The reason why church doctrine all seems so convincing is simply because
we have been mentally conditioned to believe and accept everything they
say as gospel truth, regardless of how wrong it may be.
I sincerely believe that during the time I was involved with organized
religion, that I was under what the apostle Paul called an illusion.
Sort of like being brainwashed or hypnotized. Like you, I also felt
compelled to go back to the church and churches I once belong to.
The apostle Paul in Acts chapter 15 through 21 and in Galatians chapter
2 talks about being compelled to return to the law of he had been delivered
and set free from. Legalism has a voice and like a drug addict, the
people involved in it will try to get you back under its strong influence
once again.
They will stop at nothing to try to get you back to where they feel
you belong. They probably use all sorts of old out of context passages
of condemnation, guilt and fear to try to keep you from going to what
they
believe to be a hell. In turn, your head and heart begin to wonder if
you are doing the right thing or the wrong thing.
I am one to tell you to follow your heart and do what you believe will
make you happy. I know what is like to feel as if you no longer belong,
and how one can miss the old time friends, and church people. In my
case, as in the case of many others, I did battle with the same thoughts,
and feelings that you are now experiencing.
"Should I go back?" "What if this grace teachers are
wrong?" "What if the pastor is better equipped and qualified
when it comes to the preaching of the bible?" "Afterall, he
does have a diploma on the wall, and he did graduate from bible college."
"What if I end up in hell and rejected of God for listening to
this radical
Puerto Rican who doesn't have a church?"
"What if this, what if that, what if, what if?" Well all I
can tell you is to do what you strongly feel in your heart. God will
still love you regardless of what you decide to do. I will not be one
of those who will discourage you to do whatever it is you believe in
your heart you should do.
It is totally up to you. You are the best judge of your heart. Thank
God that you have seen and heard the two sides. Many people have returned
to their church after hearing the truth about grace, and after a few
weeks
in their old church, they have been able to really hear the difference
between what their church preaches and teaches and what the Gospel truth
is.
It was that second time around that finally convinced themselves that
they were better off staying away from what they had been set free from.
It was Paul who said in Galatians 2:18 "If I built again the things
that I destroyed, then I make myself a transgressor." In other
words, I am not going to build the old on the
foundation of the new that I have found in Christ.
Paul knew the consequences of going back under the law. He knew the
difference between bondage and freedom, and as much as he loved the
old time religious law, he decided not to sell out his freedom
for bondage again. Jenn, it is up to you. However, I think you know
in your heart what the real truth is.
Grace N Peace are the real truths
Eddie