Darren Osland wrote:

>Fellowship with fellow Christians is a

>necessity for growth

I have not found that so. I have grown more outside of church. I have asked repeatedly on this NG for one BENEFIT (not a feature) for attending church that is not found elsewhere. No one has answered. My full text is found in ‘Answers, openess & benefits of church’ posted Tuesday, 28 May 2002 12:11.

>if we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, we will have our eyes open to >any

false teachings before us.

Many of the churches that abuse fellow Christians do EXACTLY that and justify their actions from the bible. It is easy to do.

>> Generally, a person who breaks involvement with a dysfunctional

>> group will encounter the following problems:

>>

>> * Depression – the product of group-induced self-doubt and

>> self-blame.

It happens to Christians!

Mark Oz

~~~

I lifted this from another thread…

Let me offer a personal opinion: I love the Church because Jesus does – not because it’s perfect, but because it’s being redeemed, not because I’ve not been hurt by the church (I have) but because I’ve been a recipient of God’s grace – and so has everyone in the church…

The Father in the famous story didn’t stop loving his son – yes, he was still his son – when that kid was misbehaving. Nor did he stop loving the hypocrite who was the ‘sinner who stayed’…

My prayer is that God will give me the grace to love people whatever point on their journey-towards-wholeness they happen to be… That’s where I believe personal and spiritual maturity lies… Not to be ‘reactive’ but ‘proactive’ – to borrow an idea from an excellent post on critical thinking Mark gave us a day or two back…

—

Rowland Croucher