Is a full time job.
At which the current batch of admins has dismally failed.
But then, it was never their job in the first place. They’re admins not baby sitters.
So why don’t they restrict themselves to administration and stop pretending to be moderators?
“They sent me a letter”
Iow, your story is “for nothing.” You did nothing but talk and stop visting to be excommunicated? This is hardly believable. What did you say?
GUANO, Gregory.
You don’t have to personally find keiths’ story “believable”
But you have to act as if you assume he made his comment in good faith.
Gregory:
I stopped believing, Gregory. LCMS folks take their beliefs very seriously. I remember that not even fellow (non-LCMS) Lutherans were allowed to take communion at our church.
keiths,
What did you actually say (or do) that made them excommunicate you? Simply stopping believing is not believable.
Gregory,
Nothing, other than replying to the letter. In my reply I said that I no longer believed and that I would not be joining a new congregation.
Why is that so hard for you to accept?
What reason did you give?
Gregory,
You’re strangely coy about your own beliefs and religious affiliation, but haven’t you ever met a Christian who thought that nonbelievers should not be accepted as members of their church?
If not, then you haven’t gotten out much.
keiths, I’ve met a lot of badly damaged people, including those who have ‘gotten out much.’ Christians have been damaged too. Don’t pretend I’m a therapist for your atheist worldview. Very few people ‘politely’ exit their church in a way that gets them ‘excommunicated.’ Lizzie’s ‘witness’ tells quite a different story than yours.
Gregory,
I don’t remember giving a reason, but if I did, it would have been similar to the reason I’d give now: Christianity (and particularly LCMS Christianity, with its concomitant literalism) just doesn’t make sense rationally, and it conflicts with the available evidence.
Gregory,
You are one of the very last persons I would think of approaching if I wanted therapy.
The excommunication was the exit. I saw no need to formally ‘divorce’ the church; I was content to just go on with my life. They forced the issue by sending me the letter.
Having received the letter, I certainly wasn’t going to lie. I told them that I no longer believed and that I would not be joining another congregation. They proceeded to excommunicate me.
Oh. So that’s what that thing is for!
Because it was a different story, Gregory. Not all experiences are the same. My mother was excommunicated by her parish priest. Fortunately it was overturned by the bishop, but it caused her great unhappiness.