A deconstruction journey

We are very pleased to see that a new ecclesia is in the making in Anderlecht.
For many people, it is not so obvious to join a new religious community. Such a move requires a lot of thinking but also a lot of courage.

For some the reason to go looking for another church might not be such a nice experience. Like many people, they might have encountered a time of doubt, precipitated by a life crisis that caused that person to examine everything he or she believed in.  All the doubts and questions that the believer had came rushing to the surface. It could well be that they had probably always been there, but the person never had time to think about it or even the person had always been so busy trying to please the Lord that he or she had never stopped to address them.

For some people, the decision to deconstruct their faith is the result of the accumulation of lots of little doubts that pile up one on top of the other. Systematic sexism and misogyny within the church can also be a catalyst as people wrestle with the disconnect between biblical teachings and the treatment of women in modern-day congregations.

Churchmembers when they start asking questions to their priest are confronted with a negative attitude. In such instances, the church’s unfriendliness towards doubt and questioning can also push believers away, leaving them feeling isolated and misunderstood in their quest for truth. Add to that the disillusionment when Christianity fails to deliver on its promises of peace, prosperity, and fulfilment, and you have a recipe for a profound existential crisis.

Yet perhaps most insidious of all is the experience of spiritual and for some even sexual abuse and church hurt, where mistreatment at the hands of fellow believers leaves deep scars on the soul, driving individuals to re-evaluate everything they once held sacred.

Somehow, there was a turning point or a moment when the drop broke the camel’s back, so that the person eventually took the step to leave the former church and switch to a new church community.

Doing away with a past full of confusion and hurt demands a strong mind.

To enter a big strange church is not that bad or not that difficult. People just disappear into space there. But to enter a house church or small church one must show one’s face and the newcomer experiences fear of threshold. Over the years, many have been in continuous contact with certain doctrines that are not really Biblical, but more to do with the doctrines of the church to which one belonged. Breaking with these teachings is not easy at all and gives rise to a huge internal struggle.
The many questions one faces do not become easier when one is confronted with even more diverse thoughts at those different churches.

It really can hurt when one decides to leave a church and not see a safe haven. Though, leaving one denominational church, can bring some liberation, breaking with the chains of that church. As such, for the one leaving the main church, it can come with the unexpected blessing of being in a safe place to really examine his or her faith for the first time in great detail, to work out what exactly he or she believed and why.

Admittedly, that small church community may be far removed from the large institutional churches with its ideas. It can also weigh heavily suddenly being confronted with Bible texts there so often. In large churches, not much time is usually spent on the Bible readings, while now in such a small church those texts come to the fore. It sometimes seems so difficult for newcomers to be beaten around the ears in that small community with those Bible texts, as it were.

It looks like one comes in a carousel where there is a faith deconstruction as taking a

“Massive inventory of your faith, tearing every doctrine from the cupboard and turning each one over in your hand.”

The point of faith deconstruction is to break down every idea, practice, belief, and tradition of a religious system into tiny pieces and then examine each fragment one by one to determine the truthfulness and usefulness of each part. One must be prepared to do this, and that is not always easy. In the end, the goal is to piece it all back together minus that which is peripheral, burdensome, and distorted.

The risk, of course, is that one can deconstruct their faith out of existence altogether. Some people do. It is a scary place to go — to lay everything you once held true on the table of reasonableness for testing. In search of a new church, people along the way come across people who also want to look further and have set a goal to move towards the Truth about God and His son. Together they are out as pilgrims whose goal is to enter the gate of God’s Kingdom.

However, those who do the journey well, usually end up with a much deeper and stronger faith because, well… they’ve actually checked it all out for themselves rather than mindlessly believing everything they’ve been told by some so-called expert who happens to grace the pulpit on a Sunday morning.

If you are someone who has doubts or if you know someone who has doubts, bring yourself and that person to dare to meet that small church community and ask questions there that can dispel your doubts and his or her doubts.
In any case, the Brothers in Christ bring opportunities to be questioned and to show the Biblical Truth.
Dare to address them and dare to enter an ecclesia of the Christadelphians.

