Have you ever thought about starting a blog?

I agree with you on the Puritans. Our look at them was meant to show that they were normal Christians like the rest of us. Some abusive churches are
misusing the writings of the Puritans to assert their control. I have enjoyed reading some writings by the Puritans. I just wish there was balance. Only the Bible offers us a truly “well-rounded” look of man and God. I just wish more folks would focus on the Bible and not the latest book by the “Calvinista” du jour.

Blessings and thanks for weighing in. You are good!

God has graciously alerted me to the dangerous temptation of becoming swept up and reliant on a Christian subculture, and all the books, personalities, teachings, etc…that go along with it, rather than fiercely investing myself in an individual pursuit of a deep relationship with Christ and immersion in God’s WORD.

Some lessons I’ve learned along the way include:

* John Calvin is not Jesus and intellectual devotion to a doctrine does not make one a Christian.
* There is as much to learn from the writings of Puritans as there is from their sins and mistakes.
* A book written by a pastor “about” the Bible is NO substitute for the real Bible itself.
* Organizations such as The Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood may call themselves “Biblical” but they did not write the Bible and they most certainly are NOT God.
* The “secular” world often manifests Christ more than the church.
* Spiritual abuse IS a reality that too much of the church in this country shoves under the rug and refuses to address, so I therefore must always have my guard up and maintain a healthy skepticism of authority, while still respecting it.

etc…etc…learning more each day.

Sounds like you’ve had some experience with this stuff. Thanks for the kind comment.

Bingo! THAT is EXACTLY it!

People more than ever need to be aware though, how excessive legalism will have the OPPOSITE effect, result in spiritual abuse, and lead more lives to go into shambles. Again, I am so thankful for blogs like this for highlighting these issues.

I’d be glad to share more when you get time. The group that left (and started a new church “plant”) were the founding elders and their families that started the church in the Harris’ home in the late 1990′s. I talked with the elders that left after our family left the church, and they had seen HOFCC change from it’s beginning, and many of the points I brought up in my blog post were the same concerns the elders had with Gregg. I talked with one elder personally that told me he could have written my blog post himself, because I was so right on with my insights and concerns.

You see, I’m just a woman and didn’t get to sit in on all the men’s meetings where they discussed the really important matters and church teachings. But I sure did figure it out on my own.

The Gathering is the acts29.com church the other elders founded this year. It tends to still follow celebrity — Piper, Driscoll, Matt Chandler, CJ Mahaney and Tim Keller (whom I actually appreciate). It still had its problems with automatically assigning eldership and leadership to those men who had already held those positions at HOFCC (and their select wives for administrative bookkeeping, etc). It also followed the acts29.com statement of faith which was clearly male-centered and disgusted me. So, my family decided it was best to not continue there.

The “Gatheringcc.org” has its strengths (they’re not as rigid), but its weaknesses will eventually become its downfall, in my opinion. They still hold to CBMW’s teachings, they listen to Mark Driscoll, they are the same old elder guard that couldn’t get Gregg Harris under control at HOFCC and just transferred themselves and their “leadership” over to their new church plant. This caused some problems from the very start, in my experience (them not really hearing my concerns; then again, I’m only a woman). They follow the same old teaching except SOME of Gregg’s that they followed at their old church. So, eventually, the problems will arise again. They’re still very exclusive in many ways, which keeps out the very people that need the gospel.

dee, I can send you more information via email if you’d like.

Thank yo so much for your wonderful comments. We would love to talk with you one on one to get some understanding of the conflict. We are really focusing on church conflicts but are both very busy this week. I am actually away from home presently. But, in another week, my calendar clears a bit.

Why do you think that one group left Harris’ church and went to a Mark Driscoll, type church? What are the main differences, in your opinion?

Deb is going to be fascinated by your comments.
Blessings

http://kateschosen.wordpress.com/exclusivity-condescension-preferential-teachings-and-why-i-disagree-strongly-with-these-teachings/#comment-1203

Now, there’s even more going on, as the Harris’ are experiencing what some of the regular people do when hard life happens. Pray for them, as they go through some difficult times ahead in their home.

I really have strong feelings about what happened to our family at their church years ago, but have moved to a better place in my walk with the Lord as a result. It’s been an amazing time of sharing the Gospel with the unsaved and brokenhearted (in the supposedly unGODLY world of secular college ::tongue in cheek:: I’m now attending with my kids — instead of sitting quietly at home awaiting my husband’s “vision”). Also, through the process of my own presuppositions changing (as a result of digging into the Scriptures and knowing what they ACTUALLY say), I’m finding His Word is filled with a positive picture of Him and His views toward women and men, working together for His glory. Thank God for the modern age of technology to help us to learn and grow in the knowledge of His Word (bible studies) and from each other’s experiences. What a way that God works to spread His Good News!

An excellent comment! I think they consulted a book called “The Bible”. That’s what I did. I never bought these kinds of child rearing books, and I didn’t need them either!