- Aug 13, 2014
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So I'm just telling some of my personal experience. Especially two scenarios that happened to me when I was young between the age of 18-26. The first I would say is the most dissapointing of the two: I had gone to a Lutheran church for most of my life age 0-17, the pastor changed while I was away for academic reasons from age 18-22, when I returned home there was a new pastor who didn't know me. I went to talk to him for his advice on some family issues and he starts telling me about the 10 commandments, acting like I'm not saved because I didn't go to church from age 22-26 , even though I told him that I should still be considered by him a member since I had gone for my whole life. So you're basically treated as not having existed if a new pastor takes over and maybe you didn't go to church for a few years or you were busy working or going to some other church, they'll just assume you're not a christian and start from square one.
The second scenario was the fact that I had been a member of some campus christian club for years and some friends just ghosted me because I liked some musical videos from some bands that might for a christian be too secular and worldly, which is pretty much anything nowadays unless you listen to only christian musicians, according to 1 Corinthians, if you profess to be a Christian and do certain things, Paul actually recommends that you be ghosted or kicked out of the church whereas if you just don't go at all, people continue to associate with you and can't judge you that harshly because you don't profess to be a member. In your formative years, especially as an introvert awkward shy person, getting hate from everyone including your peer and pastors will just put you in a negative spiral / or hole that you won't be able to dig yourself out of. So what I learned was, you shouldn't profess to be anything as a introvert, you shouldn't talk about anything and just stay secular until financially secure and able to take care of yourself entirely and definitely don't go to church , those friends are not real and a waste of your time. If you're older, married and have a family, everyone will assume the best of you and there's no risk or negative assumptions made about you by the pastor usually. If you need to be "of the world" to be yourself then do that, it honestly is necessary for your mental health and survival, church can wait.
The second scenario was the fact that I had been a member of some campus christian club for years and some friends just ghosted me because I liked some musical videos from some bands that might for a christian be too secular and worldly, which is pretty much anything nowadays unless you listen to only christian musicians, according to 1 Corinthians, if you profess to be a Christian and do certain things, Paul actually recommends that you be ghosted or kicked out of the church whereas if you just don't go at all, people continue to associate with you and can't judge you that harshly because you don't profess to be a member. In your formative years, especially as an introvert awkward shy person, getting hate from everyone including your peer and pastors will just put you in a negative spiral / or hole that you won't be able to dig yourself out of. So what I learned was, you shouldn't profess to be anything as a introvert, you shouldn't talk about anything and just stay secular until financially secure and able to take care of yourself entirely and definitely don't go to church , those friends are not real and a waste of your time. If you're older, married and have a family, everyone will assume the best of you and there's no risk or negative assumptions made about you by the pastor usually. If you need to be "of the world" to be yourself then do that, it honestly is necessary for your mental health and survival, church can wait.
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