Signs You’re Free
Posted on August 8th, 2008 by The Reformer into the Uncategorized categoryOur friends over at the De-Tox Church Group recently shared with us a checklist of signs you are out of the religious world. I thought this was a great idea, so I have taken their list of 11 points and modified it a bit to fit in here at City Business. I hope everyone reading this can say, "yep that's me," because it means you have freed yourself of the lies. Enjoy.
SIGNS YOU ARE NO LONGER APART OF THE RELIGIOUS WORLD:
1. You believe it's OK to miss church and never look down at anyone who has stopped going.
2. You only submit to God's perfect authority.
3. Your don't care about having a close, personal relationship with your pastor.
4. You're more concerned about serving others then being recognized.
5. You are disgusted by even the thought of watching anything on TBN.
6. You are no longer interested in or even have knowledge of the latest Christian fads and/or books (i.e. Elijah list, The Prayer of Jabez, Purpose Driven Life, WWJD products, etc.)
7. You no longer attend church conferences with topics like "Finding Your Destiny" and could care less what Christian celebrity is speaking there.
8. You spend your time, money and energy pursuing God's unique and individual plan for your life, even if it involves "secular" things (i.e. music, film, sports, etc.)
9. You grieve over the fact that you wasted so much time living under a false gospel and vow to help get others out as well.
10. You only care to please God and pay no attention to what church folks think of you.
11. You work daily to purge your vocabulary of any and all Christian lingo.
12. You follow God's prodding and give your money to those He directs you to, in an amount that He tells you to.
13. You use prayer and bible study as a way to commune with God and others, not as religious practices to earn brownie points in heaven.
14. You live by grace alone and don't get hung up on the small stuff (i.e. beer & cigars)
15. You have a stronger faith in God now then you have ever had before.
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August 8th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Except for purely sociological reasons? ;I
August 8th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Cool! Love it Reformer! In fact, I like your version better!
August 8th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
You’re right. I have watched TBN a few times lately just to laugh at them.
Great glad to hear it. Thanks for the imput.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I was smoking a cigar and drinking a beer as I read this. I just don’t feel bad about after reading this.
OK. I don’t drink or smoke, but if I did I wouldn’t feel condemned by it.
August 8th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
So are dropping f-bombs at work ok? cuz ummm… nevermind
August 9th, 2008 at 8:03 am
“15. You have a stronger faith in God now then you have ever had before.”
YES! THAT IS WHAT I’VE BEEN TRYING TO SAY ALL ALONG! NOBODY SEEMS TO BELIEVE ME!
August 9th, 2008 at 8:19 am
16. The constant feeling that God is up there holding a club over your head is almost gone.
August 9th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
17. You never miss the Sunday Night NFL game.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:35 am
That’s because your walk with God no longer looks like the typical church brand! You are blazing a new trail which is looking more and more like the you God created in the first place! The only ones who will get that are the ones who are on a similar path to “completely step outside the system”.
August 10th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I totally concur - only absolute freedom from church oppression will get you there.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:54 am
Heck, because I have a couple of fantasy football leagues I play in, I pretty much see all the games on in my area, not just the home team. I can remember times in my life when it was a dilemma to go to church or watch the Super Bowl.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Our old church was ALWAYS scheduling some event that conflicted with a a home BSU game. It drove my husband crazy. Or the care groups were expected to host a SuperBowl party and the 4th of July was completely taken over by the church picnic which the pastors would have to do a bunch of work for so it certainly wasn’t a pleasure day for my husband. Since we left it’s been so great to do what we want on the 4th! and on CHRISTMAS we don’t have to go to the 6pm Christmas Eve service, which was work for both of us. Finally, we no longer have to leave the family dinner early and then come back late to the relatives comments on ‘now that you are back we can open presents.’ !!
We were always perplexed by that church’s audacity to think they were more important than everything and everyone outside the church.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Ya, and that God actually smiles sometimes! or Laughs?
August 11th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Amen to that. I look back at my BT/CBC days and just laugh and shake my head at the mindset that so many of us had. All my friends and I used to wonder why anyone would go anywhere else. We used to think we were simply the best. There was nothing better outside those walls. How arrogant and prideful we were. What a shame that that mindset has not changed.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
DeTox Church Group said:
August 11th, 2008 at 9:03 am We were always perplexed by that church’s audacity to think they were more important than everything and everyone outside the church.
That is because we are brainwashed into thinking that the church is our “family” so our real families (especially if they are not Christians) don’t exist. No wonder our families don’t want anything to do with Christianity. They figure out real fast where they fit in to the equation. How sick. Don’t tell me these churches are not cults.
I say brainwashed because the only way anyone would go along with this crap is because they had to be brainwashed. The fact that normal intelligent people go along with this stuff is what needs to be addressed here. How could we have all bought into this elitist attitude and called ourselves Christians?
August 11th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
JAIAM is that handle “Just As I Am”?
August 12th, 2008 at 4:57 am
Yes it is - I’ve quit pretending to be super Christian woman
August 12th, 2008 at 10:47 am
My friend’s brother (who didn’t go to the church) kept calling us the cult church for years! Of course we just blew him off as one of those rebellious independents who don’t think they need church, even though we thought he was pretty dang funny!
If it’s not a cult, since they do profess to believe in Jesus and other tenets of Christianity, then they certainly use cult like practices. Everyone can see that but those who are in it.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Love it!
August 12th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Dear Loyalty vs. Truth
A group of us who left MFI often question if we had a lobotomy while we were in it. If thats the case than the Lord is giving us our brains back.
For the religious reading this let me interpret this comment:
recall the prodigal son eating out of the pig trough-
“and he came to his senses.” Gotta love that quote.
I came to my senses one day in church and ran out of there. Did I lose my
faith? No -though recovering from a lobotomy can be painful.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Very painful for awhile. You loose friends, doubt your Christian existence, and spend a lot of time in deep thought. But then God brings you through and you begin to serve Him all over again. Problem can be though, that now you have to learn to live in the comfort of God alone rather then in the comfort of the cushy church. It is a scary place to be at times. But in the end He always comes through.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Reformer said: Problem can be though, that now you have to learn to live in the comfort of God alone rather then in the comfort of the cushy church.
Uh….. I must have missed something because there never was anything comfortable and cushy in the church I was in. I guess I was too far down the rung to get any of the good stuff! Nothing but fear and condemnation for me! At least now when I’m on the outside looking in I can say it is by my own choice. ha ha