tlc wrote:Hello everyone, my name is Toni.
Hi Toni.
tlc wrote:It's been three weeks since my last church service.
"last" church service? Does that mean you're never going back?
What was the reason for terminating your attendance?
tlc wrote:Three weeks is a long time and also a very short time! It's a Short time as it compares to what I see that I need to know and the panic i am feeling.
I'm going to guess what you mean by "the panic i am feeling."
You mean that a sense of great urgency to know the Truth has come over you, but that with (a) no good information about how to get to know that Truth, (b) the realization that years of church involvement hasn't gotten you any closer to Truth (wasted time), (c) the realization that years of church involvement has actually taken you further away from Truth (which is worse than just wasted time), and possibly also (d) the feeling of being "left behind" (and I don't mean rapture), you're feeling overwhelmed.
If you've gotten into the prophetic dating stuff at all, you're probably also feeling like time is very short before "the end of the world" (perhaps as little as fifteen years left, according to Yada's dating efforts), which may be upping that sense of urgency even more. I can imagine how you could be feeling panicked. =)
Is my guess even close?
tlc wrote:A Long time as it compares to the great freedom from the "fake it till you make it" christian fellowships and all their functions, works and country club mentality.
That you could even write something with that much perspective, tells me that you are well on your way.
At least in terms of being well on your way "out" of church and the false christian religion. In terms of being well on your way "in" to a legitimate relationship with YHWH, I can't say.
tlc wrote:I have always felt that I was set apart from the christian people and churches I was involved with, always feeling on the outside looking in, and wondering why anyone would want to be "in"! I've seen more than my fair share of wolves in sheeps clothing and have been the most or one of the most skeptical christians in the churches i've attended. I've seen more sin in the church, more phony balony, back biting/stabbing, cult like people worship and "look at me, look at me" & christian cliche masters programs to fill a whole page.
So that is even more evidence that you are well on your way. And from my perspective, is very encouraging evidence.
I've known hundreds of people who left church, but few of them could make such sweeping statements about what's wrong with church, even years later (you're only three weeks later). And even fewer could look back and say, "I have always felt that I was set apart."
Your leaving is a great step of progress, and the start of something new.
tlc wrote:Let me say, I am really glad I found this forum through the Yada Yahweh page and can't seem to absorb enough of it all, fast enough to suit me. I'm just getting acquainted with the YY site and have found many threads here that I'm sure I can add to what I'm learning.
Just don't think that you've found the one-stop-shop for
all things correct.
While participation in such a forum as this almost guarantees a certain level of "out-ness" (and can thus be very exciting for someone who is herself just coming out -- "we have so much in common!"), it's more about where we go
after we've left Egypt / Babylon / pick your analogy. Or more precisely, it's more about
with whom we are traveling after we've left. And I don't mean Moses.
While there are great topics being discussed here -- topics you've probably never heard about, let alone heard anyone discuss in detail -- and while you will most certainly gain from reading (and/or joining) the various discussions, the
biggest topic of all for some reason goes undiscussed. As I've been ranting about for a few days now. So, obviously this forum doesn't have
all the required information, and is thus
not a "one-stop-shop." (Unless you think such a "relational knowing" with YHWH can safely be reduced to celebrating festivals, vaguely following the law, and reading
about him in the scriptures -- in which case you may disagree with me!)
To use a different analogy (but one that is still related to Egypt / Babylon), I would say that you have just exited the "wide road to destruction," which I interpret as meaning any religion that advertises itself as being a road that heads towards the "God" of the scriptures. So, great job on getting off the "highway to hell." Sure, there's a lot of your thinking that still needs to change, but you have
physically removed yourself from the highway. And that's something.
The question now is: will you find the narrow gate, and if you do, will you go through it? I've known plenty of people who got off the highway, and even found the narrow gate, but ultimately weren't willing to go through it, due to the high price of entry. Which sounds crazy -- after all that progress, they didn't go through? But if you think of it as a toll gate -- one that costs
everything to go through -- you can begin to understand why someone wouldn't. (They love their own life too much.) Maybe a topic for another thread?
So, keep your thinking cap firmly on top of your head, and don't believe what anyone (whether on this forum, or elsewhere) tells you, without at least thinking about it for a little while... That's my advice to you. =)
But it's probably not advice you need, seeing as how you were (already) thinking for yourself, even while you were still attending church. Good thing you got the advice for free, then!
tlc wrote:I'm looking forward to more from Questar and the proposed topic on Yada Yahweh: the relationship not the book! lol !
Well, there was a little more. =)
Thanks for your interest in my proposed topic. Maybe after another hundred people say the same thing, the forum genie will grant me my wish.
Q