Control

[riverbank]

Now I am out of Christianity, I now realise there was quite a bit of control that the pastors had over me. Probably partly because I'd known them for a long time, and so I didn't 'rebel against God's anointed' and I believed they were God's perfect leaders for me.

 

One or two examples of my ex-pastor:

 

Some friends of mine (fine people) left the church in controversial circumstances. I didn't see them for a while, but when my pastor found out I'd seen them he freaked out and said that they had done a lot of damage to the church and that he had some kind of bad spirit and that the reason I'd had a bad day or week was because I'd been seeing them. Fuck me, the way he spoke really shook me up. Of course, I ended up listening to the f***ing pastor and cut off contact with Andy and Ali. Just because he was my pastor and I should do what he says. Thankfully I didn't stay this way.

 

My old church was really into Nando's, the Portuguese restaurant chain which has plenty of branches in England. I didn't like Nando's particularly, the setup was okay, but the food was crap. But because Nando's kind of fitted in with the 'church culture', I was told by my pastor that I should get to like Nando's because most of the people in the church liked it. WTF?? I never did get to like it particularly.

 

Also, the pastor strongly emphasized how important the church was and that you should put your roots down in the church and it was a really crucial part of your life. Also because I was part of the worship team, I always got the impression that it was a must that I should stay in the church because the pastors would be upset if I left.

 

Now, finally, I've been able to do what I wanted and moved out of my hometown.

 

I think once you leave Christianity you really begin to realise the amount of control that some pastors have over their sheep.

 

anyway, just thought I'd share this. I am a proper rebel now and no longer a good boy

[R. S. Martin]

I've been thinking the past few days about the level of control church leadership exercises over their people. When I left the church I was born into I felt like I had broken through something, or that something had broken off me. I knew then that never ever again could humans have that level of control over me, my thoughts, my feelings, and my speech and actions. That is total control. It is not life but death--a living death. Jesus said "I came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly." Quite the contrast with what fundamentalism practices.