After nearly 2 years of blogging some of us have noticed a certain trend in the comments left by CBC supporters. IT seems as though they all go through the same 5 stages of commenting. Here is a list, sent in by WTFWJD. It would probably save them all time and stress if they just knew we enjoyed messing with them.
1. Denial
"I can't believe this site exists, how could ANYONE possibly have a a problem with CBC, et. al.. I wonder if you guys are even REAL Christians."
2. Anger
"You guys suck. You are just bitter. You're going to hell."
3. Bargaining
"Well, maybe they do some bad things, but at least they don't kill babies." Or: "If you're so perfect, YOU try claiming you're perfect and then living up to it."
4. Depression (also known as Disorganization)
Irrational circular logic and straw-man arguments. "If they don't do it, who will?" "I can't belive I'm even posting here. Don't you people have Jobs?"
5. Acceptance
"Since I'm so correct, I'm leaving and never coming back. Enjoy Hell."
Excellent work, WTFWJD, it's readers like you who make this blog worth returning to.
Props to FICM and “Anonymous Lurker” as well.
Yikes. You guys are too easily entertained.
Nice job on hitting 300,000.
And yet we average around 300 unique hits each day… it would seem the problem is bigger than us.
This is quite possibly the funniest post I’ve read on here.
Too bad this isn’t a BBS type forum with assignable ranks – Denial thru Acceptance are great rank names … but what would the ultimate rank be?
Disgruntled Blogger?
Oh, and Larry? You forgot “you’re going to hell”.
‘Scrupe
Hi Larry,
You stated in an earlier post that
“Now that I’m not in the CBC Republican enclave I can freely admit my sins.”
and I wanted to ask you an forwad question. Did you ever ‘spin’, hide your true opinions, or give the impression that you agreed in order to keep yourself a company man?
If must have been hard for you.
-lance
You forgot “Blaming”.
I think that these 5 steps of the grieving process can also be applied to a member in an abusive church who gradually wakes up to the spell under which he or she has been suffering for a long time:
1. Denial:
“No, no, no what is said on this blog is just a bunch of lies and slander. There can’t be any truth to it because I came across a cuss word! None of these things exist in my local church! My pastor is greatly anointed of God and certainly knows the Bible better than all of these bloggers put together!”
2. Anger:
“Well, to be honest, I did get a little upset when they had that young lady get up in the prayer room all by herself and confess that she had committed fornication – and the father of her child was not even there! Then the pastor repeated several times that what she did was “a sin” “a sin” “a sin.”
3. Bargaining:
“Well, maybe the pastor/leaders do some bad things sometimes, but they could be a lot worse. You know really, there is no such thing as a “perfect” church! So, even if I left this church, I would just find the same stuff anywhere I went. I think I’ll stay.”
4. Depression:
“I don’t really feel like I can be myself in this church. It seems that I don’t fit in. Every time I ask a sincere question, I get rebuffed. I actually do not feel loved for who I am and this makes me feel sad most of the time. What is happening to me? Sometimes I feel a little crazy.”
5. Acceptance:
“After a long struggle, I have now come to accept the fact that the local church that I have been a member of for so long is really a very self-serving and dysfunctional family. I now believe that God does not want me to continue supporting such a leader-centered group. I’m leaving for my own sanity – and I really do not care whether my friends agree with me or not.”
Again one of the “areas” – “Blaming” right before Bargaining. Goes something like this:
The problem is the
a) The Devil who always seesm to be able to cause trouble in THAT particular church even though he is not omnipresent or omnipotent, no matter how many times someone “binds” him in “Jesus’ name”.
b) Other church members who “won’t do God’s will”, (read get in line withthe rest of the lemmings and follow blindly, calling it “faith”).
c) Politics – you know the other half of Politics and Religion – all the things that are happening in the “world” that somehow manage to make the church go down the wrong path-metaphorically speaking.
d) The world with all it’s “sin” even though most churches have no concept what “sin” – (amartos for you Greek scholars) really is. As long as it’s “against the rules” in that particular denom, it’s a “sin” and THAT’s why that church isn’t making it.
The problem is not the person them self – unless they fall victim to the pulpit-powered guilt trip that leaves them one step shy of self-flaggelation. At that point comes Depression that leads to either a worthless life trapped in religion, or, as David wrote, finally gyanking the D-ring and punching out.
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