Interesting Talk - Left Church for Kindness and Love offered by World

Life
#1

(I grew up in the Westboro Baptist Church. Here's why I left | Megan Phelps-Roper - YouTube)

I am totally unaware of this woman’s church background. But I have heard similar arguments. Church is too harsh in condemning the sins of the world as well as pointing out to the sins of the people in the church. But many in the world who doesn’t follow any religion is very good and kind and lead a great life better than many people who follow a religion and Christianity in particular as it talks too much about moral behaviours. How do you respond to such arguments?

#2

The church seems to be not any other usual church. You may read about the church here

#3

I watched the video, and in response to her story, I wrote this:

"“2 decades of outrage, disdain and violence”
I had 19 years of it. It took me years to find out that the religion I was raised with was something that was false teaching. They were wrong. They most certainly did not know either humility or love. I hear you.

One day, 40 YEARS after I left my religion, I opened the Bible and read it myself because I realized finally, that since I had been told lies and had been misled about God, I might read the Bible myself to find out what lies I was told about God Himself. The claim was that God inspired the Bible, so I wanted to see what God had to say about Himself.

That made all the difference in the world. My mom is still misled and I pray for her, but I love her and talk with her frequently. The only way I was able to do this was to find out who the true Living God is, not what His sheep are! Don’t mistake the sheep for the Shepherd.

I’m right there with you in this talk. It’s true and very hard and sad that so many people are told that “this” or “that” is the way to be a certain religion. Yet even those who call themselves Christians often do not sit down and read the whole Bible in order to LEARN. They have been taught only to cherry pick specific quotes to back up their “cause” whatever it may be.

Bottom line? Un-saved people cannot behave any better than worldly people or atheists, or any other religion. Because it’s all about what man can do all alone and with other humans alone.

There is a God. But He is not what you were taught by your family nor what I was taught by my family. There is only One God. I pray you will someday go read for yourself, alone or with your husband. God bless."

#4

It is a cult. Any church that teaches anything but what is in the Bible about God strays from the Truth. Jesus said

Matthew 7:13-14 English Standard Version (ESV)
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

That does not mean that there are only 40 people in one church (or 400 or 4,000) who have the truth and everyone else does not. The saved people of God are everywhere.

Revelation 7:9 New International Version (NIV)
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

And

Matthew 13:24-30 New King James Version (NKJV)
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

That proves that God’s chosen (saved) are standing right next to those who are not, even in churches. God tells us to

2 Corinthians 6:17 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
“And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will welcome you.

This does NOT mean to disdain them, treat them badly, look down on them or be puffed up with pride ourselves, all of which unsaved people do frequently, whether from a church background or not. We are to

Mark 12:31 New International Version (NIV)
31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Loving your neighbor obviously does not include hating.

When people are led astray by false teaching not based on the Bible they cannot be saved as they have been immunized against Christ. They have been told they are saved and God’s chosen and it is a lie. This is the worst in God’s eyes.

Matthew 23:15 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

If you find yourself in a church that is okay with hating anyone they are not following God’s Word nor His command that we love each other even as He loved us. Which means forgiveness, the humility to remember we ourselves were once like them, the understanding that God alone has made it different for us, and most of all that God despises the proud and loves the humble. This is why the tax collectors and sinners were entering heaven before the Pharisees who were supposedly “righteous” by the Jewish Religion (which had been also badly mangled by time Jesus arrived).

We must beware of false teachers and false teachings.

Being a bit lazy myself, I prefer to take the shortcut. While others are smart and energetic enough to look up every false teacher, my protection is to read the Bible every day and let God teach me through it. And for a reason I cannot explain, Jesus had mercy on me, a sinner of great extent, and saved me from God’s wrath and death.

Without salvation, no person - no matter how good or bad they start out to be - can better themselves more than an inch. I did all the things the world had to offer and did it seriously and completely. 35 years of therapy helped me much. But salvation gave me life itself.

#5

@Moses_C Could you separate these two topics? I think they are both worth their own thread.