by Tim | Feb 4, 2010 | God, The Church World |
In the next few blogs, I will be discussing some of the issues that led to me leaving my previous church. Before I discuss these things, I want to make sure that my heart and spirit are not misunderstood. While I strongly disagree with the beliefs and values being taught there (and the lack of teaching as well), there is no bitterness or hostility that I hold toward anyone there. I think it’s important to remember that when we disagree on such things that we are able to do so without trying to hurt individuals personally, or try to attack them. This is hard to do when you have strong beliefs one way or the other. Yet, it is necessary. The Bible says that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood–so why should we make the other person our enemy? Even if the other person chooses to label us as enemies, he/she has no power over our own thinking. We can still love them and pray for them. Since I left my church over “theological issues,” it is obvious that I have strong feelings over these issues. Strong enough that I felt it was better to part ways with people that I love and miss. I understand how it would be easy for those I’ve left to take this action personally. I hope that one day, they will know that I never desired to leave such good friends, but that this decision was something I felt I needed to do, even at the risk of losing credibility in some people’s eyes. Before I left the church, I had a...
