place and looking for another church that actually practices true Christianity, but my kids still attend with my husband. My husband was not very active in the CoC when we got married, but he has gone back, and now he wouldn't dare miss a service or activity. My husband is an adult, and he is responsible for his own spiritual life, but I worry about the damage the CoC is doing to my kids. At least I had a good upbringing in a solid Grace filled church, but my kids don't have any other standard by which to compare their church experience. I try to counter what they are learning in church with a less harsh view of the world and religion, but I know that every time they attend that church they have CoC doctrine hammered into their skulls.
I've read some of the experiences that life long CoC members have posted on this board about how they have built new spiritual lives outside of the CoC, and it does give me hope.
I married in to the Church of Christ, and I attended my husband's church for about 20 years. My husband still attends, but I walked out a few years ago when the preacher at that time went on a tirade from the pulpit which was directed at me. He turned red in the face started jumping up and down, and proceeded to declare that anyone who sat in church week after week and didn't respond and be baptized was just "mean". He did send a postcard after I stopped attending to apologize. He wrote, "I'm sorry if I offended you." I suppose he fulfilled his Christian duty to apologize, and I was the one who erred because I didn't accept his half hearted apology.
I'm out of that place and looking for another church that actually practices true Christianity, but my kids still attend with my husband. My husband was not very active in the CoC when we got married, but he has gone back, and now he wouldn't dare miss a service or activity. My husband is an adult, and he is responsible for his own spiritual life, but I worry about the damage the CoC is doing to my kids. At least I had a good upbringing in a solid Grace filled church, but my kids don't have any other standard by which to compare their church experience. I try to counter what they are learning in church with a less harsh view of the world and religion, but I know that every time they attend that church they have CoC doctrine hammered into their skulls.
I've read some of the experiences that life long CoC members have posted on this board about how they have built new spiritual lives outside of the CoC, and it does give me hope.