The Myth Of Orthodoxy?

[Amanah]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

I have met and personally know several different people who, having taken offense at something that happened in and through their church, tossed away their understanding of truth as they left.

To me, that is a sad mistake. If someone has come to have core convictions about a doctrine, that contradicts the view of the local body, he or she is left with three choices:

1.) Stay and learn to live with it, but keep it quiet.
2.) Stay and try to discuss and bring about change
3.) Leave

When I see people leave their church, many times I see them leave the very Lord of the church who saved them. I suspect the issue is they had more of a relationship with the Bride than the Bridge-groom, although I do know of a few situations where someone was hurt so badly by some really messed up stuff, that even though their heart still longs for the Lord, their wounds have left them a heap of ruins.

All told, there are probably 100 different, possible reasons why 100 different people left their local assembly to congregate elsewhere.

And being transparent, I do think there are times when the leaving is orchestrated by the Lord, to remove His elect from a situation that would otherwise eventually destroy them if they stayed.

A lot of people seem to have the view that if you've walked away for the tradition church model, that you've left the Body of Christ, but that just isn't true. We have received the adoption of sons and daughters. We are not disowned and orphaned by the Lord as no longer His, unless reprobation occurs, which is rare, even almost never heart of, and is something He, and not us, gets to decide whenever and wherever it may be necessary.

thanks Aaron, good response.