I spent thousands of evenings in a church like this…
July 24, 2009
A fellow blogger, a woman that I grew up knowing from the church community I was raised in, posted the above clip today.
I watched the first 1.30 minutes and I had a very strong negative physical reaction. It made my chest and stomach start hurting, and I could feel tension moving through my body.
Sometimes I feel like my childhood and teens was a farce. I was so brainwashed by the United Pentecostal Church International that I really believed what they were doing was the absolute truth.
It has been almost 10 years since I left the church of my childhood, and I have grown and changed and PROGRESSED in my relationship with God. But then I see a friend I grew up with, and they are stuck in a weird alternate reality of my 1994 which was someone else’s 1894. It’s so bizarre.
Why the frenzy? Is that necessary to have a relationship with God? What about compassion and love? What about Grace? They focus so much on the outward appearance that the true gospel message of Grace is completely missed. It deeply saddens me at times, and other times I recall experiences I had with God with deep fondness.
