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Post by bibleonlyfan on May 7, 2021 0:16:15 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there:
It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do.
For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs.
In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?)
It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do?
Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church?
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Post by questioneverything on May 7, 2021 0:57:37 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there: It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do. For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs. In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?) It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do? Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church? Are you still PR? If you don't want to answer it's okay with me. It's a lot of hard work getting all the doctrines straight, isn't it? One could call it work or works righteousness. As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad the pr church is so insular. It keeps their harmful beliefs and behaviors to themselves for the most part. Sure, they are experts in judgementalism and damning, but it is effectively limited by their pride, arrogance, and fear to a small ethnic group of acquaintances and family. Very much an us vs. us paradigm built on ethnic immaculacy and holding the line in the fear of ostracism because of questions, doubt, or, God forbid, disagreement. It is,in my mind, an infected theology. Infected with themselves; they just can't get over themselves or their created god, small and Dutch as he is. |
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Post by pemptyr on May 7, 2021 5:01:25 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there: It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do. For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs. In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?) It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do? Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church? I agree with what you said. But you were trained to serve the poor and do mission work, you see the poor that matter to Jesus can only be found in the prc church and the way you live your christian life is an example to the younger prs. You see they believe if God wanted to save anyone outside of the prc He would sovereignly add them to the church (PRC). Your just not seeing it with Godly eyes. This is one reason i have no love for the prc because like you I don't think the prc, this includes the rpc also because it's the same, know what the bible teaches. I have to edit this to add the bible verse acts 2:47, God added daily to the church such as should be saved. See pr proof their right. Lol |
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Post by cannalily on May 7, 2021 14:35:07 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there: It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do. For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs. In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?) It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do? Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church? Are you still PR? If you don't want to answer it's okay with me. It's a lot of hard work getting all the doctrines straight, isn't it? One could call it work or works righteousness. As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad the pr church is so insular. It keeps their harmful beliefs and behaviors to themselves for the most part. Sure, they are experts in judgementalism and damning, but it is effectively limited by their pride, arrogance, and fear to a small ethnic group of acquaintances and family. Very much an us vs. us paradigm built on ethnic immaculacy and holding the line in the fear of ostracism because of questions, doubt, or, God forbid, disagreement. It is,in my mind, an infected theology. Infected with themselves; they just can't get over themselves or their created god, small and Dutch as he is. So true! They have very little to offer in the real world. Perhaps this is why they limit education (unless it's pr sanctioned), are against college, and female careers, unless it's nursing. This is how they defend their little turf... keep the cult under control! |
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Post by fellowhuman on May 7, 2021 16:19:12 GMT
Just a thought: cults that are simple and relatively straightforward can afford to focus on spreading, but when they get to a certain level of intricacy and complexity they have to discourage outside contact so that they can hold everything together? I know in reality the PRC and all cults are a complex mixture of culture, history, and personalities, but my brain is always trying to categorize and system build (just like everyone, but especially those of us who were brought up memorizing a system).
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Post by throwaway2018 on May 7, 2021 20:22:22 GMT
Just a thought: cults that are simple and relatively straightforward can afford to focus on spreading, but when they get to a certain level of intricacy and complexity they have to discourage outside contact so that they can hold everything together? I know in reality the PRC and all cults are a complex mixture of culture, history, and personalities, but my brain is always trying to categorize and system build (just like everyone, but especially those of us who were brought up memorizing a system). Pure speculation here: depending on your definition of cult, the PRC (and many forms of organized religion, quite frankly) can be categorized as cults. However, I think one of the things that separates run-of-the-mill cults and organized religion is that the people who could be identified as cult leaders in organized religion genuinely believe in the cult themselves. Manipulators and narcissists who manipulate people into following them generally do what they can to amass more power since that is their ultimate focus, while organized religion’s ultimate focus is to serve the religion. What you said brings up an important point - since the primary motivator for the PRC is to preserve their religious beliefs, they will do what they can to not have them challenged. This means being insular, and being rigid and following tradition for traditions sake. When a cult’s primary purpose is to give power to its leader, then the cult can alter itself to make itself more palatable to outsiders. Honestly, the lines are more blurred than that - some leaders with genuine religious belief get so taken in by power that they change focus, and some leaders who keep the main focus of religion are manipulative narcissists. Further yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if some manipulators knowingly peddle utter crap then end up convincing themselves into actually believing it later. Edit: I didn’t make this clear; I do not believe all religious groups are cults and I don’t believe all religious people are cult members. |
