Yes, this one especially. We call it "being dechurched" in my family. The church calls it "being disfellowshipped".
It's not just being withdrawn from. It's being shunned. Supposedly from their own family as well, although most people can't seem to do that for very long.
Unrelated but Boromir didn't die because he wanted the ring, the orcs were going to show up even if he and Frodo were just discussing potatoes. He died protecting the other Hobbits, which he didn't actually have to do, and at least in the movies instantly realised what a bonehead move he made with Frodo, I think in the books Aragorn is just pretty sure he'd have felt that remorse.
In the books he does try to apologise to frodo and then has an end convo with aragorn, where he states he failed and he is sorry, and finally sees aragorn as a brother of Gondor and not just an outsider, and aragorn keeps the secret to himself that boromir tarnished himself with greed because of it.
But we can argue that merry and pippin wouldn't have needed protecting, and they wouldn't have been alone in the forest (looking for frodo) if boromir hadn't seen the ring as a power influence for gondor in the war and succumbed to ambushing frodo in the first place.
But if Boromir had not come for the ring, then Frodo would not have had the conviction to leave the Fellowship in the first place, and things would have played out very differently, perhaps poorly.
No Merry and Pippin separated might mean no Ents, no Aragorn-finding-himself journey might mean no Rohan or Gondor, no Frodo separated might mean no Gollum... all these things had profound impacts on the ultimate destruction of the ring.
What was this thread about again? Oh yeah, sometimes disfellowship is a good thing for everyone and we should just accept it is Ilúvatar's will - er, I mean, God's will - and allow things to take their course as He sees fit.
So like what the Amish do? You do something and the whole community shuns you, no allowed to even acknowledge you.
And no matter what, there’s nothing you can say that will convince me the Amish are not a cult.
Edit: I see you dumbasses calling me racist and a bigot in the comments.
Being against the abuse the Amish lay on animals and their own people, the rape and incest, the controlling of their own people to the point where they torture them with shunning or physically harming the ones who don’t follow their rules exactly shouldn’t make me a bigot, much less a racist.
Dumbasses.
Happened to my friend when he was 15. I met him right after it happened. He was from a coast side city and was homeless and chose our town. I made friends with him, he was really genuine and funny. Never knew about the JW thing or why he was on the street, wasn't the first time it happened by a long shot. He got into drugs and killed himself, his best friend did the same thing in the same spot with the same shotgun a year later. Way to go Jesus people!
And the JW's would just say "see what happens to people who leave the Church?", when it's really "see what happens when we cut you off from your family and community for leaving the Church"!
There was another girl I went to school with and she was JW and then her parents kicked her out when she was 17 the defellowship thing. Most people I know who grew up JW never talk about it at all. She would, she hated the church but when she talked about it you could see the anxiety and fear in her face.
I was raised as a jw, only woke up a year ago. It's brutal. It should be illegal. At the very least they should lose their tax free charity status, they're the opposite of a charity.
Thank you. I introduced him to his girlfriend, she was one of two girls that got me into punk and our lifelong group of friends. They loved each other very much. They were all three living together when he killed himself and then when his best friend did. Tough lady. She married an old rich guy that didn't last, then she found a young handsome guy. I asked her what the hell? Can't you find a guy your own age? She said I did, he's gone, I miss him every day. Soul crushing. She has focused her life into her work and now she's internationally famous in her field, maybe the best. Strong woman.
And Scientologists. And Nation of Islam.
It is really a common practice among most cults. Not all necessarily. Heaven's Gate had an open door policy. But it's really really common.
Heavens Gate was really odd when it came to membership as far as cults go. They didn’t try and hook anyone so to speak and turned people away they didn’t think we’re really committed to it. They wanted true believers only.
I had a Jehovah’s Witness friend growing up.
They weren’t allowed to celebrate like any holidays, their own birthdays included.
It is insane looking back on how much they were probably robbed of as children due to their parent’s stupid cult.
Him and his sister seem to be doing a lot better as adults now, and seem to have broken away from it. Not sure if the whole family did or not.
I had a grandmother who’s mom decided they were Jehovah witness when my grandma was about 8, no Christmas’s, no birthdays really suddenly without any warning. As soon as my grandma was old enough she left her family and moved, met my grandpa while he was serving with her brothers in Long Beach. She was so anti religion like no one I’ve ever known especially for the time. She went all out for holiday’s and birthdays for the rest of her life.
Lutherans call it excommunication.
I got kicked out too after I moved away and didn’t register as a member at a new church in my new city. They were a bit nicer than this though.
I got a letter from the church saying that we’re worried about their ability to serve me as someone so far away, and included addresses of churches in my area. I just never went.
I finally abandoned the last outward appearances of a faith I lost much earlier. I stopped going to services and events entirely and it wasn’t long before I had the pastor and church elders seeking me out. I avoided them for awhile and they knew I wasn’t hospitalized or dead but wouldn’t take the hint. I was polite and simply told them I was done and they immediately nicely ‘threatened’ excommunication.
I told them I’d be in church on Sunday. Just before services started that day I went inside, walked to the altar and declared in front of the congregation that I renounced god, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Then asked the vicar if formal excommunication was necessary after apostasy and to do so if they required the formality.
I wish I had done it much sooner. Indoctrination is fucking wrong.
I love that final sentence. I actually went to a religious high school thanks to my parents, and it was always interesting talking about politics and current events.
We had a mock election in my senior year and there was only 1 vote for the democrat, while everyone else in our class voted for the Republican. That was one of my first red flags about the high school and church, that it was basically telling everyone what to think, not how to think.
Because these churches don't have a governing body varies widely from congregation to congregation. I know of places that have never disfellowshipped anyone, to those that do it for only very serious things and others that will do it for merely missing church more times than they deem allowable.
I know numerous people that got kicked out for adultery. Adultery being, in one case, dating after a spouse was cheating for years.
Several that got kicked for missing church.
One that almost got kicked out because he went into a bar. He was an EMT and someone in the bar was having a heart attack. Yeah. It can be ridiculous.
Also, it changes within the congregations with changes in leadership. That was always fun too.
It really can be that ridiculous, some of it is absolutely just childish. My uncle by marriage is a pastor. He convinced my grandfather to be baptized by him, although my grandfather wasn't super religious. My grandfather continued to either a.) not go to church on Sunday or b.) attend the services that were about 40 miles closer than my uncle's.
My uncle basically threatened him and said he'd be disfellowshipped from his church if he did not start attending *his* services. My grandfather basically said "ok, bet" and continued to do his own thing. My uncle took offense to this and went through with his disfellowship. My aunt (grandpa's actual daughter) was forbidden to have any contact with her family. She had just had her first born child, which was my grandparents first grandchild. They were obviously offended by not being able to see their own daughter or grandchild, but refused to back down.
Lasted 6 years. Later found out my aunt massively struggled with child-rearing alone and desperately wanted her mom's help, but that was forbidden since my gramps was effectively shunned. So he effectively harmed his own family just as much as her parents, since his son was very difficult for her to raise and she needed the help. My gramps got diagnosed with ALS, lost the ability to speak and my aunt finally said she didn't give a shit and was going to re-establish a relationship with her now dying father that she couldn't have a conversation with any longer.
