By Thy Words

[Abbott]

What I said has nothing to do with my particular kind of church.

No, but what I said did. In its basic form, what you said was a manipulation of the discussion. I never mentioned walking away from God, you did. I specifically mentioned walking away from YOUR church, and you took it from there and twisted it.

You have a history of twisting the discussion and then get aggrivated when people say "that's not what we were saying". It's frustrating.

I have to agree with Signtist on this. Earlier in this thread, there was an attempt to twist specific points I raised with problematic thinking promoted by the author of the book under discussion into a generalized blanket statement about that author that I did not make. It came across as a sideways attempt to discredit valid discussion points. Which in turn makes it difficult to have an honest and productive discussion. I'm not personally offended by such attempts, but wish we could avoid cases of "the twisties".

[Signtist]

What is the boundary at which you would no longer "bless" your kids for "leaving"?

Have you or anyone from your church ever acknowledged that someone has left your church and may still be well within God's will for their life?

Have you or anyone from your church ever gone to to such a person, and said, "Go with God. We know His light and life is in you, and we bless that. Serve Him well."

[Signtist]

Also, what I said had nothing to do with my kids.

[ABC 123]

I am sitting here trying to figure out if people have a blessing ceremony (and conversely a blessing take back ceremony) for their children.

What does that look like? You don't babysit the grandchildren? You don't help them paint their basement? You don't go to their weddings? You tell them every time you see them that they are wrong?

My parent/adult children relationships have usually been mutually respectful of the other's adult choices. We don't speak in those sorts of words to each other.

[Signtist]

Blessing take back ceremony.

[Josh]

What is the boundary at which you would no longer "bless" your kids for "leaving"?

Have you or anyone from your church ever acknowledged that someone has left your church and may still be well within God's will for their life?

Have you or anyone from your church ever gone to to such a person, and said, "Go with God. We know His light and life is in you, and we bless that. Serve Him well."

Nope. We don’t see that we need to make it easy for people to depart for the world.

In the rare case someone leaves our church and actually ends up being in a healthier, more spiritual, less worldly life, most people would feel very blessed.

To cite a recent example, someone left our church partly because they want to get involved in right wing politics and really wanted to go participate in the 1/6 political protests.

Exactly how am I supposed to “bless” this?

[steve-in-kville]

I also know, there will most likely be attempts to discredit my experience and my stories. It is typical to dismiss me as just another bitter "ex".

We've been "out" over three years now and still deal with this. It never goes away, I don't think.

[steve-in-kville]

What is the boundary at which you would no longer "bless" your kids for "leaving"?

Have you or anyone from your church ever acknowledged that someone has left your church and may still be well within God's will for their life?

Have you or anyone from your church ever gone to to such a person, and said, "Go with God. We know His light and life is in you, and we bless that. Serve Him well."

That is thread worthy in itself

[Josh]

What is the boundary at which you would no longer "bless" your kids for "leaving"?

Have you or anyone from your church ever acknowledged that someone has left your church and may still be well within God's will for their life?

Have you or anyone from your church ever gone to to such a person, and said, "Go with God. We know His light and life is in you, and we bless that. Serve Him well."

That is thread worthy in itself

Ah, yes, another "criticise Holdemans" thread. Those sure have been useful in the past.

Everybody already has made up in their mind how bad it is that the Holdemans do things. You're all free to remain in your own respective churches and instead write about how you've found a good way to do things instead of always criticising somebody else's church.

[Josh]

What is the boundary at which you would no longer "bless" your kids for "leaving"?

Have you or anyone from your church ever acknowledged that someone has left your church and may still be well within God's will for their life?

Have you or anyone from your church ever gone to to such a person, and said, "Go with God. We know His light and life is in you, and we bless that. Serve Him well."

Ok, does your church "bless" someone who says they are leaving the Christian faith and don't believe in God anymore?