Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
The Baptist’s are fundamental evangelistic Christians concerning the faith. The flavor of each church determined by the leaders. Many Baptist churches are great communities of believers.
|
I'd agree, that there's a variety. There are local strongholds run by mini-satraps (unquestioned and even abusive leadership), almost personality cults. Charisma in the worst sense. Many are more pluralistic and open to individual and personal leadings of the Holy Spirit.
I grew up in the Baptist denomination, in teenage went "into the world" and then began seeking a renewal of my spiritual path and was drawn into the Local Church, impressed by commitment to Protestant principles (e.g., many familiar Protestant hymns) and by the "mystical" bent of subjective communion with Christ.
After leaving the LC, I went to a more rigorously-adherent group. All women wore head coverings, no women spoke in group meetings but only at home with husbands, no musical instruments and so on. After a while, I began meeting with the Baptists again, now (years later) I am more open to all believers - all people, really - but less inclined to be "organized" by someone who is well-meaning but ignorant.
So, I think that if you ask the question to 20 ex-LC members, you'd get 20 different answers. Everyone has their own spiritual journey.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alwayscurious
I have mostly mentally checked out from much of the LC for the past 2 years but since I'm in college and about to finish out in a year, I have began to think of finally starting to meet in Baptist churches and perhaps even attend a Theological Seminary sometime in the future (not sure when but definitely not the FTTA).
A bit lost on how to approach all this, it's as if my mind is unraveling the idea of fully leaving the LC, and as a church kid who grew up in Anaheim, this undoubtedly means losing most if not nearly all of my close friends, connections, and people I care about (and have really become family to me in the span of 21 years) in the coming years...
|
As a church kid who grew up in Anaheim, you face the void if you look away from the LC. Your whole being was constructed, brick by muddy brick, around this entity... I saw pre-verbal children being coaxed to "call on the Lord", complete with fist pumps. So you are trying to unravel a lot. Take your time, be careful & thoughtful, go slow, stay safe. God will be with you every step. Many times you won't perceive it, but when all seems lost, help will arrive and you will continue the journey.
The danger of leaving LC blinders behind is that we instinctively and reflexively look for new blinders to put on. God will indeed put you on a narrow way, but assuredly it won't match your preconceptions of what that should look like. See how many times the disciples were "amazed beyond all measure." If your journey doesn't contain such astonishment as your concepts crumble and new worlds open, then I'd question it, asking why you're so resolutely comfortable.
In Psalm 119 (NIV) it says, "I run in the pathways of Your command/You have set my heart free." The juxtaposition is of being shut in by God, constrained on the narrow way, and then whole universes open! So amazing... the way of sin is the way of death, but the way of obedience opens new vistas. It's always there, but disobedience and disconnect kept it hidden. Only obedience opens up freedom.
And only Jesus Christ fulfilled this - we were disobedient, shut up in sin, but then by the miracle of faith we saw His obedience, his "broad place", and we were suddenly transferred, with Him, into the Land of the Living (see, e.g., Psa 27).