recovering fundamentalists
By Qaeyious
@Qaeyious (2357)
United States
February 20, 2007 1:51am CST
I started becoming more interested in christianity during adolescence, by the last years of high school I was actively participating in church groups and bible studies. Off I went to college, and found a church with an extensive bible study, one that was different. For example, the new testament has examples of people singing, not playing instruments, so in the Sunday services, there is not even an organ, there is no special group to sing for you. The entire congregation sings the songs in all four parts - sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones. I think now that is the major reason I was attracted to them, their songs were absolutely beautiful done that way.
They were also very fundamentalist -- even the baptists are going to hell for not following the strict guidelines given in the new testament. And I was ripe for the plucking - I had reasoned before if there is one god, why are there so many ways people are following him? And I really believed I found the way, at the time.
But then after a few years, it happened politics came into play. Yes I was a practicing fundamentalist christian, but I'm also american, a citizen of the united states of america. Being in a group that condemned everyone to hell who did not follow our teachings (oops, excuse me, the new testament teachings) we were to vote in such a way to impose a hardship on a class of sinners by legislature. (This was in 1978, the issue being the infamouse Proposition 6 in California, the "Brigg's Initiative," an anti-gay legislation)
It was defeated with my help, and I stopped going to studies and services. For a while I was sure I was going to go to hell if I died in the next few years, but now I follow my own conscious
There is a book "Leaving the Fold" by Edward T. Babinski ISBM 1591022177 that tells stories of various people leaving fundamentalist groups and how they handled it.
... So --- any other heretics like me here?
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