pvitartas,
Are you still out there?
That song that we used to sing over and over and over, Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, Show yourself an example to those who belie-e-e-eve.
And now, to look at that verse, after being out of the "movement" for 18 years (and I was in it 18 years), I have to say that when I examine some of the history of the GC churches and see the clear pattern of deception (lying, hiding the truth) that was justified by the leadership, the leadership talking behind people's backs and evaluating nit-picky things about their lives rather than realizing that the Christian life is a life long learning proposition and it is the Holy Spirit who convicts and changes and guides, throwing the bums out if they disagreed or did not exhibit loyalty to them (even if they claimed loyalty to Christ), wanting people to have faith and trust in them versus trusting the Holy Spirit, I am kind of appalled that we innocently sang this beautiful verse of Scripture while it was being so conveniently twisted. I don't think it was applied in the way that the Apostle Paul was conveying this lofty teaching to Timothy. But we had the Apostle McCotter leading the charge, who was just a tad different than the Apostle Paul. And the apostle teaching (modern day apostles) has never been rescinded and McCotter is still held up as a great man who started the GC movement. (Unless they are in the mood to hide it and deceive people that he never existed, but we were there, we saw it with our own eyes.) To be fair, some of the early leaders got saved from hearing McCotter or some of his followers preaching the gospel, and perhaps they are so grateful for that, they will not back away from the false teaching.
I have to say that the word of God is becoming much more fresh and interesting to me, now that I am free of the manipulation and twisting.
I liked your comment about how GC leaders were like the heathen with Paul who wanted to placate the gods by throwing someone overboard. I am glad we can laugh about it now, but it sure wasn't funny then, especially if you had been around for a long time and really trusted these fellows and thought they were Godly. Interesting that Paul said no, don't throw anybody overboard. He saw the value in each human being, a precious person for whom Christ died. The venerated Apostle Jim McCotter and others who have followed him have made such a mockery of what church discipline is all about. I have seen it done once in my church, in a very methodical and loving way, and the person was restored to fellowship. It was truly amazing. No one stopped loving that person.
On a side note to this matter, when I have read so many ex GCers talk about being shunned after they left their church, at first the term "shunned" really stunned me. I had read extensively about the Amish, anything I could get my hands on, after we witnessed some very devout Amish in southern MN and I was fascinated by their lifestyle. I think of the Amish when I think of shunning. How very harsh and misguided this practice is! To me, puts GC in the category of a sect, just that alone, aside from all the other cultish controlling of people's lives that they sneakily do after people have put down roots and found wonderful friendships. And don't get me started on the leaders saying that they have the same kind of authority over their people today as Moses did. Just don't get me started! When will they decide to retract that teaching?
?
Thanks for sharing, if you are still out there.