Forbidden Questions while CofC

[KLP]

Well I was not asking those questions at the cofc I was attending, I knew getting an honest and reasoned response was not possible.

The unleavened bread thing hit me one Sunday evening service when the lying abusive preacher was screaming about not having fellowship halls and how to do the Lord's Supper properly. Using 1 Cor 11 as his text he put bullet points on the Power Point saying that 1 Cor 11 says to use unleavened bread. I had been in CofC for well over 40yrs and I just struck me that night that the word unleavened is not there. So I looked at the other references and no mention of the term that the bread was unleavened, or that there was any significance made about it being unleavened. Later I did a word study on the words. And yes I pointed it out to the head elder and to a couple of others. The preacher just added the word "unleavened" into the quote he presented as being from the Bible. We caught in other lies and deceptions, so this was not a one time event.

The one place the NT gets close to unleavened bread, and people think is a slam dunk, is not even applicable, 1 Cor 5:6-8. Yes it is talking about Passover and the sacrifice of Christ but in that analogy Jesus is the lamb and the congregation is the bread. It cannot therefore be talking about the bread of Lord's Supper since that is the body of Jesus...but yes it is a buzz word bingo winner on the topic.

I mentally left the CofC based on doctrinal issues such as these. I physically left that particular congregation because of the creep that ran the place. I eventually came to grasp it was systemic and so there was no point in looking for a "better" CofC in which to join.

[margin overa]

I mentally left the CofC based on doctrinal issues such as these. I physically left that particular congregation because of the creep that ran the place. I eventually came to grasp it was systemic and so there was no point in looking for a "better" CofC in which to join.

There may be "better" CofCs around, but I agree the systemic problems are very much a part of the whole movement's DNA.

[Turtle]

Is there any evidence OCD existed in the early church?

There are some psychologists that suggest that all religiosity has a basis in OCD like behaviors. You might be interested in this lecture by Dr. Robert Sapolsky. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4WwAQqWUkpI


One clue might be the emphasis on purity, cleanliness, and the stringent control of thoughts as well as actions.

[Lev]

And yes I pointed it out to the head elder and to a couple of others. The preacher just added the word "unleavened" into the quote he presented as being from the Bible.

Seems like a pretty damnable offense with some solid evidence. How did the head elder et al. respond?

Lev

[KLP]

And yes I pointed it out to the head elder and to a couple of others. The preacher just added the word "unleavened" into the quote he presented as being from the Bible.

Seems like a pretty damnable offense with some solid evidence. How did the head elder et al. respond?

Lev

The head elder kept and used the mentally unstable preacher to his benefit. The preacher constantly talked up the head elder who could not lead a class or find a verse if his life depended on it. He wrote it down on his little notebook he kept in his shirt pocket but would never respond to me on this on several occasions. He was too inept to be able to study this for himself (would have to ask the preacher) and he was too dishonest and prideful to ever admit that false statements had been made from the pulpit about the Bible and he has sat there an not noticed it. The other elders would not dare cross the head elder.

[Lev]

The head elder kept and used the mentally unstable preacher to his benefit. The preacher constantly talked up the head elder who could not lead a class or find a verse if his life depended on it. He wrote it down on his little notebook he kept in his shirt pocket but would never respond to me on this on several occasions. He was too inept to be able to study this for himself (would have to ask the preacher) and he was too dishonest and prideful to ever admit that false statements had been made from the pulpit about the Bible and he has sat there an not noticed it. The other elders would not dare cross the head elder.

Well, then. Nothing to see here folks. Just keep moving along.

Lev

[KLP]

Oh it took a while to grasp what was going on...to actually realize the level of hard core meanness and lies that were going on...over stupid, silly stuff. We were totally new to the congregation and had no idea of all the dirt and mental illness and the sycophant action going on. But stuff just kept not adding up and not making sense and people kept getting bounced including some elders. That was when it went from "we just don't care for this guy" to "these people are sick and dangerous creeps".

It was the sickest snake pit of a church we had ever seen. My wife looks at the bright side that if not for that truly despicable set of characters we would probably or might never have actually got up and walked out (after turning in our key of course) being we were both very established and raised cofc. I will never officially join or "place membership" at another church and will certainly never officially put myself "under the authority" of elders. No personal connections, no information, no doctrinal discussion, no nothing from me emotionally is how I do church now. They can never help but can only hurt. So I want no connection.

[B.H.]

The other elders would not dare cross the head elder.

Maybe the head elder was the bad guy in Warriors of the Wasteland and he would ass rape the other elders if they made him angry?

[margin overa]

I will never officially join or "place membership" at another church and will certainly never officially put myself "under the authority" of elders. No personal connections, no information, no doctrinal discussion, no nothing from me emotionally is how I do church now. They can never help but can only hurt. So I want no connection.

I hope I this doesn't come across as confrontational, but I must ask why you haven't just cut straps entirely and left the notion of "church" behind you? There are some folks who find another faith tradition that suits them, but I haven't yet, and don't foresee it really happening again, not for myself, anyway. I gather you're still a believer at this point - and, forgive me, but still fairly conservative in belief, or at least it comes across that way...but why bother with churches at all? What do you hope to gain from institutions that have hurt you?