(no subject)
Please remember that this all took place about 10 years ago, and i am doing my best to faithfully recall the events. i may be wrong about some specifics, but this is how I remember them.
oooook, so, I used to be a hard core, bible thumping ,praise jeezuz fundy, Right? I got over it, don't hold it against me.
The church I was a member of was a small, non denominational, fundamentalist, charismatic church. the kind where they speak in tongues, "fall out in the spirit", prophesy, and all sorts of other randomness. No, we did not handle snakes. I promise.
Anyway, I was "friends" with one of the wives of the elders of the church. She (and her husband) were my age, Laura and I worked at the same place, and belonged in the same Wednesday night bible study group. so, when i discovered that i was once again struggling with my feelings toward another woman, i confided in Laura, looking for some shred of hope that i would "get better" now, by this time, mind you, i had already drifted far far away from the path of a good xtian woman. i had moved out of the teen youth group leaders family house, i was learning about ... Wicca *gasp* i went to a ROLEPLAYING GAME!!!! and i only managed to attend church about once every other week, memorably once while being hungover. so, a few weeks later, when i hadn't attended church in about a month, i got a letter in the mail. i wish i still had it, but i can quote it fairly reliably. it said something like
"Dear heather,
It has come to our attention that you have been engaging in some activities that no longer make you suitable to retain your membership in the church. we are removing you from membership, however, please know that you are always welcome at Sunday morning fellowship services.
in Christ Jesus' name,
pastor toews"
so... after staring at he letter in stunned disbelief for awhile... i call the pastor at home, and ask him what the specifics were that caused this decision.
he said that the board of elders had been informed that i thought that homosexuality was a valid lifestyle.... was that true? I replied that yes, i thought that perhaps it was. he asked "so you don't believe that the bible is infallible?" i replied that i wasn't quite sure, there was some stuff about blessing those that bash babies heads against rocks and a few other things i could no longer blindly ignore in that book. now... in order for the board of elders to have that information, Laura would have had to tell her husband who in turn, told the board. so they were operating on... 3rd hand information, which they never bothered to personally check with me, before sending the letter. i somehow managed to get off the phone without screaming, and sat down to write an email. it said something like " dear elders of NCCC (I'm only using initials, I'm not here to start a flame war or anything, not that the backward fucks HAVE a web page.) You were right to remove me from membership. if i had really given the matter any thought, i would probably have resigned my membership myself, because.. you are correct, our paradigms do no match any longer. i am not arguing that point. HOWEVER, the point i would like to make is that in Matthew 18 ver 15-17 Jesus has outlined how to remove a brother or sister from your fellowship. if you are removing me for failing to believe that the bible is infallible, how are you justifying not using the "rules" that the bible gives for this situation?
thank you in advance for reading this and getting back to me on this issue,
Heather"
They replied with "we are sorry you are not seeing the real issue here"
and that was the end of my involvement with Christianity.
oooook, so, I used to be a hard core, bible thumping ,praise jeezuz fundy, Right? I got over it, don't hold it against me.
The church I was a member of was a small, non denominational, fundamentalist, charismatic church. the kind where they speak in tongues, "fall out in the spirit", prophesy, and all sorts of other randomness. No, we did not handle snakes. I promise.
Anyway, I was "friends" with one of the wives of the elders of the church. She (and her husband) were my age, Laura and I worked at the same place, and belonged in the same Wednesday night bible study group. so, when i discovered that i was once again struggling with my feelings toward another woman, i confided in Laura, looking for some shred of hope that i would "get better" now, by this time, mind you, i had already drifted far far away from the path of a good xtian woman. i had moved out of the teen youth group leaders family house, i was learning about ... Wicca *gasp* i went to a ROLEPLAYING GAME!!!! and i only managed to attend church about once every other week, memorably once while being hungover. so, a few weeks later, when i hadn't attended church in about a month, i got a letter in the mail. i wish i still had it, but i can quote it fairly reliably. it said something like
"Dear heather,
It has come to our attention that you have been engaging in some activities that no longer make you suitable to retain your membership in the church. we are removing you from membership, however, please know that you are always welcome at Sunday morning fellowship services.
in Christ Jesus' name,
pastor toews"
so... after staring at he letter in stunned disbelief for awhile... i call the pastor at home, and ask him what the specifics were that caused this decision.
he said that the board of elders had been informed that i thought that homosexuality was a valid lifestyle.... was that true? I replied that yes, i thought that perhaps it was. he asked "so you don't believe that the bible is infallible?" i replied that i wasn't quite sure, there was some stuff about blessing those that bash babies heads against rocks and a few other things i could no longer blindly ignore in that book. now... in order for the board of elders to have that information, Laura would have had to tell her husband who in turn, told the board. so they were operating on... 3rd hand information, which they never bothered to personally check with me, before sending the letter. i somehow managed to get off the phone without screaming, and sat down to write an email. it said something like " dear elders of NCCC (I'm only using initials, I'm not here to start a flame war or anything, not that the backward fucks HAVE a web page.) You were right to remove me from membership. if i had really given the matter any thought, i would probably have resigned my membership myself, because.. you are correct, our paradigms do no match any longer. i am not arguing that point. HOWEVER, the point i would like to make is that in Matthew 18 ver 15-17 Jesus has outlined how to remove a brother or sister from your fellowship. if you are removing me for failing to believe that the bible is infallible, how are you justifying not using the "rules" that the bible gives for this situation?
thank you in advance for reading this and getting back to me on this issue,
Heather"
They replied with "we are sorry you are not seeing the real issue here"
and that was the end of my involvement with Christianity.