Encountering Hate In Your Church.

[EllenMaksoud]

If you have some time, I would like to hear about some of your experiences (without naming

the denominations) of the hate-filled doctrines that you have been exposed to in your

spiritual journey.  Would make for an interesting topic in the Social Hall.

 

Thank you,

Jim

 

I was invited to share some of my experiences in religous doctrines. I'll also mention religous cultures and how they can either build one up or tear one down.

 

When I was quite young, we were Easter Christians; meaning that we attended church at Easter only. Then my parents would spend the ride home re-living how the sermon re-ignited some bitter experiences they'd had.

 

As time passed, there was a Television Evangelist that was quite well known at the time. What ever he said was meaningless to me because I knew with certainty that when the program was over, the six pack was gone, and the paper read, he would be roaming the house looking for a child to beat, me. Later, the Mormon competition would sometimes come to the house, but their evangelism consisted of guilt and damnation. Generally, he would listen to them for a while and throw them out.

 

In my very early teens, I found myself in churches, but these days I can not remember how that happened.   There was nothing attractive about it because it felt like they were too condemning. "You have to abandon your life of sin, child."  It was so negative that I did not go back after a while.

 

In the Military, I knew I needed God, and believed, so tried a certain Monolithic church. At 20 years old, it just did not have the impact...

 

In my late 20's, I stepped out on the porch to look at the Sunset. There was thankfulness but also a yearning for meaning. Through what I still see as miraculous means, the next week end I had the book in my hands that would lead me to my first meaningful encounter with a loving God, and Jesus Christ. The book was, "Late Great Planet Earth", and reading that book and comparing it's scriptures and claims with several other Bibles that had somehow gotten into the house completely stopped me.

 

I was soon ( a couple week ends)  on my knees asking for forgiveness for my sins and asking Jesus Christ into my life.  Those first years of Christianity converted me from an actual fire breathing dragon, to a much flawed woman trying to learn to please God. We actually tried the RLDS church for a while, and while they were very nice folk,  we just did not get it and the ministry seemed to lack power. This was 1974

 

We eventually left our next church because the assumption was made that every thing our children did wrong was the parents fault.  Our children were becoming teens and no teen is entirely perfect. The next church we attended was all about "Prosperity Doctrine", and reading the bible and wanting to be closer to God, we could see that God was no sugar daddy.

 

In the 70's our culture was all about women's rights, and we actually stopped going to church for a while, perhaps thinking that church was not relevant. These were the years that extreme TV evangelicals began screaming about Gays. We knew that none of us were gay, but remembering the words of Jesus Christ about the "plank", we tried to ignore that talk. Later, we knew a gay man and saw how he was rejected, hated and cast out.

 

Then came the misguided American involvements in the Middle East. Years later we would know that the Sunni and Shia Muslims had been fighting for 1400 years and were not about to stop. The Media and certain TV evangelists began to polarize American Public opinion.  I can remember one evangelist say, "All Muslims will go to Hell". There were a good half dozen hate mongers in the 90's, and for me their words belied the words of Jesus the Christ.

 

Eventually, the hate hysteria about gays, Muslims, homeless and them dirty sinners got to be too much for me, and I quit. After that in just a few years, that church threw me out because I sinned. They used 1 Corinthians 5:11 on me, and even after I admitted my sin and repented they did not use Galatians 6:1.  A divorce followed and I was finished with the Jesus People. 

 

Islam was good at first, covering my sin with black cloth and anonymity, being the part of the worthless woman that I felt I was.  At first, I was actually involved in a radical group that, in retrospect, could have  contributed funds and other support to terrorism.  Wearing the full face and head covering, Niqab, gives one inner quietness but also draws hateful statements from fools. It was terribly frightening at times, and I eventually abandoned the Niqab for the Hijab. I imagine the only ones to experience that sort of hate and anger might be Mormon Missionaries and bill collectors.

 

And, Muslims have a persecution complex in America, complaining much about how the Kafir (infidel)(unbelievers) do mean things to them, though I seldom experienced it.

 

So, when I encountered the Mormons in Kirtland, it was a total mind blower for me. It has changed my life, made me a new creature in Jesus Christ in a way I had never encountered before anywhere. Oh, Mormons are not perfect. I have learned to not speak of politics, but have not yet thought of a way to stop those few bent on ranting and raving.

 

I have actually experienced more rejection because of my beliefs as a Mormon than I ever did as a Muslim. However, with those of the same ilk as my old denomination, I can freely laugh at their attacks. Perhaps one day one of them will actually want to listen.

 

Most keen disappointment: The Islam that I held as a cherished fantasy does not exist.

 

We do not have threads to bash other religions named or not.