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Post by throwaway2018 on May 7, 2021 20:34:13 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there: It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do. For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs. In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?) It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do? Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church? I agree with what you said. But you were trained to serve the poor and do mission work, you see the poor that matter to Jesus can only be found in the prc church and the way you live your christian life is an example to the younger prs. You see they believe if God wanted to save anyone outside of the prc He would sovereignly add them to the church (PRC). Your just not seeing it with Godly eyes. This is one reason i have no love for the prc because like you I don't think the prc, this includes the rpc also because it's the same, know what the bible teaches. I have to edit this to add the bible verse acts 2:47, God added daily to the church such as should be saved. See pr proof their right. Lol Yep. Poor according to the PRC is a dog whistle for church members that can’t afford to send their 5 kids to private school. There may be other poor people, but their spiritual lives are far more important than their earthly ones so the PRC couldn’t possibly help them to live in sin. Once they resolve their spiritual lives, then maybe they’ll help. Mind you, that person would never get community support the same way that someone born in the PRC would - even after joining. |
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Post by pemptyr on May 7, 2021 23:34:04 GMT
I agree with what you said. But you were trained to serve the poor and do mission work, you see the poor that matter to Jesus can only be found in the prc church and the way you live your christian life is an example to the younger prs. You see they believe if God wanted to save anyone outside of the prc He would sovereignly add them to the church (PRC). Your just not seeing it with Godly eyes. This is one reason i have no love for the prc because like you I don't think the prc, this includes the rpc also because it's the same, know what the bible teaches. I have to edit this to add the bible verse acts 2:47, God added daily to the church such as should be saved. See pr proof their right. Lol Yep. Poor according to the PRC is a dog whistle for church members that can’t afford to send their 5 kids to private school. There may be other poor people, but their spiritual lives are far more important than their earthly ones so the PRC couldn’t possibly help them to live in sin. Once they resolve their spiritual lives, then maybe they’ll help. Mind you, that person would never get community support the same way that someone born in the PRC would - even after joining. What I'd like to know is how much money a family spends on school and church obligations in a year. So I think they have a rule you only pay for 3 children attending a school at once any more at same time say the 4th or 5th you dont pay for. But then take tuition and add the general fund, building fund, what give to poor, then add it all up for the year. Now let's say someone makes 20/hr which is 40000 a year, or say 45000 a year. Minus taxes,minus church and school obligations, can they make house payment? Can they afford groceries, gas, insurance , what do they not pay because they just don't have the money? I think the prc is demanding so much that it will collapse at some point. You could easily get up to 15000 just with church and school obligated a year and a family of 4 making 40000 a year has to try to live off of 25000 a year take home pay. |
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Post by pemptyr on May 8, 2021 2:17:29 GMT
What I'd like to know is how much money a family spends on school and church obligations in a year. So I think they have a rule you only pay for 3 children attending a school at once any more at same time say the 4th or 5th you dont pay for. But then take tuition and add the general fund, building fund, what give to poor, then add it all up for the year. Now let's say someone makes 20/hr which is 40000 a year, or say 45000 a year. Minus taxes,minus church and school obligations, can they make house payment? Can they afford groceries, gas, insurance , what do they not pay because they just don't have the money? I think the prc is demanding so much that it will collapse at some point. You could easily get up to 15000 just with church and school obligated a year and a family of 4 making 40000 a year has to try to live off of 25000 a year take home pay. what is the tuition of the prc schools? I wonder too about GRCHS (the so called CRC high school, prep school in my opinion) where tuition for one is approaching $12,000 a year. With 2 in high school you're approaching $24,000 just in tuition. Over 30,000 with three kids! It should be called GRRCHS. All for the opportunity to do an educational disservice to your kids. Tuition is thousands of dollars per child, don't know about highschool. This year God provided for the poor in the prc by using joe Biden and the democrats to help families. Of course the prc voted against the man God wanted to use. Id say between school and church that takes away a good 10 to 15 thousand off the top of yearly wages. And if your not making much already. The prc is out of touch with the families making average wages. I would love to see someone do a break down on it, and what you would need to make a year to keep from drowning in debt. |
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Post by Skyfall on May 8, 2021 13:26:10 GMT