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Find also to read

1. Looking on what is going on and not being of it
2. What is a Pilgrimage?
3. God’s Words for the Pilgrimage #2 Words of God for life
4. A pilgrimage not exactly without obstacles or obstacles #2 Not a cheap or easy flight but a life journey
5. Many looking for the church of the world instead of the Church of God
6. God’s Words for the Pilgrimage #2 Words of God for life
7. Jesse Hemery and the The Goshen Fellowship
8. Bible Students and House Churches
9. God’s forgotten Word 5 Lost Lawbook 4 The ‘Catholic’ church
10. Looking for a biblically sound church
11. When not seeing or not finding a biblically sound church
12. Personal thoughts, communication, establishing ecclesia and guest writings
13. Prayer on the last day of the year
14. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
15. Germinating small seeds, pebble-stones, small and mega churches and faith
16. Finding faith formation and a baptismal place
17. On the way to the altar of the world
18. A new yeshiva or studyplace to be
19. Gathering and meeting for God
20. How to start a house church?
21. How to Form an Ecclesia
22. As a small church needing encouragement
23. Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church
24. January 6, 2024 official opening of the Anderlecht ecclesia
25. Who are the Christadelphians or Brothers in Christ
26. Christadelphian people – who or what
27. History of the Christadelphians

My sense of direction

We all should set a goal, reaching for peace and freedom for all.

Bizzwizz

Daily writing prompt

What gives you direction in life?

View all responses

In life, we often seek a path to follow,

A direction to guide us through the unknown.

What gives us direction, we often ponder,

And seek a purpose to call our own.

For some, it’s the values and priorities we hold,

The things we cherish, the ideals we uphold.

When we know what truly matters in our hearts,

We can make choices that lead us to our part.

Others find direction in setting goals,

Creating a plan, and moving towards their roles.

With each step taken, a purpose unfolds,

And a path to a fulfilling life, we hold.

And still, there are those who seek direction in positivity,

Seeing opportunities in every adversity.

A mindset that keeps them moving forward,

Towards a life of wonder and reward.

In conclusion, what gives us direction in life,

Is a combination…

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Life🌼

We should be aware that the religious life is a particular game or contest where we have to reach the goal or finish line.
Many people prefer to hold on the earthly life where an adulterousness and pride in them avoids them to come close to Allah, the Only One True God Who is One (and not two or three).

In that earthly life some leap in the hope Minimum life is nothing but the pleasures of vanity. Few people are willing to set aside the earthly pleasures to come to know the more important pleasures of God.

Let us belong to those who chose to follow Allah’s Guidance and be aware that Life is like a rainfall whose growth charms the unbelievers but then dries out while those who believe in the Most High and count on His forgiveness and well-being do not need those worldly things but prefer heavenly things as they praise Jehovah God and want to be submissive to Him.

 

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Preceding

Be it in May or September: Run the race

Race and Grace

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong

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Additional reading

1. Words to inspire and to give wisdom
2. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
3. Atonement and the race been bought
4. Matthew 20 Are you willing to work for Jesus?
5. Run for the Everlasting Cure
6. A race not to swift, nor a battle to the strong
7. Running the battle
8. Life is like a ten-speed bike.
9. The Month of May and Running the race
10. Today’s Thought “A Race in the Last Days” (May 27)
11. Today’s Thought “There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (May 27)

Try to get it!

Black yellow Or white
Each has a right
The right to be respected
The right to be protected
The right to live
And to peacefully survive
So.. Live
And Let live
Sohair
Allah says
Chapter 57 The Iron سورة الحديد – Al-Hadid: Verse 20
اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ ۖ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا ۖ وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ ۚ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ
Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves, riches and children. Here is a similitude: How rain and the growth which it brings forth, delight (the hearts of) the tillers; soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away. But in…

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It’s the Little Things that Matter

by: Alex Cervantes

It is so important to make time in our lives to feed our faith. Alex advocates how faith grows when it is exercised, when it is stretched and challenged. Much like how we grow physically and mentally through day-to-day work, our faith grows the same way. Whether it’s through reading our Bible and prayer, or how we interact with people we meet each day, our faith can grow by doing the little things.

 

Listen to Alex’s Faith Talk, and many more!

LISTEN NOW

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Preceding

Why are you afraid?

You don’t have to walk through the fire

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Find also to read

1. Fear of failure, and fear of the unknown
2. Faith antithesis of rationality
3. Faith Launch 2020
4. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
5. Are you religious, spiritual, or do you belong to a religion, having a faith or interfaith
6. The longer you wait
7. Gaining deeper understanding
8. Faith because of the questions
9. Have faith in your faith…doubt your doubts
10. A heart in the right place and brightly burning faith
11. Improving the world by improving the Faith
12. Coming of Age in Christ
13. The chosen ones to fear or not to fear
14. Faith, storms and actions to be taken
15. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
16. Through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe
17. Background of Faith
18. Ability (part 2)
19. When having taken a new direction in life, having become a Christian
20. Summer time to spend some more time at the growing process of your faith
21. United people under Christ