Feelings

In the previous thread, a current OALCer stated to an exOALCer that he prayed they had left “the church” based on what the Bible teaches and not their feelings.

My experience in the OALC was that it was all about feelings. The whole service was aimed at making one feel guilty, feel sorry enough to ask forgiveness, and feel the burden lifted after hearing “the testimony”. Not that any of these are wrong as part of the service-- but that was the whole service.

I never left there feeling like “God has been so merciful to me, I should certainly now go spread His Word and His love to all.” I may have attended a “Christian” gathering, and continued that good feeling of fellowship. But never do I recall a preacher encouraging us to go “make disciples of all nations” or “love your enemies”. We were taught that if a person was chosen to be a “Christian”, they would be exposed to the OALC at God’s chosen time. We were rarely encouraged to reach out into “the world” ourselves. Our job was to do our best to follow the rules, and try harder to avoid sin. But the Bible teaches that it doesn’t matter how hard we or they try, we will ALWAYS fall short and sin again. It is only because of Jesus' death and resurrection that we are saved. Yes, we should absolutely try our best to follow Christ’s example, but we will never measure up in this world.

I now believe our real purpose is to live a life of thankfulness and service to Him in thanks for the price He has paid for us. I don’t think that staying confined within our church’s congregation is what God intends; I believe Jesus meant it when He said to “go forth and make disciples of all nations…”


I agree with the OALCer that the choice of a Church should not be based on feelings, but rather God’s Word. That’s precisely why I left the OALC.

How do the rest of you see this?