I am into spiritualism

[Barnabas]

I have now left the church and will never go back as they have done some damage that can't be mended. You

Sorry 4 the disappointment Lisa. I wish you been received better. Do you think it was inexperience or 'lack of love' leading 2 fear ? How could it have been better ?

[lisa_joanne]

I have now left the church and will never go back as they have done some damage that can't be mended. You

Sorry 4 the disappointment Lisa. I wish you been received better. Do you think it was inexperience or 'lack of love' leading 2 fear ? How could it have been better ?

For starters, people forget that we are still humans and also have feelings just like people within the church, why is it when you get to certain churches they seem to forget that we are to live in the real world and not in the clouds. I also think that it was inexperience as I was the first pagan witch they had come across that listened to what they had to say until they started to gang up and talked behind my back and they said it was me who wasn't following God lol. Just shows that when gossip starts it's hard to kick into touch, even if some of the ones are in leadership, they forget that anything they do will be remembered and I've already told them that I'll nerer be back, even though the main elder did his best to put things right but the damage had been done and I can't trust the ones who started the process to do it again, they are also his friends and they are in a click of a group, so I'm staying on the outside from now on. I'm prepared to speak to anyone who speaks to me but for going back to the christian faith, forget it. I'm now doing shamanic practices where I'm much happier as I'm dealing with these issues and also other area's as its much deeper and also more meaning to me.
I don't have a problem with anyone in here now as I'm moving forward and not standing still, things have happened for the best, so I wish them well and hope they grow much better and learn a valuable lesson that you shouldn't judge a person for what they believe, we are all human and trying to do our best in the world and we shouldn't be fighting against each other as we might meet up one day and we would feel very foolish as our words carry our life.

[Barnabas]

Thanx again 4 sharing your thoughts Lisa. I note that you say leaving the church. How do you see your relationship to Jesus now ? Am I right in saying it is over 2 years you have known Christ?
I am intrigued to know what you see as the purpose of your 'old' practices as being especially in relation to the 'church'. I appreciate your comment with regards 'judgement' but IMO there is a difference between
'discernment' & 'condemnation'. It is right to make 'right' decisions but with the appropriate info not just face value or appearances. I note you feel it maybe to do with experience. What would you have expected an experienced person to have done ? In what way does the church need to change 4 people like yourself to feel @ home?

[Barnabas]

Lisa, thought you might like this quote from Henri Nouwen

"The movement from the house of fear to the house
of love has become necessary for the survival of humanity."

[MaryEllen]

Hallo Lisa,

All churches are comprised of people just as any moot, order and coven. In any group there will be some who cope and others who react with fear to anything that is different to how they think the world should be. When different life experiences are added then gossip can ensue. You are correct to urge caution, there is a tendency to see anyone who walks into church from another faith as a potential scalp. However caution should not become an excuse to cease to look for Christ hidden from those who seek by the terrible visage of man. In dealings with Christians I have always found it wise to remember that Christ's people are not Christ, they are too fallible.

Barnabas,
There is a tendency for some to hyper-focus on the idea of witchcraft being the worst sin that anyone could ever commit. The church needs to begin here. This is an example of human thinking rather than how God sees sin. As a result people may come to a church because they are attracted to Christ. They then walk into the bodies response and wonder if they have just made the worst mistake of their lives. People first meet Christ in the face that Christians show towards them. If Christians are taught that a group are inhuman monsters then they do treat them as such. If any dare come into church from such a group they can find they are latest gossip for prayer project- or worse.
In my own church this tendency is reserved for those from the Muslim faith.

[Barnabas]

People first meet Christ in the face that Christians show towards them. .

Wise words. Reminds me of an Oliver Raper song 'Your the only Jesus some may ever see'

[Templar Knight]

people believe in it because it is real. Spirits are with us if we see or believe or not.

Can you see the air that you breath? It is there. you feel it, you see its effects and presence. If you dont have it you die. Yet by the literal translation of the bible
by needing to breath you have created an idol.

The Bible was not delivered by fax from heaven. it was written by men for men.