| Author |
Message |
Bobbylog
Registered user
Username: Bobbylog
Post Number: 17
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 9:40 am: |     |
Hello,
I left SDA recently, officially about 4 months ago, and moved to another church but I still feel troubled sometimes, although I am becoming more and more convinced that doctrine was false, but I am still dealing with anxiety and doubt ..;( ;(, ..Although I know that there are other people who did the same, but I still feel stuck in my mind ... ;( ;( I don't know what to do ...this situation really affects me and my performance in my professional life, I am unable to concentrate on my work and unable to have good relations with others, because my thinking is still stuck on a church thing ...Yes, I prayed sometimes, but ...I am still feeling bad now and then ...;( ;( .. and I don't want to come back to this denomination anymore ..;(, ;(..I am feeling really desperate ..;(;( ..
what can I do to cope with that ? can anyone give me some advices ..? |
Flyinglady
Registered user
Username: Flyinglady
Post Number: 2674
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 9:54 am: | |
Bobbylog,
Pray, pray and pray without ceasing. Study and read your Bible.
I will pray for you also.
Father in Heaven, you know the situation Bobbylog is in. Keep him in your hands while he learns to listen to you and what you want for him. Matt 7:7,8 tell us, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened,
Thank you God.
Diana |
Patriar
Registered user
Username: Patriar
Post Number: 288
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 10:54 am: | |
Bobbylog:
I agree with Diana. First and foremost...pray! Seek God's heart and He will line you up with Himself and His Will.
Also, consider reading some books by former adventists. That helped me tremendously in dealing with guilt feelings, in realizing that I wasn't alone and that my pre-conceived beliefs weren't Biblically based.
I would highly recommend "Sabbath in Christ" by Dale Ratzlaff and "Discovering the New Covenant" by Greg Taylor. Really, any books at Life Assurance Ministries would probably be very helpful for you. That web site is www.ratzlaf.com.
Bobbylog, I am praying Ephesians to be in your heart today.
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledgeóthat you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph. 3:14-20)
In Christ,
Patria |
Honestwitness
Registered user
Username: Honestwitness
Post Number: 93
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 12:56 pm: | |
Bobbylog, I am praying for you, too. Remember that perfect love casts out all fear. And who is perfect love? J E S U S!
Jesus said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
Honestwitness |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 4337
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 2:03 pm: | |
Bobby, I am also pray for you. You need to keep prayingóask Jesus to be more real to you than is the fear and doubt you are facing. Ask Him to show you what fear or ideas He wants you to surrender to Him, and ask Him to remove from your heart whatever is deception and to replace it with Himself.
I agree with Patria's suggestion that you read those two books. I believe you will find them extremely helpful.
Pray and stay grounded in Scripture. Ask God to plant you firmly in truth and reality and to protect your heart and mind from deception. He is faithful.
Colleen |
Deadmanwalking
Registered user
Username: Deadmanwalking
Post Number: 31
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 4:20 pm: | |
In God's Word he says that if you seek him with all your heart, YOU WILL FIND HIM.
Regarding being deceived, He says that, "IF IT WERE POSSIBLE" even the very elect might be deceived.
Those two promises of God kept my faith strong and my fears of leaving Adventism in check. What they said to me was that finding truth is not going to be an easy task. In fact it will sometimes be very confusing and hard, but note especially the last promise, it clearly indicates that it may be ALMOST possible to be deceived, but in the end you will not be. God is not in the habit of breaking his promises!
I don't mean to take anything away from the good advice from Colleen and Patria in the books they suggested, but I'd have you focus on the Bible, especially Romans. My journey began in a Hotel room with a Gideon Bible reading Romans all the way through in one sitting.
I would recommend any book that will focus you on the Glory of Christ if you want to read something. I'd especially recommend John Piper's books.
I could not read anything by an Adventist or a former Adventist for a long time. It all sounded like a "He said, she said" fight to me at first and I didn't trust anybody on either side. After several years of the study of what the Bible really says, I was equipped well enough to go back to materials for and against Adventism with discernment.
