I have gone through many changes over time after leaving the Family. I have had shifts in values, beliefs, preferences, you name it.
In the Family if a person got labeled a "problem case" there was no escaping that label. I could be wrong but wanted to ask what you all think about the following:
Do you think that once you have held any opinion that differs from what is more broadly accepted that you are spoken to or seen in a negative light from that point forward with no turning back or no chance of fitting in again?
I could see how that could happen because we were all walking on eggshells at times in the Family and if a "problem case" label was acheived, there was no bridge back. There was an internal shunning of the identified problem case and automatically they were treated in a public relations manner as if they were outsiders. Same with "backsliders".
I see this board as a real chance to learn from each other and to come to respect our differences if we can talk about this and accept each other for where we are at in life right now.
I don't want to be an agnostic here who disses Bible Believing Christians because it is not my cup of tea and I want to be respected for who I am. I remember a post by Achieck where she said to me that she didn't believe that people who identified as "atheist" or "agnostic" were going to "hell" but that God was bigger than that and looked at people's hearts.
It impressed me in a positive way that she could hold to her faith and not condemn me or slight me in any way for mine.
We are a bunch that have had our minds screwed with so much I think we really deserve all the healing and encouragement we can get or give to each other. btw, Acheick, the first part of this was to everybody and the second part was about you and your encouraging post from the past.
I do think it is possible for people to have different journeys here and still be very supportive of each other. What do you all think?