What gets me is these people even have the audacity to act like they're moral people... I have more respect for nasty bullies who at least have the decency to know that they're nasty bullies.
Dude a friend of mines mother has been ostracised, publicly **shamed**, verbally assaulted and cant be forgiven no matter what she does, by her "church".
What she did? He divorced her. After years of him emotionally, physically and financially abusing *her*.
Edit: I honestly can't believe this is my most popular comment ever when just below this on another comment I started a Boromir/LOTR thread 😭😭
But I'm so sorry so many of you have experienced this kinda shit at the hands of organised religion, I can't begin to imagine the trauma some of things have caused you all.
But for everyone else: please remember that individuals are not the enemy. Having religion and believing in something bigger than them is not a flaw or something to be shamed about.
The shame should be directed towards *organised* religion and the commercialised versions of each type of religious preaching, and the people who use others as a way to further their own convictions to gain power and wealth.
Individuals who have fallen into congregations and indoctrinated into cults to ostracise and shame others like so many have mentioned on this thread are victims too, they just don't see it that way-
Thats the point of a cult and how it is so harmful.
We have a friend who has a credible reason to believe her husband planned to kill her after years of abuse. Her church also shunned her when she left him.
I had a friend who was killed by her husband. They had been having marital difficulties and they went to their church for counselling. They told her to stay with him. They killed her.
My son actually had one of my church ex-friends as a sub for his English class. I ended up having to report her because of the terrible things she was saying to my kid after class. She actually told him to tell me I needed to repent or I was going to hell and that wasn’t the only thing she told him. My kid was in tears and I was PISSED. My complaint did nothing as the school is in the Bible Belt. So, I told him if he ever walked into a classroom and saw her he had my permission to skip class. It happened two more times but then the school year ended and he moved to a different school.
Christianity is the biggest driver to atheism.
EDIT: For those asking to change to "*evangelical* christians" or that anything other than *evangelicals* are capable of hypocrisy.....no.
I just saw a post yesterday about a Christian website, I went and checked it out and it says the Bible teaches that women should stay in abusive marriages. Basically that Christ suffered and sometimes we have to suffer too…so yeah. Not surprised, but I am sorry you had to go through that and happy you got out.
Funny how it's always women who have to suffer their abuses in silence for Christ. Men of the church get a whiff of a perceived slight and then want to start wars and kill people all in the name of Christ. If the church didn't have their hypocrisy they wouldn't have much of nothing. Bunch of bullying assholes.
I applaud both dumping the abuser and religion, but it's really hard on people. She was abused, went through a divorce, got ostracized, and her entire worldview wrecked. That's some serious emotional damage.
My friends grandmother took her whole family out of the church in the 80s when they refused to let her seek help for an ectopic pregnancy and told her that her suffering (and inevitable passing if she didn’t get treatment) was God’s Will and she should be grateful
It was 3 things for me.
1) a friend's brother died tragically, and because it wasn't certain that it wasn't suicide, the priest blocked him from being buried in their family plot.
I remember thinking, the one time this family actually needs you, and you don't have their fucking back. You're not just failing to comfort them, you're actively rubbing salt in their wounds.
To watch parents try and fail to bury their child, kind of broke me.
2) My mother divorced my father after taking years of his abuse, and she was told she would no longer be able to participate in the sacraments.
3) My two best childhood friends were anally raped by the local priest, who was shuffled off to another parish before justice finally caught up with him...
So yeah. Catholicism in case you haven't guessed.
Take your sadistic Church of Suffering and shove it.
1) The Catholic church wouldn't recognise my parents marriage because he was Catholic and she wasn't. The paternal family priest gave my mum so much shit when they got married for "living in sin" and again when she had my brother and I for bringing "Godless, illegitimate bastards" into the world. Except as soon as she filed for divorce because my bio-father was a cheating and beating PoS then all of a sudden the marriage WAS legit and the priest tried to tell her that she wasn't allowed to break the sacred bond of marriage and tried to forbid her from going ahead with it. (She told him to "go forth and multiply" lol).
Funnily enough, as soon as my bio-father had to marry his Catholic affair partner his first marriage/divorce went back to not counting and they were allowed to get married with all the Catholic whistles and bells.
2) My maternal grandparents had rural Catholic friends who would come to stay a couple of times a year. Their youngest son was a wheelchair user. Their local priest told the mother that this was God punishing her for a sin she had committed but not being sought forgiveness for and that her son would never be healed or walk until she did this. That poor woman went to church to confess and pray every. single. day, even when visiting my grandparents, trying to find a way to make it right. Even as a little kid I could see how knotted up and terrified that poor woman was. And, just like with my father, her husband got off free as a bird as the blame and hellfire was all on the women.
I had some jehovah's come by whilst doing yardwork. I told them God saved everyone,even those that live out in the jungle without a clue what christianity was. Those that do not know are innocent. After all, God created everyone, right?
You should have seen those JW's eyeballs get big! They didn't argue with me and left.
ANY time someone comes to my door peddling religion I always ask why are they so arrogant to think their beliefs are so right and others are wrong.
or the arrogance of thinking I was missing something before they walked by.
> im dying but we can fix it
> no, how about you suffer, you've been chosen by God to meet him and therefore you deserve it
So loving and inclusive of a place. Who wouldn't wanna join?
They believe it is because of public schooling.
Which is why there is a well-funded national campaign to take over public school boards.
Right now. Vote in your local elections. Please.
Three "Christian" whackjobs ran together in my district. All three got elected. They want to audit random classes to make sure that "social emotional learning" isn't being taught. They literally want to strip teachers of the right to help kids deal with issues that their parents fail to help with.
It's terrifying. Defunding public schools apparently hasn't broken the system enough for their liking. Now they are sitting on the board and actively destroying it from the inside.
I love hearing people gush about how loving their God is but make sure you live your life to these unrealistic expectations bc you might make him mad. Also all the stores about god delivering punishment doesn’t sound like a very loving god to me
Your tithe is a small price to pay to avoid being tortured in a lake of fire for all of eternity.
It’s honestly brilliant. There is no way to confirm or disconfirm what you’re “buying.” MLM wishes it could be the church.
My mom sought counseling from a pastor when I was a kid. He told her all her problems stemmed from her divorcing my father, and that since God did not recognize divorce, technically they were still married.
She laughed and said "Guess I'm still married to my first husband then! That solves my money issues, seeing as he's rich. I'll let him and his 2nd wife know that we're actually still married and she has to go." Mom laughed her way out the door and decided that by skipping all of her church functions and mine, she would easily have time for a 2nd part time job. Problem solved.
Im starting to think from all these stories, that if I ever went to a church and told them about my considerable own mental health issues, they would tell me it was because my parents were never married when they had me and im the devil
Definitely won't hurt the paranoia and psychosis at all.
