What is wrong here?

[kristian's_mom]

I can imagine the person that is so deeply in need of Jesus. Everyday it is a struggle just to get out of bed, she has to pop a couple of painpills just to make it. She steals from her own family to support her habit, knows that it is wrong but does it anyway. She neglects her children so her mother takes her children from her. She has been to rehab twice, but keeps going back to this lifestyle.

You have been trying to get her to come to church with you for a long time but she won't. She remembers the way people treated her as a child growing up in church just because she wanted to wear pants. She didn't have any church friends because their parents forbid their children to hang out with her. Why? because she wore nail polish and cut her hair. She has never known Jesus and the people who were supposed to represent him has treated her like she was a cancer.


A man was raised Catholic. His parents divorced at a young age, and both remarried. His mother was an alcoholic and he barely saw his father. As he grew up and got married to a Pentecostal woman, he began to attend church and seek after God. They told him he must speak in tongues to be saved, so he would go to the altar and plead with God over and over, people whispering in his ear, telling him how to receive this gift. You need to do this, do that. He never spoke in tongues after years and years of seeking this gift.

He decided to grow a moustache. His pastor told him he had to shave it off because it was a sin. He finally stopped going to church, and hasn't went back in 20+ years. He still believes in God but has said he lost his faith a long time ago. He is so depressed he won't leave his bedroom. He doesn't attend birthdays, weddings.... won't answer the phone.

His father also fell into a deep depression and shot himself in the head at the age of 76. He seems to be on the same path as his father.


These are real people who I love with all my heart. Religion has failed them, man has failed them. The only thing I know to do is pray for them and represent Christ the best I can. I get so sick and tired of going to church and hearing about dress standards. Who cares!! I personally myself didn't find Jesus at a church. He found me, at home.

I don't entirely blame what happened to my Dad and sister on SOME people of the UPCI, but this whole "you must dress and groom yourself a certain way or you're going to hell" has caused so much damage to people it is unreal.

Who knows where they would be today if those "Christians" had represented Christ's love like they were supposed to.

I have plenty of family and friends who I would love to bring to church with me but they won't come. They feel people will judge them on their appearance. I have Catholic friends and family who do not speak in tongues that manifest more fruits of the spirit and are more loving than a lot of the Pentecostal people I grew up with. Why is that?