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I Had A Dream

This is one of the sort that reflects some things I've been going though for a while.

Mean or anti Christian comments will be deleted.


It goes like this:

I was in a church and a small conference taking place, with a surprisingly few people I thought.

The preacher suddenly gave each person a sheet of paper that asked, 'Are you a Christian? List 10 things that you have done for your church.'

In the dream I could only think of 2 or 3 things. I felt terrible and tried to find somebody to talk to, but they all turned their backs and I left crying.

I woke up and had to remind myself that pleasing God and satisfying church folks are two very different things. Doing good in general is also not limited to church congregations.

Of course, it is good to do things for other people. But if anyone had to rely on the strength of their own works, we would all be lost.
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NativeOregonian · 51-55
When I was a believer, the church did for you, congregants did for each other. Almost 24 years ago, during the early days of the internet, I did online counseling, including youths, in one of my chatrooms. One girl about 14 private messaged me in tears, asking me for help and advice in what to do. Her parents were abusing her pretty bad and her preacher refused to get involved, telling her to deal with it until she turned 18 and could move away, and pretty much intoned that she was pretty much in part to blame for her abuse, indicating the was rebellious and deserved the discipline. I encouraged her to contact a social worker, and I didn't hear from her for about a month. She did what I advised and her parents were arrested and she was placed in emergency foster care. It actually hit their local news and was reported and her church's regional conference fired the preacher for refusing to help. This was back in 1996.
purplepen · 51-55, F
@NativeOregonian I'm really glad you gave her good advice. Church leaders obviously didn't have a clue. They need to teach them that stuff in seminary.
NativeOregonian · 51-55
@purplepen *hugs* Thank you 🤗❤ However, there are also numerous churches with preachers that heavily encourage abuse with their "spare the rod, spoil the child" mentality, claiming it's discipline. My uncle in Oregon left a church because of a new preacher like that, that church's board refused to get rid of him over it, it was an independent with no regional council.
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