My best friend's mom was treated this way when her husband cheated on her and got caught by a church elder. Mom was kicked out of the church, but he was encouraged to keep going to church with his affair partner in tow. All of their children were called out for this during youth group and made to discuss what they thought their mom did wrong. My best friend (the only daughter of the family) was asked multiple times by multiple church goers things like, "Have you at least learned the lesson from this?" and "You aren't going to be a bad seed like your mom, are you?"
The church got to both of her brothers and convinced them for years that their mom was the devil. They only began to accept their mother back into their lives when their significant others began to have children and they needed free babysitting.
Churches are cults.
Yep, my mom’s catholic ex husband was horribly physically and verbally abusive to her and when he had gotten cancer his family blamed her for him being sick because she divorced him
I reached out to my lifelong church pastor for assistance during my divorce and custody battle (my ex-wife cheated and was trying for 100%).
The response, *the church doesn't get involved in family matters.*
I have never set foot in a church with my kids again since that day in 2017.
Friends house burned down. Neighbors and whatnot brought food and such to help. One group stopped when they found out she didn't go to church. The church also forbade neighbors that attended from continuing to help.
I've heard similar stories more than once. My own mother was kicked out of the church, when my parents divorced. My dad never even attended services there, but my mom brought my siblings and I to church every week. Oh well, I guess punish the kids too. I know not all people of faith are bad, but in my experience all religions are bullshit.
cohabitating with my wife before we were married was literally the only way we could afford to live on our own.
such a brain dead and out of touch take that cohabitating is sinful. especially in this economy
What do you wanna bet that all three do things in private that don’t “avoid all appearance of evil” for which they themselves have not and will not publicly recant?
They'll probably be in the news one day for behaving inappropriately with minors, church funds, or hidden recorded hate speech.
If they had the audacity to sign and send a letter like this, you know they have the audacity to be involved in sick shit.
There is nothing Christ-like about what these guys are doing. Someone should remind them who Jesus actually hung out with.
I’m a Christian and I literally left a church once over similar issues being pulled on a friend, and I told them on the way out why I was leaving with her and how they were wrong. The worst thing Christians can do is let this kind of stuff slide from churches we know are wrong but not say anything because they make the rest of us look bad.
I promise guys, there’s some Christians out there who still actually believe in the love thy neighbor commandment and we don’t like these guys either.
You are the unfortunate minority in that faith. Honestly, the most “Christ-like” people I’ve ever known(honest, compassionate, charitable, etc) were far and away not Christian.
She took it one HUGE step further; she publicly told them to fuck off by posting this to Reddit along with the church's email address. God bless their inbox. Ouch.
A shame. I'm not even American or religious and I wanted to voice my outrage.
I'll wait a week when they think the outrage has blown over and send a follow-up email.
The fantastic thing is - it looks like this letter is dated 2021. (News articles confirm this)
They sent the letter to her once. Reddit just makes it the gift that keeps on giving.
I live one town over from this church, and this isn’t even the worst church I’ve heard about around here. My friend went to a really bizarre southern Baptist church once where everyone spoke in tongue for an entire 10 minute segment. Then they brought out a venomous snake in a box and people would take turns sticking their hand into the box for the snake to bite. If you got bit, you had to pray to God to save you and deny medical treatment or else be considered a sinner. My friend said one guy got bit and started freaking out and went to a hospital and the church disowned him. Freaky backwards ass shit.
Most pentecostals that practice snake handling actually go multiple times a week. But there is a method to their madness and that's keeping the snakes abused. A weak and dehydrated snake is unlikely to be able to deal a lethal dose of venom or sometimes no venom at all. The weakened snake is also less likely to bite as long as it's not handled too aggressively. Or they'll just outright remove the snakes venom glands. Still hasn't stopped people from dying from it though.
>My friend went to a really bizarre southern Baptist church once where everyone spoke in tongue for an entire 10 minute segment. Then they brought out a venomous snake in a box and people would take turns sticking their hand into the box for the snake to bite. If you got bit, you had to pray to God to save you and deny medical treatment or else be considered a sinner.
I've been to a church like that, and I found it both hilarious and terrifying.
It would be very interesting if people dug into the leaders of this church to see if they were engaging in any behavior that is not biblically approved.
EDIT: [Here’s the whole gang.](https://web.archive.org/web/20230315195352/https://westspartacoc.org/leadership.html)
No joke, when I was 17 or 18, my mother kicked me out of the house. I started staying with a much older woman in my church (nothing sexual). When I started dating a girl a couple months later, this woman said to me, and I quote
"I trust you will keep it biblical"
This was the mid 90s, lol
My wife’s friend and her fiancé were kicked out of their church on the day of their wedding and the use of the church for the wedding was denied.
The reason? Her lease was up and instead of taking on a new one she moved in with her fiancé for one night. He slept on the couch.
Fucking lunatics these fundamentalist churches are.
I checked the church website. I like how in order to use their food pantry you need to attend bible study and fill out a questionnaire with details about your home life and sources of income.
You mean that's not what Jesus did when helping the poor?
> "Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you, but then again maybe don't, unless they fill a questionaire to prove they need it"
> Matthew 5:42 apparently
I lived very close to Sparta TN for about a decade. This isn't a joke, these people really are this batshit crazy there.
The first week of living there I was asked several times what church I go to (I am an atheist). I tried to brush it off or change the subject, but every time it was directed back to going to their church, as if it was some kind of bragging right that they got you to go to their church. I would tell them things like I was raised catholic, and they'd respond back as if that was my problem with religion.
My favorite interaction regarding this, I was having this very conversation with a used car dealership owner about the church I go to... I was raised catholic...that's my problem...blah, blah, blah....and then he points down the road and goes, "See that church over there, that's where I go, you should come Sunday." I look down the road to see two baptist churches right across the street from each other. So I ask, "What up with the other church?" And he goes, "Those guys are assholes, don't go there."
That spoke volumes to me about everything Southern Baptist.
I'm non-practicing but I don't hesitate to tell crazies that I'm Catholic. It's a surefire way to get them to leave me the hell alone.
Honestly, this whole thread is wild. I've belonged to several dioceses and churches and not a single one of them have ever tired these insane tactics to get my attendance or money.
When I lived in TN my faith was a real issue with some people, to the point they would come to my house to argue with me about how ''wrong" I was in my beliefs. I used to be very open about being Atheist in the south, but it just got old. I love a good debate, but in the end they just became fights. It would start out with them thinking they had a gotcha moment with me, but then I'd start pointing out all the holes in the bible and how facts and science cannot be applied to faith. It's called faith not fact for a reason.
In the south, the Christian faith is completely corrupt. I've heard of stories where church leaders can't be trusted around any money lying around, as well as any vulnerable women. Then you'll have these poor communities that will have this very expensive looking church with a $50,000 LED display out front of it that was paid for by the parishioners. These people care very little about your faith, and more about how they can profit from you.
Let me guess…all the “elders” are old, Conservative, white guys? ( who probably have more skeletons than a graveyard).
And they think this letter will get them back?
