Quote:
Originally Posted by OneEyedFatMan
I have been Pentecostal for over 20 years. Bottom line..I donn't believe it any more.
I have been going through the motions for awhile for the sake of family and friends but am tired.
I believe in God, but the pentecostal god is kinda bogus, he doesn't deliver on their promises.
How do I ditch this religion without hurting everyone I love?
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OEFM... it ain't easy, but you can do it! Get away! Don't do it a little at a time! Make the break. Pray, make up your mind and pray some more. And the thing that helped me as much as anything was when I made up my mind to simply open the Bible and let it say what it says. Don't read it from the prospect of it backing up your religion, denomination or for an argument. You don't have a religion. You have a God!
The problem with talking to "this one" and to "that one" is that "this one" is going to tell you like "this one" believes it and "that one" is going to tell you like "that one" believes it. And then if you talk to your Pentecostal family they are going to put a guilt trip on you and tell it like you know they believe it. Some times we have to work out our own salvation with "fear and trembling." Since 1980 I have not had the first falling out nor argument with any of my family and I have several that are still UPC. (I just don't discuss it with family!) Maintain your integrity and that doesn't mean telling someone off because they don't see it like you do!
When you've made up your mind, again, don't discuss it with your family. Let them know you love them but that for now you're not going to argue about religion. ......2Ti 2:15* Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
One of the problems is that there are more different Pentecostals than you can shake a stick at. Even in the UPC you can find a mixture of different beliefs, standards, doctrines and ideas. That was one of the things that caused me to leave the UPC in 1980. Every church you went to in the district was operating by a different set of rules it seemed. (Yes, I just painted with a broad brush, but the rules were surely many). It just seemed to me that if we were all operating from the same book, (be it Bible or Manual) it might ought to be more similiar than it was, more the same.
Don't get bitter. And discussions with family and friends at this time can bring about bitterness. And another thing that I would encourage you to do is always keep in mind that you could be wrong about something. Don't develop the idea that you know it all and have it all figured out. I'm still figuring out some things and have come to a better understanding for some of the things that I believe by reading on this forum. My feelings were that I didn't want to just make a change to be making a change, nor did I want to go from one error to another error.
Pray and read! Don't read for argument sake. Read for understanding! Keep an open mind! Pray and read! Don't look for me to give you the answer nor anyone else on AFF. If you start collecting doctrine from AFF you're gonna be a messed up dude! There is enough variety (and maybe nuts...Timmy! just kidding Timmy) on this here forum to drive you nuts! (including me!)
I am praying for you and hope that these few words will help you. Love you in Christ! Hope this makes sense!
Been Thinkin
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