Just a thought: cults that are simple and relatively straightforward can afford to focus on spreading, but when they get to a certain level of intricacy and complexity they have to discourage outside contact so that they can hold everything together? I know in reality the PRC and all cults are a complex mixture of culture, history, and personalities, but my brain is always trying to categorize and system build (just like everyone, but especially those of us who were brought up memorizing a system). Pure speculation here: depending on your definition of cult, the PRC (and many forms of organized religion, quite frankly) can be categorized as cults. However, I think one of the things that separates run-of-the-mill cults and organized religion is that the people who could be identified as cult leaders in organized religion genuinely believe in the cult themselves. Manipulators and narcissists who manipulate people into following them generally do what they can to amass more power since that is their ultimate focus, while organized religion’s ultimate focus is to serve the religion. What you said brings up an important point - since the primary motivator for the PRC is to preserve their religious beliefs, they will do what they can to not have them challenged. This means being insular, and being rigid and following tradition for traditions sake. When a cult’s primary purpose is to give power to its leader, then the cult can alter itself to make itself more palatable to outsiders. Honestly, the lines are more blurred than that - some leaders with genuine religious belief get so taken in by power that they change focus, and some leaders who keep the main focus of religion are manipulative narcissists. Further yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if some manipulators knowingly peddle utter crap then end up convincing themselves into actually believing it later. Edit: I didn’t make this clear; I do not believe all religious groups are cults and I don’t believe all religious people are cult members. This. Although it could be strongly argued that the PRC is a cult. Simply look at how their esteemed professors at their unaccredited seminary are viewed. And lest any PRC member is reading this and thinks that we, along with this entire site is crazy, please look at the following link: exprc.freeforums.net/thread/347/common-characteristics-cults-operate |
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Post by KristianWrights on May 8, 2021 20:57:42 GMT
Are you still PR? If you don't want to answer it's okay with me. It's a lot of hard work getting all the doctrines straight, isn't it? One could call it work or works righteousness. As far as I'm concerned, I'm glad the pr church is so insular. It keeps their harmful beliefs and behaviors to themselves for the most part. Sure, they are experts in judgementalism and damning, but it is effectively limited by their pride, arrogance, and fear to a small ethnic group of acquaintances and family. Very much an us vs. us paradigm built on ethnic immaculacy and holding the line in the fear of ostracism because of questions, doubt, or, God forbid, disagreement. It is,in my mind, an infected theology. Infected with themselves; they just can't get over themselves or their created god, small and Dutch as he is. So true! They have very little to offer in the real world. Perhaps this is why they limit education (unless it's pr sanctioned), are against college, and female careers, unless it's nursing. This is how they defend their little turf... keep the cult under control! Exactly. And this is why the PRC ruined my life |
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Post by maggie on May 8, 2021 21:42:15 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there: It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do. For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs. In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?) It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do? Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church? You are so right about too much focus on doctrine and doctrinal terms. If they are having a sermon on helping the poor, sorry, but the only ones they help are PR. That's why they don't have food pantries to help the poor in the neighborhood. That's one way of possibly getting a neighbor to church. I also believe the new RPC will be a lot like the denomination they just left because they are all so indoctrinated in their ways...I could never hope to see them do jail ministry, have food pantries, etc, even though we the Bible says we are to help them |
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2021 11:04:54 GMT
I think the more extreme people went to RPC, so no I don't think they will be the same I think they will be even worse. |
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Post by lastplayerpicked on May 16, 2021 14:44:40 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there: It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do. For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs. In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?) It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do? Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church? I have the same thoughts! I saw a post on a religious Facebook page recently that said something along the lines of “stop trying to win the theology wars and start doing what Jesus told you to do!”. And that really stood out to me because that’s exactly what the PRC does! No local outside witnessing, no community help. Just winning (in their own minds) the theology wars. So sad. |
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Post by fellowhuman on May 16, 2021 15:46:21 GMT
This seems like the place to vent about the PRC so I thought I'd throw this one out there: It always baffled me that there was so much focus on getting the doctrine correct rather than following the actual things Jesus told His followers to do. For example, Jesus commanded (not asked) us to go out and make disciples of all nations and He was very clear about serving the poor, even if the poor didn't exactly follow your beliefs. In all my years of being PR, I don't remember one second of any training on how to go out and make more disciples or serve the poor. Pretty much every aspect of the denomination revolves around understanding doctrinal beliefs, which, generally, are impractical in your day-to-day life and are difficult to describe to non-believers. (Have you ever tried to describe the big PR-ism words to a nonbeliever outside of West MI? They look at you like, huh?) It seemed like the main goal was to be born in the PR bubble, live your life in the PR bubble, and then die in the PR bubble, which is not how the early church or disciples lived at all. Didn't Jesus literally criticize the people who were fighting over doctrine and not living out what He asked us to do? Why is there so much time, energy, and passion spent on a debate about a very specific doctrinal issue when there are so many people who still need to be reached by the gospel? Is anyone else still puzzled by that one? Would this ever shift within the church? Lots of cultures have been destroyed by Christianity, lots of poor people manipulated by pastors and missionaries. The single silver lining of the PRC is that they don't do outreach. |
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