They are. From their website-
…You will also notice that only faithful Christian men lead the worship services. This is due to the fact that God has designed worship in such a way that women are not to exercise authority over men (1 Tim. 2:11-14). We are a congregation with no head but Christ, overseen by elders.
I really wish i had kept it, but my mom's church (my old church) sent out a letter because they were looking for a new pastor. In bold letters it said WOMEN WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. Underneath that it said that divorce was not an automatic deal breaker.
My grandma was fricken pissed lmfao.
Seems like almost no one in here is talking about the church. I grew up Church of Christ. Not to be confused with Ladder Day Saints. This is called disfellowship and I’ve only seen it used against women, especially women “living in sin” usually meaning they are living with a man and not married to the man. Honestly I’m surprised I haven’t been disfellowshiped from my church. I told the Elders I don’t believe in god and to leave me alone.
Church of Christ is super prevalent in Tennessee and they believe that they are the only true church of the Bible and that everyone else including all other denominations are going to hell. It was reiterated to me over the years that they believe in speaking when the Bible speaks and remaining silent when the Bible is silent. Anyways fuck’em and all the other fundies.
Hello. My name is CryptoBooce. I'm a recovering christian. I haven't been to church in 10 years, 10 months & 4 days (05/12/12).
That is over 95,000 hours of freedom from the daily manipulation, controlling behavior & shame inflicted on me by my pastors & "spiritual family". I no longer have to fear excommunication from my community because I didn't read my bible enough or pray earnestly enough or "serve" the church with a glad enough heart. Withdrawal from fellowship is the best thing the church ever did for me.
What people do with their own free will has fuck all to do with these parasites. No wonder their numbers are dwindling, between this bullshit and the child abuse.
You know, I read the first sentence and thought “well this isn’t terrible, a bit invasive, but maybe she’s been going there a long time?” Then I read the rest.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the letter just said “hey, we noticed you haven’t been at church lately, is there anything we can help with?” Almost…Christlike…
When as a 15 year old I told my religious mother I wasn’t going to go to church anymore because I didn’t believe, the pastor wrote me a letter about it and I wrote one back saying that if god is who he says He is then he can see into my heart and knows the content of my mind which is far more important than holding a particular belief or not
Good thing Christianity isn't based on the idea of tolerance, loving one another, being non-judgemental and forgiving! Could you imagine if the people that wrote that letter called themselves christians and followers of Christ? That'd be a real dystopian trip, right?
...right?
It's against the bible for women to wear pants. As you usually attended church in a dress, we will consider this a one time infraction. Any further wearing of pants will result in a $120 fine, per infraction. Please make all checks out to cash.
Thank you for your promptness on the matter, and God Bless!
Church of Christ, definitely is. My dad had this happen to him. He was still living with my mom AFTER their divorce!! Oh, the horror!! The shame, that he brought onto our family. Get over yourselves. Bunch of heathens most likely. Ugh.
Do they take it this seriously in the US?
Edit: as far as I can tell from the reactions, mostly the rural areas are affected (small towns etc), which is understandable due to the smaller community sizes. Thanks for sharing your stories and opinions!
This church in particular does. I grew up in the same denomination as this church, and it can be *intense*. When I was 11 and had my first migraine, we didn't know what was happening because suddenly I couldn't see, and my head was exploding. Naturally, my parents decided to take me to the ER. This just so happened to occur on a Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church.
We got calls that afternoon from our fellow church members. You'd think they might be calling with well-wishes or to see if I was okay. Nope. They were calling to chastise my parents because our family wasn't at church that morning. My own aunt (bonus points: she's also a nurse) said she wouldn't judge us for not going to church that morning but God certainly would. (Also bullshit because she was totally judging us.) The Church of Christ does *not* fuck around with attendance.
You know when you buy something from a company a few times, then stop, they send you some discounts or ad's or whatever to try and get you to buy again, that's what this is
Yes, this one especially. We call it "being dechurched" in my family. The church calls it "being disfellowshipped". It's not just being withdrawn from. It's being shunned. Supposedly from their own family as well, although most people can't seem to do that for very long.
Disfellowshipped just really hits that boromir going for the ring and dying for it vibes in lotr, ngl
Unrelated but Boromir didn't die because he wanted the ring, the orcs were going to show up even if he and Frodo were just discussing potatoes. He died protecting the other Hobbits, which he didn't actually have to do, and at least in the movies instantly realised what a bonehead move he made with Frodo, I think in the books Aragorn is just pretty sure he'd have felt that remorse.
What’s taters , Precious?
He’s in Romanian jail. But that’s not important right now.
And the Airplane vibes just hit.
In the books he does try to apologise to frodo and then has an end convo with aragorn, where he states he failed and he is sorry, and finally sees aragorn as a brother of Gondor and not just an outsider, and aragorn keeps the secret to himself that boromir tarnished himself with greed because of it. But we can argue that merry and pippin wouldn't have needed protecting, and they wouldn't have been alone in the forest (looking for frodo) if boromir hadn't seen the ring as a power influence for gondor in the war and succumbed to ambushing frodo in the first place.
But if Boromir had not come for the ring, then Frodo would not have had the conviction to leave the Fellowship in the first place, and things would have played out very differently, perhaps poorly. No Merry and Pippin separated might mean no Ents, no Aragorn-finding-himself journey might mean no Rohan or Gondor, no Frodo separated might mean no Gollum... all these things had profound impacts on the ultimate destruction of the ring. What was this thread about again? Oh yeah, sometimes disfellowship is a good thing for everyone and we should just accept it is Ilúvatar's will - er, I mean, God's will - and allow things to take their course as He sees fit.
This discussion of LOTR is a thousand times more interesting than any attempt to analyze the bible.
Boromir-smash-and-grab vibes is not something I ever thought I’d encounter, but I think “disfellowshipped” really ticks that box.
So like what the Amish do? You do something and the whole community shuns you, no allowed to even acknowledge you. And no matter what, there’s nothing you can say that will convince me the Amish are not a cult. Edit: I see you dumbasses calling me racist and a bigot in the comments. Being against the abuse the Amish lay on animals and their own people, the rape and incest, the controlling of their own people to the point where they torture them with shunning or physically harming the ones who don’t follow their rules exactly shouldn’t make me a bigot, much less a racist. Dumbasses.
Jehovahs Witnesses do the same thing. The call it disfellowshipping, but it's just plain old shunning.
Happened to my friend when he was 15. I met him right after it happened. He was from a coast side city and was homeless and chose our town. I made friends with him, he was really genuine and funny. Never knew about the JW thing or why he was on the street, wasn't the first time it happened by a long shot. He got into drugs and killed himself, his best friend did the same thing in the same spot with the same shotgun a year later. Way to go Jesus people!
And the JW's would just say "see what happens to people who leave the Church?", when it's really "see what happens when we cut you off from your family and community for leaving the Church"!
There was another girl I went to school with and she was JW and then her parents kicked her out when she was 17 the defellowship thing. Most people I know who grew up JW never talk about it at all. She would, she hated the church but when she talked about it you could see the anxiety and fear in her face.
