Church of God in NJ (Bergen Co.)
Date: July 31, 2005 10:17PM
will not address the issue in terms of this church or that church,
or a specific pastor, or congregation,
I have never been to Bergen County, but, I have been to many churches, of several denoms, I have spoken to hundreds of people that have attended a church and are now, "freaked out" and looking for answers and explainations.
I understand your concern for your children, here is my input, but use your own good judgement....
First, look at the structure of the church,
if Pastor sets himself up as "gods annointed one"
and wants to do some sort of "spirit infilling" thing to your kids
you may have cause for concern
if it is preached that hell is the penalty for failure to comply with "the infilling" or "getting the holy ghost"...you may have cause for concern
If the pastor lacks formal education, and wants to play god,
dispensing the holy ghost as he deems appropriate... another cause for concern
If pastor has a boat at his lake house....
If failure to tithe is punishable
If the kids start to hear voices
all of these things are cause for concern
currently, church is the only 100% tax exempt endeavor in the United States. Many of the churches are set up as individual family businesses.
There is a "hands off" "anything goes" policy of the government.
Convicted child molesters can get a ministers license, set up a church,
and there is no crime in that.
We have freedom of religion here, and it applies to all churches,
and is not isolated to certain sects or denominations.
I empathize with you,
but, I have no answers or solutions to offer you
I suspect that your children can not even hear you right now
they are in the initial indoctrination period
To the best of my knowledge, there is no recourse,
France made laws, making it illegal to "put the holy ghost" on minor children, additionally, telling minor children that they would go to hell for failure to submit to "the holy ghost" was also punishable by law.
It is called "French Anti Cult Law"
but, it's not going to well for them,
In America, those laws are considered "religious persecution" which is strictly forbidden, so if some evangelist knocks some spirit zap into your childrens heads, and they start to hear voices,
you and your children have no recourse.