We have all read the news, and hopefully by now, those who were in denial have now read the writing on their Facebook wall from sources they trust. There will continue to be angst, wailing and gnashing of teeth, scripture quoting, statements from groups attempting to build bridges, calls for suicide prevention, etc.
But the question is this: given that the Church is answerable only to itself, and you have no input or recourse, what are you going to do?
Spend the rest of your life whining and complaining, or look for something better?
Is your loyalty to the church or to your God? Do you believe that a God who wills everybody to come to Him has not provided other ways to approach him?
Are you still under the illusion that the Church will someday moderate its policies and let you live your life, that is not really a life, but a half-life? Toward which direction are they moving? More acceptance or less? Once they have declared something “apostasy”, how can they ever back down from that stance? How can they ever come back in 1 year, 10 years, or 100 years and admit that they were wrong?
The real test in life for each of us is not what happens to us, but how we decide to deal with it. This is the stuff of life: a problem or challenge, (which is really an opportunity or blessing in disguise), and a decision that need to make. We can choose to confront the problem and solve it and gain the experience and blessing, or we can choose to whine about the problem, but refuse to confront it and just let it fester and damn ourselves in a quagmire of indecision.
We can’t see past choices we can’t understand, but to understand the choice, we first have to recognize and confront that choice. The pain and angst that I see expressed is not because of what the Church has done, but because people are being force to see a choice that we don’t want to see. If you haven’t seen it before, the choice is now placed clearly before you. It might be painful to look at that choice, but once you face that pain head-on and deal with it, you can then continue your life and that moment of pain will seem as a brief moment. You may even look back and laugh at yourself for getting to hung up on such a triviality.
So the question again: what are you going to do? I know what my husband and I are going to do, but if I told you what to do, I would be no better than these blind guides who crave your blind obedience. This is your life. This is your choice.
John144 