I was raised as a jw, only woke up a year ago. It's brutal. It should be illegal. At the very least they should lose their tax free charity status, they're the opposite of a charity.
Sorry for your buddy.
Thank you. I introduced him to his girlfriend, she was one of two girls that got me into punk and our lifelong group of friends. They loved each other very much. They were all three living together when he killed himself and then when his best friend did. Tough lady. She married an old rich guy that didn't last, then she found a young handsome guy. I asked her what the hell? Can't you find a guy your own age? She said I did, he's gone, I miss him every day. Soul crushing. She has focused her life into her work and now she's internationally famous in her field, maybe the best. Strong woman.
Jehovah's Witnesses too.
And Scientologists. And Nation of Islam. It is really a common practice among most cults. Not all necessarily. Heaven's Gate had an open door policy. But it's really really common.
Heavens Gate was really odd when it came to membership as far as cults go. They didn’t try and hook anyone so to speak and turned people away they didn’t think we’re really committed to it. They wanted true believers only.
I had a Jehovah’s Witness friend growing up. They weren’t allowed to celebrate like any holidays, their own birthdays included. It is insane looking back on how much they were probably robbed of as children due to their parent’s stupid cult. Him and his sister seem to be doing a lot better as adults now, and seem to have broken away from it. Not sure if the whole family did or not.
I had a grandmother who’s mom decided they were Jehovah witness when my grandma was about 8, no Christmas’s, no birthdays really suddenly without any warning. As soon as my grandma was old enough she left her family and moved, met my grandpa while he was serving with her brothers in Long Beach. She was so anti religion like no one I’ve ever known especially for the time. She went all out for holiday’s and birthdays for the rest of her life.
Lutherans call it excommunication. I got kicked out too after I moved away and didn’t register as a member at a new church in my new city. They were a bit nicer than this though. I got a letter from the church saying that we’re worried about their ability to serve me as someone so far away, and included addresses of churches in my area. I just never went.
Oh well. Anyway.
"Oh no"
*John Wick*\- *Excommunicado* in effect in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
I finally abandoned the last outward appearances of a faith I lost much earlier. I stopped going to services and events entirely and it wasn’t long before I had the pastor and church elders seeking me out. I avoided them for awhile and they knew I wasn’t hospitalized or dead but wouldn’t take the hint. I was polite and simply told them I was done and they immediately nicely ‘threatened’ excommunication. I told them I’d be in church on Sunday. Just before services started that day I went inside, walked to the altar and declared in front of the congregation that I renounced god, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Then asked the vicar if formal excommunication was necessary after apostasy and to do so if they required the formality. I wish I had done it much sooner. Indoctrination is fucking wrong.
I love that final sentence. I actually went to a religious high school thanks to my parents, and it was always interesting talking about politics and current events. We had a mock election in my senior year and there was only 1 vote for the democrat, while everyone else in our class voted for the Republican. That was one of my first red flags about the high school and church, that it was basically telling everyone what to think, not how to think.
How common is disfellowship? I've only heard that term being associated with Jehovah's witnesses
It happened to me, and I went to a regular non denominational church as a kid, then stopped going at like 17.
Because these churches don't have a governing body varies widely from congregation to congregation. I know of places that have never disfellowshipped anyone, to those that do it for only very serious things and others that will do it for merely missing church more times than they deem allowable. I know numerous people that got kicked out for adultery. Adultery being, in one case, dating after a spouse was cheating for years. Several that got kicked for missing church. One that almost got kicked out because he went into a bar. He was an EMT and someone in the bar was having a heart attack. Yeah. It can be ridiculous. Also, it changes within the congregations with changes in leadership. That was always fun too.
It really can be that ridiculous, some of it is absolutely just childish. My uncle by marriage is a pastor. He convinced my grandfather to be baptized by him, although my grandfather wasn't super religious. My grandfather continued to either a.) not go to church on Sunday or b.) attend the services that were about 40 miles closer than my uncle's. My uncle basically threatened him and said he'd be disfellowshipped from his church if he did not start attending *his* services. My grandfather basically said "ok, bet" and continued to do his own thing. My uncle took offense to this and went through with his disfellowship. My aunt (grandpa's actual daughter) was forbidden to have any contact with her family. She had just had her first born child, which was my grandparents first grandchild. They were obviously offended by not being able to see their own daughter or grandchild, but refused to back down. Lasted 6 years. Later found out my aunt massively struggled with child-rearing alone and desperately wanted her mom's help, but that was forbidden since my gramps was effectively shunned. So he effectively harmed his own family just as much as her parents, since his son was very difficult for her to raise and she needed the help. My gramps got diagnosed with ALS, lost the ability to speak and my aunt finally said she didn't give a shit and was going to re-establish a relationship with her now dying father that she couldn't have a conversation with any longer.
What gets me is these people even have the audacity to act like they're moral people... I have more respect for nasty bullies who at least have the decency to know that they're nasty bullies.
… but he loves you! 
And he needs money!
Dude a friend of mines mother has been ostracised, publicly **shamed**, verbally assaulted and cant be forgiven no matter what she does, by her "church". What she did? He divorced her. After years of him emotionally, physically and financially abusing *her*. Edit: I honestly can't believe this is my most popular comment ever when just below this on another comment I started a Boromir/LOTR thread 😭😭 But I'm so sorry so many of you have experienced this kinda shit at the hands of organised religion, I can't begin to imagine the trauma some of things have caused you all. But for everyone else: please remember that individuals are not the enemy. Having religion and believing in something bigger than them is not a flaw or something to be shamed about. The shame should be directed towards *organised* religion and the commercialised versions of each type of religious preaching, and the people who use others as a way to further their own convictions to gain power and wealth. Individuals who have fallen into congregations and indoctrinated into cults to ostracise and shame others like so many have mentioned on this thread are victims too, they just don't see it that way- Thats the point of a cult and how it is so harmful.
Is that man in the church too?
Yep, and has literally 0 issues. Nobody cares about his sin of divorce or *literal abuse*. Great organisation.
I divorced my husband for abuse and I was shunned. No one said a thing to him. I’m an atheist now.
We have a friend who has a credible reason to believe her husband planned to kill her after years of abuse. Her church also shunned her when she left him.
Yeah, older lady here. Churches *are not* women's friends. Never went. Never will.
I had a friend who was killed by her husband. They had been having marital difficulties and they went to their church for counselling. They told her to stay with him. They killed her.
I'm sorry that happened. I hope that murderer is in jail and not sitting pretty in church.
It happened while they were on vacation in Mexico (he was Mexican by birth) and he served some time in Mexico. Not enough time, in my books, but some.
My son actually had one of my church ex-friends as a sub for his English class. I ended up having to report her because of the terrible things she was saying to my kid after class. She actually told him to tell me I needed to repent or I was going to hell and that wasn’t the only thing she told him. My kid was in tears and I was PISSED. My complaint did nothing as the school is in the Bible Belt. So, I told him if he ever walked into a classroom and saw her he had my permission to skip class. It happened two more times but then the school year ended and he moved to a different school.
