Anyone feel like they've joined a cult - Christian perspective please

[Sweetladyjane]

This might be a rambly so I apologise in advance for this.

I recently left the evangelical church where I became a Christian after falling out with the pastors after they told me I needed to rely on God more than the Dr's for my bipolar. It wasn't a friendly leaving and I still have a lot of resentment about feeling pushed out.

I joined a CofE church where it seems the teaching is very authority driven and although they talk a lot about building a relationship with Jesus they are also very anti women leaders and take a strong line on LGBTQ+ which doesn't align with my beliefs.

This coupled with having a non-Christian boyfriend (he's an atheist) I'm feeling pushed out again. I work for a Christian charity and one of my colleagues is a fundamentalist and uses every opportunity we're alone in the office to preach at me. He even went so far as to send me scripture quotes just before I went away with my boyfriend for the weekend so he could meet my parents.

I'm feeling very confused about where I fit in at church - or even if I do and a little like I've been brain washed.

It's further complicated by the fact that I work for a Christian charity and am also a Street Pastor and volunteer in the college chaplaincy so I would have to stop the street pastors and chaplaincy work if I wasn't a member of a church and I love both of these activities and feeling a calling to help people and I'm not sure if I could find other voluntary work in the secular world.

I guess I'm looking for direction on where to go with these feelings and how to make a decision on if I leave church and go it alone.

Thank you for reading and any advice gratefully received!

@Jen57 & a@KhakiPoster,

this is an old thread, your preaching is probably wasted

Never wasted if people are still reading! 😉 Never know when it might help someone.

Honestly it’s all a cult 🙄

Actually, that is not true. A cult, like religion, is made up of rules, dogma, rituals, superstition and other practices that are mostly meant to control the worshippers. The sect or cult creators form a god in their image... so they have a deity that they can control. This is done all over the world... as there are very few who truly want to get to know God, the Creator of the Universe.

If they actually wanted to get to know Him they would see that from the beginning of Genesis to the book of Revelations His main and most prominent message... which is shown by what Jesus Christ said and did... is that He wants a relationship with us. We were created in His image for that purpose. "The kingdom of God is within".
Yes, He wants us to stop doing wrong to one another... but He showed us throughout the Old and New Testaments that rules don't work or change our hearts. When the 10 Commandments were given the people just brushed it off and had a wild party. Which is why He wants His Spirit to come into our hearts, giving us the power to do right... and the right to become children of God.

Jesus even confronted the spiritual leaders of His day... the same kind we have today... about their hypocrisy and how they try to control with rule after rule instead of showing love. God loves us.

You might enjoy a Unity church.

I said the same to DH today.

🙌🏻

It is fascinating to watch how these so called 'religious groups' operate. You are told first of all that you are imperfect and they or their deemed 'hero' will lead you out of your imperfection if you follow them and love said hero. I am being very general here. I tend to look at the leader and see if they are beard stroking, steepling gesture individuals speaking in a low and purposeful voice. Makes me laugh now but they are EVERYTWHERE!. Took me years to unpack but I think now 'Here we go again'.