Posted by Locutus Of Borg [Guest] on November 06, 1999 at 07:32:27 {p8g/8h8r5Q/84b/1mQjkni6QXcPL8M}:
Sunspot,
Your letter said it all. All these things and more are reasons I left the b-ORG. For me one of the things that started me thinking was the change in the baptismal questions. Another thing was the way the elders would squash any individuality. I play the guitar and although I am not great, I enjoy music very much. (Who the heck writes those kingdom medodies anyway???) Sometimes I would take a popular song and put christian lyrics to it. Once I put christian lyrics to The song "Iron Man" by Ozzy Osbourne (SHUDDER.....Them DEEMINS shadows could be seen prancin an dancin in the background FER SURE FER SURE!!)) sometimes myself and a couple other bros from surrounding congregations would jam together at small gatherings. I played Iron Man (with the new lyrics that is, actually there is nothing wrong with the original ones. . .) and it was cool until the next service meeting. . .man i was yanked into the ole liberry so fast my shoes stayed right there on the floor!! I am proud to stay they made quite a little scandal out of it and basically ended any jammin wit da bros from then on as well as making total a**es out of themselves. Sigh. I continue to play. . .I love the blues. . And I occasionally play at local open jams in area clubs.
Anyway. . .I admire your courage to give up friends in the org. My wife and I chose the fade away route. I did not want them to have even that much control over us any more. Ours is a long story of elder witch hunts and such. Our congregation here in CNY actually was a joke in the surrounding congregations. In just 2 years 5 families and a number of individuals left this congo to go to others because of the out of control elder body, or I should say the PO and his mindless minions. After numerous meetings with the elders at our new congo and 2 3 hr meetings with the CO regarding the elders at our old congo, nothing was done about the problems. And there were serious problems. . witch hunt tactics, lying, scheming, spying (as in elder driving by my house DURING meetings when I was absent to see if I was home).
We faded away, and while we are still in congo #1 territory, the out of control elder body did not let it rest until we made it known that if any announcement regarding us was made, we had 3 lawyers, one of whom is a civil rights atty, waiting to pounce, And that we would shortly be living in the PO's house.
We lost alot of friends, I lost my two children, my three brothers, and my health. . in the course of dealing with these things I became depressed and suffered severe panic attacks. . .Thank God for Paxil, It saved my life. I still take it for the depression, but the panic attacks have subsided to a bearable level for the last two years.
I am in search of a small christian church where I can find people who do show unconditional love. Where my relationship with Jesus the Son is a personal one, not one dictated to me. A congregation that recognizes music as a large part of worship!! Music touches the heart and soul, it SHOULd be a major part of worship!
Ahhh. . .nothing like layin down a great Blues Groove on a Sunday mornin!! Praise Jah!
My wife has become agnostic, she feels all churches are the same. I hope time will heal her wounds. Did I mention she is the most wonderful person I have ever known??
Some day I will post our whole story. It will have to be in parts cause its long. I need to purge it from my system.
I gather that you are in CNY also? We had our assy's at the War Memorial in Syracuse. My wife was baptised there in the early 90's.
Regards and Christian love
Locutus Of Borg