I, unfortunately, have decided that I’m going to have to leave my church due to their unrelenting BLM support and (of course) racism towards anyone who isn’t openly supporting it. When I joined this church in 2012 it was great, it was extremely spiritual and wasn’t extremist in any sort of way. They were very open and accepting of all beliefs, and I never felt ashamed to be there.
Now the entire church is only discussing how white people need to pray on our inherent evil towards minorities. One of our ministers is a black woman who was very accepting until BLM first came into existence. After that she set up a church protest to go protest the execution of a black man who had raped and murdered a woman and her child. I was NOT down with participating with that, and really considered leaving after that incident but ultimately decided to stay. From there she and another minister made it known she was not a Trump fan and now all of the leaders there are calling all white people racist. They also just recently said even other races were racist if they didn’t support BLM.
It wasnt super obvious until these past few months, but from then on things kept becoming more extremist and unaccepting. This is not a place where people can celebrate differences in thought or beliefs.
Have any of you guys had to leave a church or a community due to the rising racism of BLM / all the other shit going on? I honestly never thought I’d be hard pressed into leaving, but I don’t feel peace or love there anymore. I don’t even know how to go about finding another place to worship because I’m sure my church isn’t the only place where this is happening.
If I could, without being offensive offer a suggestion. I think a lot of people are going to church looking for a spiritual experience, a felling that you might get. The problem with that is that you may not ever find that feeling. Church isn't about that. It's about coming together to worship our Lord. That is it. We aren't there trying to get a feeling in our gut or a vision or anything. It's about Christians in fellowship having faith in the salvation that is ours in Christ. Unitarian is not Christian.
I definitely understand your point, but I also have never gravitated towards churches that preach how you must live your life in fear of god and threats of going to hell. I know that is an aspect (a significant portion) that teaches that, but I would like to find a congregation that hammers more the love you find with Jesus and salvation. If that makes any sense. Thank you for your input though, your point came across really well
I didn't know how to say it without sounding judgmental. You don't want all hell fire and brimstone but you do need some of that. Jesus taught more about Hell than he did about Heaven. But he taught us to love our neighbors. The assurance of salvation is so much sweeter when you understand how serious Hell is and exactly what you have been saved from.
Then you may want to stay away from Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches.
Heaven and hell are realities; warnings have to be made but people generally don't accept the gospel out of fear. What that leads to is a minimal devotion to Christ becuase it basically is just about gettting your ticket punched and staying out of hell.
But the grace of Jesus Christ has so much to offer you here and now, on earth as it currently stands, while we wait for the coming of his kingdom. We love Jesus Christ because he loved us first; because as our redeemer and king he is worthy of all glory, praise, and honor.