Pray, read the Scriptures as if your life depended on it, do not be swayed or influenced by any man, and trust Him! God is a trustworthy God!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Richard
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Ric_b
Registered user
Username: Ric_b
Post Number: 580
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 4:23 pm: | |
When we first left, Colleen and others here told us that it could take a couple of years to process the emotional baggage and fully put those doubts and anxieties behind us. It was one of the most important pieces of advice we received. It helped us to understand that what we were going through was "normal" when you leave a Spiritually abusive church. |
Deadmanwalking
Registered user
Username: Deadmanwalking
Post Number: 32
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 4:39 pm: | |
I often advise my Adventist friends who are beginning to question and study:
"Do not study your way out of Adventism! Instead, focus on the indescribable beauty of the Glory of Christ and the leaving of Adventism will take care of its self."
In other words, donít leave Adventism because itís wrong; leave it behind because you are compelled by an INFINATELY better vision of Christ!
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Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 4339
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 5:46 pm: | |
Richard, I agee that we must leave Adventism only because we have an infinitely better vision of Christ than before. When I say I studied my way out of Adventism, I mean that I began to read the Bible, and it didn't square with Adventism. The more I studied the Bible, the more clear the truth became.
I believe there are different routes each person takes on his/her way out of the church. I didn't "discover" John Piper until a couple of years after leaving the church. Frankly, Piper would not have helped me earlier. Piper simply did not address my questions about the law and the continuation of Sabbath. Further, Piper (nor other great writers without SDA backgrounds) did not address the fundamental fears I had that EGW just MIGHT have had some authority from God.
I was simply not able to embrace the full beauty of Jesus and abandon myself to Him alone until I finally KNEW that Ellen was a false prophet, and her doom-sayings had absolutely no remote validity. Once I could put Ellen eternally to rest (no pun intended...), then I was ready to focus on the new covenant. The details and proof-texts I learned over years in Adventist schools had carved a deep trench in my synapses, and simply reading the Bible wasn't answering all my questions. I had too many interpretations for everything I read running through my head.
I had to read Sabbath in Crisis by Ratzlaff (now Sabbath in Christ) before the beauty of the new covenant dawned on me. I might never have completely figured it all out if I hadn't read Dale's explanation of the significance of the Transfiguration and the fact that Jesus, as the God/Man, keeps the covenant FOR ME. I'm not sure how long it would have taken for me to "get it" that the new covenant is not between God and me; it's between God and Jesus.
I don't know whether or not you've read Ratzlaff or Greg Taylor's books, but they are not arguing with Adventists. Dale's books are objective, documented, footnoted books progressing step-by-step through all the traditional teachings we learned that obscured the gospel. He shows the Biblical bases for the new covenant in Sabbath in Christ, and in Cultic Doctrine he shows, citing sources, the step-by-step formulation of the investigative judgment and how it skewed the Biblical teachings of our confidence in Christ. In fact, one reason I (as well as many others who have also said this) found them so helpful is precisely because he was not trying to out-argue anyone. He has no "axe to grind", and he was not defensive toward Adventism. His objectivity and kindness were what enabled me to read what he had to sayóand those things were what I HAD to know in order to begin seeing reality through a Biblical paradigm after being taught, essentially, that black was white.
And yes, Rickóthank you for reminding us all that this process takes several months or even years before we finally "settle"!
Colleen |
Deadmanwalking
Registered user
Username: Deadmanwalking
Post Number: 33
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Monday, July 17, 2006 - 9:17 pm: | |
Colleen, Our journeys have clearly been different. I am in awe of the beautiful tapestry God weaves from the different experiences of his children.
[text removed]
Soli Deo Gloria,
Richard
P.S. Have you read John Murray's little book, "Covenant Theology?" if your interested I'll e-mail you a copy giles200@aol.com
(Message edited by admin on July 17, 2006) |
Mwh
Registered user
Username: Mwh
Post Number: 94
Registered: 4-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - 3:17 pm: | |
I pray for you. I think that God will put your mind at ease at some point, but it may take some time. Pray and seek other Christians to pray with about it.
God bless you! |
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