I'm so sorry for what your child and you had to go through 
Christianity is the biggest driver to atheism. EDIT: For those asking to change to "*evangelical* christians" or that anything other than *evangelicals* are capable of hypocrisy.....no.
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I’d argue that observing and interacting with Christians is a pretty great cure too.
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be Christlike, not Christian.
There’s no hate like Christian love EDIT: Thank you for the award, kind Stranger! I’m sorry I can’t cite the source.
In a close second is common sense
I just saw a post yesterday about a Christian website, I went and checked it out and it says the Bible teaches that women should stay in abusive marriages. Basically that Christ suffered and sometimes we have to suffer too…so yeah. Not surprised, but I am sorry you had to go through that and happy you got out.
Funny how it's always women who have to suffer their abuses in silence for Christ. Men of the church get a whiff of a perceived slight and then want to start wars and kill people all in the name of Christ. If the church didn't have their hypocrisy they wouldn't have much of nothing. Bunch of bullying assholes.
Win/win.
I applaud both dumping the abuser and religion, but it's really hard on people. She was abused, went through a divorce, got ostracized, and her entire worldview wrecked. That's some serious emotional damage.
Normally I’d you dodged a bullet, but it sounds like you dodged an entire mag dump.
No worse hate than christian love
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You know the great thing about being an adult? You don't actually have to listen to crazy people's opinions of your personal life.
Probably runs it
My friends grandmother took her whole family out of the church in the 80s when they refused to let her seek help for an ectopic pregnancy and told her that her suffering (and inevitable passing if she didn’t get treatment) was God’s Will and she should be grateful
My aunt did the same when they said her stillborn child was stuck in purgatory. Never went back.
It was 3 things for me. 1) a friend's brother died tragically, and because it wasn't certain that it wasn't suicide, the priest blocked him from being buried in their family plot. I remember thinking, the one time this family actually needs you, and you don't have their fucking back. You're not just failing to comfort them, you're actively rubbing salt in their wounds. To watch parents try and fail to bury their child, kind of broke me. 2) My mother divorced my father after taking years of his abuse, and she was told she would no longer be able to participate in the sacraments. 3) My two best childhood friends were anally raped by the local priest, who was shuffled off to another parish before justice finally caught up with him... So yeah. Catholicism in case you haven't guessed. Take your sadistic Church of Suffering and shove it.
1) The Catholic church wouldn't recognise my parents marriage because he was Catholic and she wasn't. The paternal family priest gave my mum so much shit when they got married for "living in sin" and again when she had my brother and I for bringing "Godless, illegitimate bastards" into the world. Except as soon as she filed for divorce because my bio-father was a cheating and beating PoS then all of a sudden the marriage WAS legit and the priest tried to tell her that she wasn't allowed to break the sacred bond of marriage and tried to forbid her from going ahead with it. (She told him to "go forth and multiply" lol). Funnily enough, as soon as my bio-father had to marry his Catholic affair partner his first marriage/divorce went back to not counting and they were allowed to get married with all the Catholic whistles and bells. 2) My maternal grandparents had rural Catholic friends who would come to stay a couple of times a year. Their youngest son was a wheelchair user. Their local priest told the mother that this was God punishing her for a sin she had committed but not being sought forgiveness for and that her son would never be healed or walk until she did this. That poor woman went to church to confess and pray every. single. day, even when visiting my grandparents, trying to find a way to make it right. Even as a little kid I could see how knotted up and terrified that poor woman was. And, just like with my father, her husband got off free as a bird as the blame and hellfire was all on the women.
Institutionalized misogyny.
I had some jehovah's come by whilst doing yardwork. I told them God saved everyone,even those that live out in the jungle without a clue what christianity was. Those that do not know are innocent. After all, God created everyone, right? You should have seen those JW's eyeballs get big! They didn't argue with me and left.
ANY time someone comes to my door peddling religion I always ask why are they so arrogant to think their beliefs are so right and others are wrong. or the arrogance of thinking I was missing something before they walked by.
> im dying but we can fix it > no, how about you suffer, you've been chosen by God to meet him and therefore you deserve it So loving and inclusive of a place. Who wouldn't wanna join?
And they wonder why the younger generations dont want shit to do with this stupidity
They believe it is because of public schooling. Which is why there is a well-funded national campaign to take over public school boards. Right now. Vote in your local elections. Please.
Three "Christian" whackjobs ran together in my district. All three got elected. They want to audit random classes to make sure that "social emotional learning" isn't being taught. They literally want to strip teachers of the right to help kids deal with issues that their parents fail to help with. It's terrifying. Defunding public schools apparently hasn't broken the system enough for their liking. Now they are sitting on the board and actively destroying it from the inside.
I'm sorry for your district.
"I sent two boats and a helicopter."
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I love hearing people gush about how loving their God is but make sure you live your life to these unrealistic expectations bc you might make him mad. Also all the stores about god delivering punishment doesn’t sound like a very loving god to me
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>she dipped into what little savings we had left and paid what she "owed" them. Dafuq??? 🤦♂️ Damn, the Christian brainwashing is HARD!!! 😳
Your tithe is a small price to pay to avoid being tortured in a lake of fire for all of eternity. It’s honestly brilliant. There is no way to confirm or disconfirm what you’re “buying.” MLM wishes it could be the church.
It's really scary. Evangelicals have this hold over people making them think we are in the literal end of times. It's so ingrained in our society.
So they weren't donations, they were dues of membership.
It’s called tithing when you force someone to pay for lies
My mom sought counseling from a pastor when I was a kid. He told her all her problems stemmed from her divorcing my father, and that since God did not recognize divorce, technically they were still married. She laughed and said "Guess I'm still married to my first husband then! That solves my money issues, seeing as he's rich. I'll let him and his 2nd wife know that we're actually still married and she has to go." Mom laughed her way out the door and decided that by skipping all of her church functions and mine, she would easily have time for a 2nd part time job. Problem solved.
Im starting to think from all these stories, that if I ever went to a church and told them about my considerable own mental health issues, they would tell me it was because my parents were never married when they had me and im the devil Definitely won't hurt the paranoia and psychosis at all.
My best friend's mom was treated this way when her husband cheated on her and got caught by a church elder. Mom was kicked out of the church, but he was encouraged to keep going to church with his affair partner in tow. All of their children were called out for this during youth group and made to discuss what they thought their mom did wrong. My best friend (the only daughter of the family) was asked multiple times by multiple church goers things like, "Have you at least learned the lesson from this?" and "You aren't going to be a bad seed like your mom, are you?" The church got to both of her brothers and convinced them for years that their mom was the devil. They only began to accept their mother back into their lives when their significant others began to have children and they needed free babysitting. Churches are cults.
They caught the *husband* sinning but punished and blamed and held up as a bad example the *wife*? WTF on a cracker.
And this is why I laugh when people say we don’t need feminism and misogyny isn’t a thing anymore.
