UPCI was so strict it was almost Amish: Kings of Leon

Originally Posted by DividedThigh

well while i agree it is on somebody, that somebody isnt me, i didnt do that to my own kids or anybody else, i spent 4 of my first years in ministry doing nothing but telling kids they were loved by god and he wanted to have a relationship with them, then i spent 10 years as a pastor preaching and teaching the same, i dont have time to blame the church or anybody but myself for any messes in my life now, and i dont any of us do, I believe it is our responsibility to make things good with god and move on, my humble opinion, dt

it is on us for allowing those horrible things to be done by people we call brothers...

by allowing our churches to, by and large, become more about rules and "looking the part" than about a relationship with Christ...

no, it isn't your fault personally...

but, as a corporate body, as a group, as the body of Christ, it is all of our fault for allowing this to continue and never standing up and saying "this is HURTING people!!"

[DividedThigh]

Originally Posted by Coonskinner

You can keep wailing the blues all you want, but that won't fly in the judgement, for them or anybody else.

I promise you there are those who were treated worse than them, or you, who are living for God and making it.

No excuses.

good admonition coonskinner, i know i am one of them, yet i found jesus for myself and overcame it all, that is the key, coming to grips with life, and embracing jesus for yourself, god bless you bro,dt

Originally Posted by Coonskinner

You can keep wailing the blues all you want, but that won't fly in the judgement, for them or anybody else.

I promise you there are those who were treated worse than them, or you, who are living for God and making it.

No excuses.

I'm not making excuses... and, right now, they are damned...

But the real question is this... are those who imposed the rules that hurt them so badly also damned for hurting them the way that they did? For putting things on them that made them see God as a bunch of rules instead of relationship?

[Coonskinner]

Originally Posted by redeemedcynic84

it is on us for allowing those horrible things to be done by people we call brothers...

by allowing our churches to, by and large, become more about rules and "looking the part" than about a relationship with Christ...

no, it isn't your fault personally...

but, as a corporate body, as a group, as the body of Christ, it is all of our fault for allowing this to continue and never standing up and saying "this is HURTING people!!"

The churches I associate with teach relationship.

This is a hollow accusation that may be valid in some extreme cases, but not across the board.

[Coonskinner]

Originally Posted by DividedThigh

good admonition coonskinner, i know i am one of them, yet i found jesus for myself and overcame it all, that is the key, coming to grips with life, and embracing jesus for yourself, god bless you bro,dt

Yes it is, friend.

God is too good to allow silly things to separate us from Him.

Originally Posted by Coonskinner

It was unrestrained carnality and love of the world.

Believe me, their dad was no hard core conservative.

I knew him well, and the boys too.

The hypocrisy they saw probably contributed more to their demise than anything else.

It sounds cool to talk about what a victim you were...all part of the mystique.

lol

its funny... they backslide, say how our rules make us almost amish (and they do) and all you can do is rip on thier dad for not ENFORCING THE RULES ENOUGH!!

good job pointing the blame on them instead of looking int he mirror and figureing out if you can learn anything from it...

Originally Posted by Coonskinner

Yes it is, friend.

God is too good to allow silly things to separate us from Him.

umm....

God is there for everyone, God doesn't seperate himself from anyone...

we seperate ourselves from him...

So silly things like that can (and do) seperate people from God...

[Coonskinner]

Originally Posted by redeemedcynic84

I'm not making excuses... and, right now, they are damned...

But the real question is this... are those who imposed the rules that hurt them so badly also damned for hurting them the way that they did? For putting things on them that made them see God as a bunch of rules instead of relationship?

All of us will answer to God for wrong that we do, if indeed we are guilty and don't repent.

The thing is, I knew these boys and their family.

They were never "oppressed" by draconian pastors that I ever knew of.

Their dad was a nice guy, happy go lucky and a lot of fun.

And he was in no way a conservative or very strict.

Originally Posted by Coonskinner

The churches I associate with teach relationship.

This is a hollow accusation that may be valid in some extreme cases, but not across the board.

but do you assume that the kid that is jumping around during worship, in the choir, follows all the standards and is in service 3 times a week has a solid relationship with God?

see, we all get cought up in judging people's relationship with God on outward things... it ends up being really easy to hide inward pain...

[Coonskinner]

Originally Posted by redeemedcynic84

lol

its funny... they backslide, say how our rules make us almost amish (and they do) and all you can do is rip on thier dad for not ENFORCING THE RULES ENOUGH!!

good job pointing the blame on them instead of looking int he mirror and figureing out if you can learn anything from it...

You are reading into my post things i did not say.

For one thing, the testimony of backsliders is seldom reliable.

Secondly, when did I say their father didn't "enforce" the rules enough?

Point out the words, please.