I have been talking to a Church of Christ friend lately who is inquiring into the Eastern Orthodox Faith and is in the process of becoming a catechumen. This process seems to be igniting hope, and peace in him. However, to arrive at one place you must leave another place. Leaving the Church of Christ is a process indeed and the process is a mix of understanding and accusation.Last night I spent a few hours in real conversation with two of my siblings. It is the first time we have done that in about 7 years. It was a spiritual time of restoration as we prayed and forgave. The breech 7 years ago was many faceted, as are most relational complications, but one of the issues was the fact that I had journeyed (not so smoothly) away from the "faith of my fathers"-Southern Baptist. As I have walked with my Church of Christ friend on his new journey to Orthodoxy, I have been amazed at how I have identified with some of his process. I have noticed a pattern of elements related to the process of leaving one sect to go to another, particularly reactions from those being left. It seems to happen in this order.
1. They use scripture and doctrine to try to convince you that you are in error.2. They get personal "What happened to you?" "Have you fallen away?" "Did someone hurt you?" "Is someone leading you astray?"
3. They use emotional manipulation. "Do you know how this will hurt your parents, grandparents?
4. They use threats. "You are leaving the faith."You'll be returning to the vomit like a dog." God will take away your gifts." "You will never be happy."
5. They use power plays. "I am coming to see you and bringing so and so with me!" "We ARE going to talk a bout this." "It's for the salvation of your soul."
6. If none of the above work, they finally cut you off.
The process is a dichotomy of pain and joy. Pain because you love those you are leaving, joy because you love God more.
My process of leaving the church of my father and grandfather was a long one. There were two scriptures that gave me hope and endurance. The first spoke of the heart that drove me to find the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church- the Orthodox Church:
"One thing have I desired and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all of the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in his Holy Temple."
I just had to know him personally and to know where his people worshiped him in Spirit and in truth.
The second spoke of His promise to me if I were to follow Him:
Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel's. who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time-houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecution- and in the age to come, eternal life."7 Years toward restoration. Thanks be to God. We must at all costs, leave "the faith" to get to THE FAITH. This is our Journey To Orthodoxy.
Thank you for this post. Where in the Bible can I find these two quotes, so that I can return to them when I need? (I´m not very good at remembering where to find different passages in the Bible)
ReplyDeleteThomas,
ReplyDeleteThe first is Isaiah 27:4 (although I left out a phrase) I have corrected it on the blog. The second is Mark 10: 29, 30 (also found in Matt)
i hope that helps. You can also always Google the words "Bible Concordance" and find any verse reference."
Let me know when you stop by again. Tell me about your journey.
This is the sister and bother-in-law of your friend joining the Orthodox Church from the Church of Christ. We love our brother(-in-law) very much and are by no means condemning him for his choice to explore the Orthodox Church. We are concerned, mostly because the Orthodox Church is very foreign to us. There are so many questions that we have and some we don't even know to ask.
ReplyDeleteWe feel that we are being lumped into a classification of judgemental, harsh, unforgiving, pharissee-like christians. We understand your excitement over being able to consider our brother your brother in Christ. He has a strong heart and great faith. We know that he will seek the truth. It just appears that you are condemning the Church of Christ for believing that they are "The Church." We may be misunderstanding what we are reading, but it appears that the Orthodox Church believes that they too are "The Church."
We do believe that promoting seperation due to belief among family members and friends by airing out the mistakes of select groups of people will only drive larger and larger wedges between family and friends. We don't all believe the same way that the Church of Christ has been respresented on your blog. We think you would agree that if you could have avoided, when joining the Orthodox Church, driving a wedge between you and your loved ones, you would have.
The reason why we have chosen to be members of the Church of Christ, is like our brother, we have a desire to seek out the truth and feel that according to scripture the church we attend works hard to reach that goal. They are a loving, giving, welcoming, understanding church. We do not exclude members of other churches. For the past three years, we have held a city-wide invitation to any churh of any denomination to join us in worship at a speccial event called Life on Purpose.
To anyone who may read this who is steeped in concern for our brother, know that being judgemental, harsh, or condemning is not a characteristic of Christ. Continue to love our brother, pray for him as you always have.
Do not worship any church. The church was given to us by God as a tool to worship Him as a family. Over time we have distorted that. God is God - worship Him, read your Bible and seek Him out, stay away from petty battles over who is right and who is wrong. Seek out the truth and God will give it to you. If we had all the answers, there would be no reason for God. We are imperfect and we need God. It is not our place to judge others, we can only show Christ through our actions and words and show others that he is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.
odelljoel,
ReplyDeleteI have dedicated an entire article in response to your sincere appeal. Please see: "Thanks Be To God For Misunderstandings"