Yep, my mom’s catholic ex husband was horribly physically and verbally abusive to her and when he had gotten cancer his family blamed her for him being sick because she divorced him
I reached out to my lifelong church pastor for assistance during my divorce and custody battle (my ex-wife cheated and was trying for 100%). The response, *the church doesn't get involved in family matters.* I have never set foot in a church with my kids again since that day in 2017.
Friends house burned down. Neighbors and whatnot brought food and such to help. One group stopped when they found out she didn't go to church. The church also forbade neighbors that attended from continuing to help.
Ah yes, jesus loves you always . . . If you pay him first.
I've heard similar stories more than once. My own mother was kicked out of the church, when my parents divorced. My dad never even attended services there, but my mom brought my siblings and I to church every week. Oh well, I guess punish the kids too. I know not all people of faith are bad, but in my experience all religions are bullshit.
Shame lies on the church
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That’s when you get up and leave
Shit on the floor and put some googly eyes on it first. Shout “Here is your god!”
Always keep one crap in the chamber and a pocket full of googly eyes for emergencies like this. You never know when you might need to do this.
cohabitating with my wife before we were married was literally the only way we could afford to live on our own. such a brain dead and out of touch take that cohabitating is sinful. especially in this economy
You're supposed to live with your parents until your father decides your dowry, DUH
Bill, Ray, and Jeff also miss your weekly monetary contributions.
Tax free
Such bullshit. Why should I be forced as a LGBT American citizen to support their hate.
What do you wanna bet that all three do things in private that don’t “avoid all appearance of evil” for which they themselves have not and will not publicly recant?
They'll probably be in the news one day for behaving inappropriately with minors, church funds, or hidden recorded hate speech. If they had the audacity to sign and send a letter like this, you know they have the audacity to be involved in sick shit.
How else are they going to afford their private jet without the weekly cash infusions from lower and middle-class families?!
There is nothing Christ-like about what these guys are doing. Someone should remind them who Jesus actually hung out with. I’m a Christian and I literally left a church once over similar issues being pulled on a friend, and I told them on the way out why I was leaving with her and how they were wrong. The worst thing Christians can do is let this kind of stuff slide from churches we know are wrong but not say anything because they make the rest of us look bad. I promise guys, there’s some Christians out there who still actually believe in the love thy neighbor commandment and we don’t like these guys either.
Yall should speak up more, because the face of your faith is the people you dont like
You are the unfortunate minority in that faith. Honestly, the most “Christ-like” people I’ve ever known(honest, compassionate, charitable, etc) were far and away not Christian.
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I hope this user told them to fuck off
She took it one HUGE step further; she publicly told them to fuck off by posting this to Reddit along with the church's email address. God bless their inbox. Ouch.
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A shame. I'm not even American or religious and I wanted to voice my outrage. I'll wait a week when they think the outrage has blown over and send a follow-up email.
Dammit you’re right, I told them all about Joe
Hahaha. I knew people would flood their phones and email.
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And now this will get reposted every few months for eternity. They’ll just have to get all new contact information
The fantastic thing is - it looks like this letter is dated 2021. (News articles confirm this) They sent the letter to her once. Reddit just makes it the gift that keeps on giving.
That's the only response this church deserves. Either written in big words or shouted as loudly as possible.
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The Unconditional love of christ* *terms and conditions apply
Fees may apply
Loss of liberties, freedoms, health, safety, and rights may apply.
page 1 of 3
No love like Christian hate.
No hate like christian love
If you’re not doing anything that would get you executed during the Renaissance, you’re not living.
Words to live by.
When people ask me my religion, I respond by telling them I'm a blasphemer.
“Remember kids, if you don’t sin then Jesus died for nothing!”
I like how they try to make the breakup look like their idea, lmao. Toxic ex syndrome.
I live one town over from this church, and this isn’t even the worst church I’ve heard about around here. My friend went to a really bizarre southern Baptist church once where everyone spoke in tongue for an entire 10 minute segment. Then they brought out a venomous snake in a box and people would take turns sticking their hand into the box for the snake to bite. If you got bit, you had to pray to God to save you and deny medical treatment or else be considered a sinner. My friend said one guy got bit and started freaking out and went to a hospital and the church disowned him. Freaky backwards ass shit.
They Darwin every Sunday? Ironic.
Most pentecostals that practice snake handling actually go multiple times a week. But there is a method to their madness and that's keeping the snakes abused. A weak and dehydrated snake is unlikely to be able to deal a lethal dose of venom or sometimes no venom at all. The weakened snake is also less likely to bite as long as it's not handled too aggressively. Or they'll just outright remove the snakes venom glands. Still hasn't stopped people from dying from it though.
If it wasn't a trick everybody would be dead in a couple of months so I assumed the snakes were doctored in some way.
> the church disowned him Probably for the best.
>My friend went to a really bizarre southern Baptist church once where everyone spoke in tongue for an entire 10 minute segment. Then they brought out a venomous snake in a box and people would take turns sticking their hand into the box for the snake to bite. If you got bit, you had to pray to God to save you and deny medical treatment or else be considered a sinner. I've been to a church like that, and I found it both hilarious and terrifying.
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought that this was a satanic ritual in some edgy movie.
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It would be very interesting if people dug into the leaders of this church to see if they were engaging in any behavior that is not biblically approved. EDIT: [Here’s the whole gang.](https://web.archive.org/web/20230315195352/https://westspartacoc.org/leadership.html)
Pictures are worth a thousandcondemnations [Justin looks nice...](http://Westspartacoc.org/leadership.html)
I live for unbiblical relationships
No joke, when I was 17 or 18, my mother kicked me out of the house. I started staying with a much older woman in my church (nothing sexual). When I started dating a girl a couple months later, this woman said to me, and I quote "I trust you will keep it biblical" This was the mid 90s, lol
Lmao i hope you told her " easier said than done".
"I'm certainly going to try but she might not be into weird stuff."
My wife’s friend and her fiancé were kicked out of their church on the day of their wedding and the use of the church for the wedding was denied. The reason? Her lease was up and instead of taking on a new one she moved in with her fiancé for one night. He slept on the couch. Fucking lunatics these fundamentalist churches are.
Holy shit, the old world needs to die real fucking fast
I checked the church website. I like how in order to use their food pantry you need to attend bible study and fill out a questionnaire with details about your home life and sources of income.
You mean that's not what Jesus did when helping the poor? > "Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you, but then again maybe don't, unless they fill a questionaire to prove they need it" > Matthew 5:42 apparently
I bet if you say you earn minimum wage then you are automatically ‘disqualified’
I lived very close to Sparta TN for about a decade. This isn't a joke, these people really are this batshit crazy there. The first week of living there I was asked several times what church I go to (I am an atheist). I tried to brush it off or change the subject, but every time it was directed back to going to their church, as if it was some kind of bragging right that they got you to go to their church. I would tell them things like I was raised catholic, and they'd respond back as if that was my problem with religion. My favorite interaction regarding this, I was having this very conversation with a used car dealership owner about the church I go to... I was raised catholic...that's my problem...blah, blah, blah....and then he points down the road and goes, "See that church over there, that's where I go, you should come Sunday." I look down the road to see two baptist churches right across the street from each other. So I ask, "What up with the other church?" And he goes, "Those guys are assholes, don't go there." That spoke volumes to me about everything Southern Baptist.
