Continued...
I find this actually very tragic. This too was another major reason I left that self-proclaimed "restored" religious group. They had me seeing my own parents as "outside God's love". Which was anything but true. I too, being told how it is required of us to "witness" to our families, tried to convince them they needed this religion I was to sell to them as part of my Christian duty, like selling them some Amway product, or something in order to "save" them. This too, was unloving, and unconscionable.
So, yes, God was talking to me, you could say. From inside of my own heart, that the truth of God's love is not in doctrines and beliefs, but in simple, loving, connections.
If you spend your life waiting for the day to come when you will be with God, you will never be with God now. The kingdom of God, is not of this world, meaning as a world system. It is the system of God, or the Way. And that is God's creation, God's kingdom. Not a kingdom of this world system. This too, is biblical.
Granted, it is a lot more complex that all this, but the underlying gist is true nonetheless. Everyone is trying to brand and market God, including your church with its door to door volunteer salesforce. And what is that hook? Fear. "Are you ready for the coming wrath of God?"
You see to me, none of that speaks of the Love of God in truth. If you want to share God's love with someone, you don't need to say words. God doesn't need our words to speak. He just needs our hearts.
Sales and Marketing 101 teaches that to sell a product you must create a need first. Are you taking otherwise perfectly content and happy people and telling them that even if they are good people, not harming others, being kind and loving as they can to others in the world, that "none of that matters" because God has there rules, and that cannot have a relationship with God unless they believe the things you teach them, and they accept them and convert to your religion?
I find this actually very tragic. This too was another major reason I left that self-proclaimed "restored" religious group. They had me seeing my own parents as "outside God's love". Which was anything but true. I too, being told how it is required of us to "witness" to our families, tried to convince them they needed this religion I was to sell to them as part of my Christian duty, like selling them some Amway product, or something in order to "save" them. This too, was unloving, and unconscionable.
So, yes, God was talking to me, you could say. From inside of my own heart, that the truth of God's love is not in doctrines and beliefs, but in simple, loving, connections.
But you see, I'd say most other Christians don't view the kingdom of God quite in the way your group does. For instance, for myself, I understand the kingdom of God to be what Jesus talked about as being "among you", meaning in your immediate reality. It's just a matter of seeing it, or being blind to it. I believe the kingdom of God, is the immanence of God in the world. God is already here, not in the future. To me, to be believing it "will happen" down the road, and to live your life, and reinforce that view through teachings and doctrines, as your group does, actually harms the Spirit of God in the world, because you're not seeing it right here, right now, and enacting upon it.
If you spend your life waiting for the day to come when you will be with God, you will never be with God now. The kingdom of God, is not of this world, meaning as a world system. It is the system of God, or the Way. And that is God's creation, God's kingdom. Not a kingdom of this world system. This too, is biblical.
This seems a disservice, not only to them, but to yourself. I suggest again your read the entire chapter of Romans 14. Paul's message in there cuts right through this like a sword.
Of course, I find all that to be missing what Jesus taught. These are just more modern versions of what begin in the early 1900s American religious groups, selling their products to consumers looking for meaning in a changing culture. "We have the restoration of tongues"! "We have the truth about that there is no Trinity!", "We have the last days prophet!", etc. Fast Forward to a modern consumerist culture, and you have groups selling religion with the latest gimmick to hook in customers.
Granted, it is a lot more complex that all this, but the underlying gist is true nonetheless. Everyone is trying to brand and market God, including your church with its door to door volunteer salesforce. And what is that hook? Fear. "Are you ready for the coming wrath of God?"
You see to me, none of that speaks of the Love of God in truth. If you want to share God's love with someone, you don't need to say words. God doesn't need our words to speak. He just needs our hearts.
