wooba said:
You'd be surprised. Certainly you might not think it is a big deal that the last three pages or so of this thread has been ... well, anyway. Others react to things that you might not react to. If you are concerned about how you feel when others "attack" the church, how do you think others feel when it is perceived that you are attacking them? The church can withstand scrutiny. It has done that time and again.
When I'm attacked, I know it. Passive aggressiveness or coming right out and saying it, either way, I know when I'm being attacked. It's impossible not to perceive an attack as an attack.
Now again, I am asking you not to take anything personally. Sassy and I were merely discussing back and forth how difficult it must be for some people to be Adventist yet disagree with just about every Adventist doctrine. It's sad for them, it's not something to get mad about. I mean really, they must question their very existence if they hate the church they personally vowed to be a part of. At the very least I'm sure they feel like hypocrites, I know I would.
I'm sure there are people that grew up in churches that felt an obligation to stay in them even if they grew up to disagree with that church's teachings. Obligations to a church are silly....it's our obligations to God that are important. I pray for people that feel like they are stuck in something that they can't get out of. But as an adult I know for a fact that it is possible to leave a
church, people do it all the time.
It takes a big person to walk away from something.
That is a much bigger person than someone that wants people to share in their own misery.
Seriously wooba, I wasn't talking about you or anyone in particular. Like I said, my grief is with people that don't think they can walk away from a church that isn't tying them to the pew. If they hate what a church teaches they need to leave, for their own sanity and for the sanity of those around them.
I didn't force anyone in this forum to say their baptismal vows. If someone else did then they need to file charges with the police department, because I'm sure it's illegal.