Anyone Have Experience With This Church?

[Thomas Paine]

Calvary Chapel

The reason why I put this in the S&C folder should become clear later on.

[Imparable]

Yeah my ex-fiance unfortunately now associates with that church. What is it like the wal-mart of the church industry? They don't teach nor preach the truth according to the Bible, most of their members don't live moral lives according to Bible-standards, and they have a business-like power structure that requires a flowing supply of generous funds from their followers. In the world of false teachings and making profits from pretending to serve the lord, these guys are the big dogs. It's just not spiritual, but i guess you're supposed to believe it is.

[Thomas Paine]

The main problem with their philosophy is very subtle and seductive. They all come across as these fun loving hippie/conservative hybrids without a care in the world and always willing to help someone in need (their way). Also they are very liberal in almost all of their theology, but at the same time, if you ever express any doubts or questions about any of the leaders or about whether the bible has any errors, they don't even try to explain it, they just "cut you off" and basically shun you out of their lives.

It's a borderline cult, IMO and in the opinion of this Cult Deprogrammer.

I accidentally let myself get involved with them for a little while when I was living in SoCal as a teen. It was really confusing living with my friend who was hard core into it. As long as I played along, they were soooo nice to me, almost too nice, but I remember once questioning his theology of free will, and they were cold as ice towards me for days. All I wanted was to debate it because I was still trying to figure it out for myself at the time, but that was off limits. You can do many things that most Christians would find offensive, but if you question their theology at all they tell you that you are "coming very close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit" (because they apparently believe they have it in them), and this is the one and only thing that can send you to hell, (according to them).

It is very seductive and disorienting. I'm sorry to hear about your ex. I believe they are one of the main reasons why I have developed a phobia of attending church now, even my family's church which is fairly kind and open to debating their theology.

Recently (I'm a fairly new Agnostic) I told this friend (I still talk to him, but don't live with him) that I was starting to question whether or not Jesus really was the Son of God, and I explained that it was due to logical reasons that I can't help but wonder about. He told me that after about 15 years of friendship (he was sort of my father figure when I was sent out to California all alone as a teen), he was ending ours because I was a danger to his salvation and that I was going to take him to Hell along with me (implying that I'm going to Hell even after I told him about my phobia of Hell). I asked him "If you have free will, then how could I possibly take away your salvation?" He couldn't answer, so I told him to ask his Pastor. He never did.

We started talking again a little while after that because he apparently decided that, due to the medication I was on, it wasn't as heinous of a crime for me to question him (which is another contradiction of free will that he won't let himself see). However, he has started using every possible excuse he can find to tell me how much of a "backslider" (that's the term they use for people like me.) I've become, and just a couple days ago, cut off our friendship again over my "venomous mouth".

This friend really did do a lot to help me out when I was younger, and I appreciate that, but looking back I can now notice how it was always conditional on my never questioning him (which I naturally didn't, due to my SA). It took me forever to stop being afraid of the Hell that they teach though. It was very psychologically painful, and when I tell him about it, he just accuses me more of whining about things that are my own fault, and that I've become a "taker" (hadn't heard of that one yet). Also, he is always telling me to take responsibility for my mistakes (which I believe I do), but at the same time he will never admit to any mistakes.

Another thing - he is vehemently opposed to Obama, Democrats, and anything that is not included in the Religious Right. He even calls Obama "The First ******". Even though I have told him that I am a Libertarian and not very political at all except for one or two issues, he is always trying to passively accuse me of being a communist or something.

Here is an interesting article about them: Losing My Religion

I wouldn't hold out too much hope for your ex unless they are the stubborn, free-thinking type.

Anyway, thanks for listening, anyone who read this. It has been a long road for me to be able to look beyond their fake "love", and see that all they really want to do is judge, control, and damn people to their Hell.

[Thomas Paine]

Thank you to the person, who will remain nameless, who sent me a PM about their own bad experience with this church. It's really nice to know I'm not alone and not have people who have never experienced it tell me that I'm being dramatic.

[caflme]

That's horrible, I hate that you had that experience... for any Faith to be legitimate there has to be an openness to dialogue - to questions.

I was raised Catholic and I questioned everything. None of it made sense until I was in my early 30s and got pregnant. Feeling life growing inside me and then the experience of having a child and raising my son... made everything make sense - all of it. But that is just me.

Now I am a practicing devout Catholic and I can't imagine being anything but that. However, I would never be so presumptuous as to tell someone else they were going to hell - ever. There is not one human being on planet Earth that has the power to know that. No one knows the state of someone's soul at the moment of their death but God himself and we believe that there is still a moment even after the body physically dies that God may still gives the soul a chance to repent of their Earthly sins - so even at the moment of physical death no one can say that someone is going to Hell - ever.

Ok, I didn't mean to go into all that... JMHO.

[Brightpaperwarewolf]

When I read it, it sounded half-way decent. Then again, when I went to SLC, the church of latter day saints sounded cool too.....

Do you think it's a legitimate form of Christianity or is it one of those brethren cult type of Christianity?

[Thomas Paine]

Thanks Caflme.

Originally Posted by Brightpaperwarewolf

When I read it, it sounded half-way decent. Then again, when I went to SLC, the church of latter day saints sounded cool too.....

Do you think it's a legitimate form of Christianity or is it one of those brethren cult type of Christianity?

I think Calvary Chapel can just barely get away with claiming to be Protestant Christian. And they do have church buildings and they don't openly tell people to give them all your possessions and be their "sheep", although they do put a big emphasis on tithing even though they bring in far, far more then they need. The pressure is fairly subtle, but after a while you just end up feeling that you owe them everything. It becomes very obvious if you start questioning them or go check out other churches though, because they suddenly start giving you those passive-aggressive guilt trips and try to pressure you into letting them talk you out of it, instead of wishing you well. Somehow you end up sub-consciously equating disrespect for them with you going to hell, or something, because that's how I felt for quite a while.

I grew up in a Calvinist (loosely based on John Calvin's Theology) type church that a lot of people would consider way too strict and judgmental, but at least they are honest about it upfront and don't pretend they have all the answers only to shun you if you ask questions. Also Calvinists don't press their religion on anyone else.

Actually, Calvary Chapel isn't even strict except two rules - Don't question them and don't lose your enthusiasm. Sound familiar?

Calvinist churches on the other hand can be pretty strict (kind of like Orthodox Jews), but most of their rules are actually good for your health, and they don't believe that anyone chooses whether or not to go to hell, even though they do believe in hell (which is why I don't go anymore).

One person in this thread suggested that Calvary Chapel was the Wal-Mart of Christianity, and also that article I linked to earlier sort of called them the McDonald's of Christianity. I would have to agree, and the scary part is that when you look at the success of both of those business chains in this society, you can only imagine how large a chain of churches based on that business model will be. And how much psychological damage they will leave in their wake.

[Brightpaperwarewolf]

I did a search on it and the first thing I saw is there are 11 churches within a 50 mile radius in my area. Holy crap, you weren't kidding when they are the Wal-Mart of Christianity.