Comments on: A Response To Deb Milner – Why Folks Who Stay In TEC Feel Hurt By Those Who Leave

By: Truth Unites... and Divides

Truth Unites... and Divides — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:51:05 +0000

No Robert, some want to stay and these “some” will justify it with self-serving rationalization. They are only fooling themselves.

By: Alice C. Linsley

Alice C. Linsley — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:15:50 +0000

Yes, Robert, some must stay. They too pay an emotional price. Brad is right. Everyone pays and “the emotional side of this can’t be ignored.”

By: AmmaKate

AmmaKate — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:48:41 +0000

I, too, have many locals and Diocesan folks who respond to seeing me in Public, a Funeral etc as if they do not recognize me as someone they know. I agree with Sarah as those I have had negative comments/looks/rejection are revisionists.
On an intellectual level, I understand. Emotionally, it is very difficult. AND we have adult kids who have not left TEC.
So what does one do? Pray…Pray…and Pray more.

By: DaveG

DaveG — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:07:43 +0000

Fair questions Robert. But there are other fair questions that also need answers. Should families leave their children to be taught sexual license and immorality? Should we bring in our tithes and offerings to finance the spread of heresy? Do we participate in the embrace of the surrounding culture and bear witness to its excesses? If you have the fortitude and resolve to remain faithful in those circumstances, does it imply that everyone else does and ought to do likewise? Do I have the right to contribute to the sacrifice of the faith of my neighbor’s child?

By: Robert Easter

Robert Easter — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:02:34 +0000

A story keeps recurring to me of a man in the persecuted Russian Church, asked (by Brother Andrew) why he didn’t take the opportunity to emigrate, answered, “If I leave, who will pray?” If we run away from anything we call persecution, or vanish in the face of heresy, who are we honoring? Arius, for a while, managed to co-opt the Church’s hierarchy: Athanasius continued to minister to his diocese if, need be, from exile or hiding, and the aged Antony came back from decades in the desert to preach truth in the city. Do we have that resolve?

By: Undergroundpewster

Undergroundpewster — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:36:35 +0000

I wonder if like the child/parent separation seen when the angry youth leaves the nest, that there is a normal antipathy in such circumstances, and this eventually passes allowing a new relationship to form at a later date once the two parties have had a chance to realize their independence.

I am left wondering if we cannot see that some of their reaction is due to a healthy biological process.

Not all splits lead to “the mother and child reunion,” but I pray that Deb and her friends will, in time, walk together in Christ once again.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:02:18 +0000

I remain friends with many who have left TEC.

But I suspect the people who are angry about others leaving are mostly revisionists. They know good and well why you left — because you believe their theology is unacceptable in a church.

It’s hard to spin that kind of radical rejection of their foundational worldview and make people feel better about it!

By: DaveG

DaveG — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:09:40 +0000

Deb
You are a constant reminder (like looking into a mirror) of how far they have drifted from the faith once delivered to the saints. Without ever saying a word about it, you shame them. Forced to ask themselves why you left and they stay, the absence of a Christ-centered justification for staying makes them uncomfortable. Stay strong: “When wicked men insult and hate you all because of ME, blessed, blessed are you.”