I’m glad I’m not the only one. It saddens me, of course, that I am such an “outlier” — this is normally a very lonely path.
But I’d rather not contaminate myself with the rituals and customs of a group that is no longer Protestant in any sense, than live knowing the truths (like many) but pretending they don’t exist, for the sake of a “kingdom” that is far from being the one that “is not made of food and drink” that Paul referred to.
My “heroes” lately are the “marginalized,” the people I identify with are those at whom everyone points and shouts: Adulterer, Universalist, Immoral, Liar, False Prophet.
Wasn’t this how they treated Jesus?
It seems better to me to be recognized and called a drunkard, a glutton, and a friend of sinners than to receive glory and recognition from what today is called “church.” That’s how they did it with my master: “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. (Matthew 11:19)”
Quoting Caio Fábio:
It’s unbearable to see that they preach the method of church growth, not the Word; that they invite people to church, no longer to Jesus; and that every five years all the church fashion changes, according to what they call the “new move.” Unbearable emptiness!
It’s unbearable to hear pastors saying that what you say is true, but that they don’t have the courage to put their face out to take the blows, even if it’s for truth and for the justice of the gospel of God’s kingdom. Unbearable dissimulation!
It’s unbearable to see human beings being thrown out of the place of worship because of food, drink, cigarettes, clothes, sexuality, or catastrophes of existence. This while feeding the people with malice, envy, lies, politicking, factions, and curses. Unbearable is to strain at the gnat and swallow the camel!