How did you handle the disappointment of your family? I tried to talk about this on a website dedicated to those who had left the Church but that site was not really for me because many of them felt the only alternative to Christianity is atheism. I'm looking for my Creator whom I met before I ever heard of Christianity. So I'd like to discuss this with my family here at Destee since I know we are on the same page.
I have not discussed my decision with anyone in my family. I did tell my cousin to turn off the gospel music she was trying to get me to listen to because at the same time she was cussing up a storm and telling me all the mean things she's done to pay her soon to be ex husband back. I did not feel the need to pretend to want to hear something that was obviously not helping her so I just told her to turn it off.
When I weigh the cost--the heartbreak of my mother (an ordained evangelist), the disappointment of my stepfather (an ordained preacher), the possibility that I may not even get out of this bible belt town alive--against the dubious benefits of self disclosure I just don't see myself telling them at this point.
I am the one who years ago encouraged my cousin to go to church when she was troubled in her mind. Back then I thought that was the answer for her but there has been no change in her life. I am the one who knew the bible inside out and inspired everyone with the tenacity with which I bore my disabilities. For me to turn away would be the shock of the century. Yet I have and y'all know why.
It gets uncomfortable somethmes of course when they throw around the christian cliches as if I were still with them spiritually. I just keep my mouth closed==not telling a lie but not blurting out a truth I know they can't receive.
Is my silence a cowardly evasion or is it the cross I bear to avoid disrupting my family?
I have not discussed my decision with anyone in my family. I did tell my cousin to turn off the gospel music she was trying to get me to listen to because at the same time she was cussing up a storm and telling me all the mean things she's done to pay her soon to be ex husband back. I did not feel the need to pretend to want to hear something that was obviously not helping her so I just told her to turn it off.
When I weigh the cost--the heartbreak of my mother (an ordained evangelist), the disappointment of my stepfather (an ordained preacher), the possibility that I may not even get out of this bible belt town alive--against the dubious benefits of self disclosure I just don't see myself telling them at this point.
I am the one who years ago encouraged my cousin to go to church when she was troubled in her mind. Back then I thought that was the answer for her but there has been no change in her life. I am the one who knew the bible inside out and inspired everyone with the tenacity with which I bore my disabilities. For me to turn away would be the shock of the century. Yet I have and y'all know why.
It gets uncomfortable somethmes of course when they throw around the christian cliches as if I were still with them spiritually. I just keep my mouth closed==not telling a lie but not blurting out a truth I know they can't receive.
Is my silence a cowardly evasion or is it the cross I bear to avoid disrupting my family?