Thank you for letting me share my story here, I will give you the condensed version. Was raised in the CofC and never questioned their beliefs. I was convinced that I had been born into the “one true church” and was sold out to what I had been taught I needed to do to make it to heaven, including believing that everyone else was going to hell. I left 8 years ago. It took me 8 years to leave then another 8 years of being out of the church to heal enough to have the courage to post here. I believe I am finally at a point where I can be helpful and provide support for those who are still in their journey of leaving and recovering.I was part of one of the more conservative churches of Christ that had one cup, one unleavened loaf for communion, no Sunday school classes, women not allowed to cut their hair, strict dress code (when I was growing up women could not wear pants and no one could wear shorts, when we changed to a more “liberal” one cup CofC this was not as much of an issue), no divorce and remarriage for any reason (Matt 19:9 was referring to an OT passage that didn’t count in the NT), no musical instruments, etc...
I was so convinced that all of these things (and more) were necessary for heaven that I sat down to read the Bible for myself with the intention of proving everything the church taught. I really thought that if I read from Genesis to Revelation as if I had never been exposed to the Bible before that I would find the church I had been raised in. Imagine my surprise when I finished Revelation and could not in good conscience do what I had set out to accomplish. What do you do when you start to realize that what you have been putting your hope and faith in for over 30 years isn’t what you thought it was? To make a long story short, I ended up reading the Bible two more times and guess what… you’re probably not surprised to hear that I still could not find the church I thought I would find. I did find something infinitely better though, and have come to appreciate the freedom I have now more than ever. I still love the people who I left, but I can't agree with them on so many things, especially that the CofC is the only "one true church" and I cannot restrict fellowship to this group. I have been attending a non-denomination church since leaving. I know my journey of healing isn’t quite over yet, but at least I look forward to what is next and I pray others who are leaving or have left will simply find a place of safety, healing, and peace.
Thank you for listening!