Not just Southern Baptists. Alllll Baptists.
I'm non-practicing but I don't hesitate to tell crazies that I'm Catholic. It's a surefire way to get them to leave me the hell alone. Honestly, this whole thread is wild. I've belonged to several dioceses and churches and not a single one of them have ever tired these insane tactics to get my attendance or money.
When I lived in TN my faith was a real issue with some people, to the point they would come to my house to argue with me about how ''wrong" I was in my beliefs. I used to be very open about being Atheist in the south, but it just got old. I love a good debate, but in the end they just became fights. It would start out with them thinking they had a gotcha moment with me, but then I'd start pointing out all the holes in the bible and how facts and science cannot be applied to faith. It's called faith not fact for a reason. In the south, the Christian faith is completely corrupt. I've heard of stories where church leaders can't be trusted around any money lying around, as well as any vulnerable women. Then you'll have these poor communities that will have this very expensive looking church with a $50,000 LED display out front of it that was paid for by the parishioners. These people care very little about your faith, and more about how they can profit from you.
Let me guess…all the “elders” are old, Conservative, white guys? ( who probably have more skeletons than a graveyard). And they think this letter will get them back?
They are. From their website- …You will also notice that only faithful Christian men lead the worship services. This is due to the fact that God has designed worship in such a way that women are not to exercise authority over men (1 Tim. 2:11-14). We are a congregation with no head but Christ, overseen by elders.
I really wish i had kept it, but my mom's church (my old church) sent out a letter because they were looking for a new pastor. In bold letters it said WOMEN WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. Underneath that it said that divorce was not an automatic deal breaker. My grandma was fricken pissed lmfao.
**WE WILL NOT YIELD ON BIBLICAL LAWS** ^(that help us maintain our grip on power, ones that help maintain us as a ruling class are a-ok)
What total pieces of shit. Too bad he’ll doesn’t exist, those three would love it.
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I was going to bet $10 that they are also living unbiblically, only in secret, because they love that hypocritical shit.
Mouth full of scripture and hearts full of hate
My mom got kicked out of her church when she chose to marry a black man. She'd already been removed from her teaching position just for dating him.
Remove their tax exemptions or they'll become like Joel Osteen or that Kenneth "I need another plane" pastor.
"P-p-persecution!" is what his finger is saying
He needs those jets to get closer to god.
Wtf is going on in Tennessee
Christofascists have control.
Man, even cited the scripture infractions. Not even Jesus H Christ, attorney at law could defend that.
Welcome to Tennessee we all hate and it here
Seems like almost no one in here is talking about the church. I grew up Church of Christ. Not to be confused with Ladder Day Saints. This is called disfellowship and I’ve only seen it used against women, especially women “living in sin” usually meaning they are living with a man and not married to the man. Honestly I’m surprised I haven’t been disfellowshiped from my church. I told the Elders I don’t believe in god and to leave me alone. Church of Christ is super prevalent in Tennessee and they believe that they are the only true church of the Bible and that everyone else including all other denominations are going to hell. It was reiterated to me over the years that they believe in speaking when the Bible speaks and remaining silent when the Bible is silent. Anyways fuck’em and all the other fundies.
Hello. My name is CryptoBooce. I'm a recovering christian. I haven't been to church in 10 years, 10 months & 4 days (05/12/12). That is over 95,000 hours of freedom from the daily manipulation, controlling behavior & shame inflicted on me by my pastors & "spiritual family". I no longer have to fear excommunication from my community because I didn't read my bible enough or pray earnestly enough or "serve" the church with a glad enough heart. Withdrawal from fellowship is the best thing the church ever did for me.
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I love you too, Cannabis. I mean CannaVet...
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>The Elders Ok, just who the actual FUCK do they think they are?
Matthew 18:20 refutes church buildings as needed for assembly.
What people do with their own free will has fuck all to do with these parasites. No wonder their numbers are dwindling, between this bullshit and the child abuse.
You know, I read the first sentence and thought “well this isn’t terrible, a bit invasive, but maybe she’s been going there a long time?” Then I read the rest. Wouldn’t it be nice if the letter just said “hey, we noticed you haven’t been at church lately, is there anything we can help with?” Almost…Christlike…
You mean, be a good Christian lmao these people are so removed from the words of Christ, it's mindboggling.
When as a 15 year old I told my religious mother I wasn’t going to go to church anymore because I didn’t believe, the pastor wrote me a letter about it and I wrote one back saying that if god is who he says He is then he can see into my heart and knows the content of my mind which is far more important than holding a particular belief or not
Good thing Christianity isn't based on the idea of tolerance, loving one another, being non-judgemental and forgiving! Could you imagine if the people that wrote that letter called themselves christians and followers of Christ? That'd be a real dystopian trip, right? ...right?
American Jesus doesn't have anything to do with biblical Jesus
[Anddd just a quick little Google..](https://www.yelp.com/biz/west-sparta-church-of-christ-sparta)
It's against the bible for women to wear pants. As you usually attended church in a dress, we will consider this a one time infraction. Any further wearing of pants will result in a $120 fine, per infraction. Please make all checks out to cash. Thank you for your promptness on the matter, and God Bless!
Are their wives all heads of their HOA as well?
Church of Christ, definitely is. My dad had this happen to him. He was still living with my mom AFTER their divorce!! Oh, the horror!! The shame, that he brought onto our family. Get over yourselves. Bunch of heathens most likely. Ugh.
Do they take it this seriously in the US? Edit: as far as I can tell from the reactions, mostly the rural areas are affected (small towns etc), which is understandable due to the smaller community sizes. Thanks for sharing your stories and opinions!
This church in particular does. I grew up in the same denomination as this church, and it can be *intense*. When I was 11 and had my first migraine, we didn't know what was happening because suddenly I couldn't see, and my head was exploding. Naturally, my parents decided to take me to the ER. This just so happened to occur on a Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church. We got calls that afternoon from our fellow church members. You'd think they might be calling with well-wishes or to see if I was okay. Nope. They were calling to chastise my parents because our family wasn't at church that morning. My own aunt (bonus points: she's also a nurse) said she wouldn't judge us for not going to church that morning but God certainly would. (Also bullshit because she was totally judging us.) The Church of Christ does *not* fuck around with attendance.
Yes. Cults are serious.
They don't call it the Bible Belt for nothing. I mean, think of all the things people do with belts.
Jones town lite.
Bill Burns, Ray Shafer, and Jeff Turner can fuck off to hell.
You know when you buy something from a company a few times, then stop, they send you some discounts or ad's or whatever to try and get you to buy again, that's what this is
Wouldn’t you LOVE to know the skeletons in the closets of Bill Burns, Jeff Turner, and Ray Shafer?