My name is Don. I am very pleased to find this forum. I would like to tell you a little about myself. It's nothing that I would not share with you face to face. I have been a police officer for the last 28 years. I was married and a little older when I got into law enforcement. The former wife and I talked it over and she understood the stresses and the danger with this life style and accepted it. Fast forward to late 2017 I came home after working two 12 hours days and a 4 hour side job and was told by the then wife, that " Jesus told me (her) that if I don't get out of the marriage, I would died." As far as she was concerned were divorced in God's eyes and in hers. We lived together for a year with no communication. We didn't sleep together or see each other. I worked nights and she days. I tried and begged her to go to counseling. She would not hear of it, mostly because she was raised in the Church of God. Yes, ultra C of G. She did not believe in counseling, she had the Word of God. I filled for divorce in Sept 2018 and it was final Oct. 2018. During that time she quit her 85K a year job and was working as a temp at a $12 hours job. She was fired in Nov 2018 from the temp job. She had no money coming in and no place to go, so I let her stay in the home. The only reason was that our son was 14 and it was the holidays and his birthday is in Dec. She finally let in Jan. 2019. I was an emotional wreck. I was on nights and barely saw my son. I found that she had racked up more debt that the US government. I had to file bankruptcy. I was going thru a divorce. And lastly, there were some issues at work from outside the department. In the divorce she basically walked off. She divided her assets with me. Walked away from the house, left me with our son and the dog. Packed her car and drove off. I tried to returned to my Baptist faith. She and I didn't attend church. She being C of G and I Baptist. It did not mix. Would only go to the church her father and mother attended. Finally I'm in the right headspace. I met my current girlfriend August 2018. She is the love of my life. We have been together for the last 4 years. She is a nurse. She has worked ER, Cardiac and ICU. We fit together like peas and carrots. She is also Episcopalian. We are both 60. We act like we are 20 old college students when we are together. We have both been thru horrible divorces. We both want to return to church. I'm willing to learned and possibility convert from my my baptist upbringing to Episcopalian / Anglican. Please offer your thoughts and advice. May the Peace of Our Lord be with you. Don
Hi Don. & There are a few of us who log into this forum who are from a US Baptist previous Christian environment, who will understand better than I do, what you have been through and how well you may adapt to Anglican-'ism'. I have been Anglican all my life, since baptism as a baby, but I've been around a bit and know what Christianity has become in most other major religious denominational -'isms' that anyone can mention. I'm an Anglican but I try to avoid all 'isms'. They tend to distract one from practicing mere Christianity as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You will find most Anglicans will seem relatively un-religious, but don't let that fool you. Most practice their faith quietly and privately, (as we believe Christ taught us to, - in spite of the 'lamp on a lampstand and city on a hill stuff'), Anglican-'ism' seems to me to be a valid and practical way of 'living the faith of Christ Crucified'. We tend to go for the 'not casting pearls before swine' type of evangelism, rather than the Big Top stuff. You will find that we Anglicans are not inclined to be 'weed diggers' treading down the growing wheat, and don't insist on immediate perfection from individuals. We are however considered to be on the upward call of Christ, so all efforts at reaching perfection are appreciated by one and all, as long as you don't insist on others emulating your example before you'll associate with them. You will find few OSAS purity code Christians here. Welcome aboard and we hope you'll enjoy the place. We can always do with more 'joy'. There's still not yet enough of it in this world. .
Hi, Don. Glad you came in. The one true faith is the Christian faith: faith in Jesus who redeemed each one of us from bondage to sin. We have our different understandings of certain details, so we fall or gravitate into certain denominational camps like Baptist, Episcopalian, Anglican, etc. But if we are truly following Christ and born again by the power of God, we are brothers and sisters. It's tragic that you and your former spouse could not find unity in the Christian faith. That might have been a harbinger of the future. But the past is in the past, and it's never too late to turn to God and lean on Him. I think that any denomination one can name is imperfect. That makes sense, because every denomination is led by and populated with imperfect human beings. We individuals often must make a few minor "compromises" between our understanding of proper Christian doctrines and the understanding taught by a given denomination. For example, I (who have been Roman Catholic, then Assemblies of God, then nondenom 'word of faith,' and now Anglican) have a couple of points where my understanding is probably more in line with Baptist teachings, but I overlook the minor differences in favor of the richness of the worship service in my current ACNA Anglican parish. For two people who have the God-kind of (agape) love for one another and who are led by Him to build a life of commitment to each other & to God in marriage, unity of the man and woman in unity with God is essential; this unity will prompt both people to lovingly and prayerfully choose a place where they will worship together. (I will venture to say that IMO if they cannot settle this matter before marriage, they should seriously reevaluate whether they should get married.) The concept here is to place God's will in first place; if both parties are of this mind, they will do well. As this new chapter of your life unfolds, I hope work will no longer siphon off so much of your time and attention as in the past. May you be able to spend more time in Bible reading and prayer than you were able. I know it's almost impossible to do that when you're on such a brutal work schedule as you had. Thanks for all your past work to keep folks safe. My BIL recently retired from the MI state police, and I know he's had to see things no one wants to see. I noticed how tightly wound and tight-lipped he always was during this career (his wife left him, too), and how he has now returned (in retirement) to the easy-going, talkative guy I knew before he hired on. Police work takes a massive emotional toll.
Welcome. God bless you on your new Path of Life. Let your heart and soul guide. I, too, know the rigors of being a LEO. I did so in various capacities for 32 years. Those years took a toll on me spiritually, psychologically, emotionally. I very much disliked "people". I found my way back into the church before I retired. Then, my supportive wife uprooted with me and we moved from the tundra near the Canadian border down to Dixie, where our two sons had moved years earlier. I have to say that I chose a path that led me to the Anglican Catholic Church. It was certainly not a direct one, but it is where we found ourselves most comfortable and wanting to be. My wife was not raised a Christian. She was baptized and confirmed in 2002, into the Old Catholic Church. We are now in our 70s and a part of a small ACC parish. So, there is hope of finding a place of peace and sanity in this life. Again, God bless you both on your endeavor of life.
Welcome, to the forum, and welcome to the journey. As for which denomination to belong to, it is a bit more realistic to say find a congregation where are welcome and feel you can belong, and if you can do that together, all the better. The three B's of being Christian are, Believe, Belong, and Behaive. Anyway, welcome.
Thank you for the warm welcome. Last Sunday I told my Good Lady that I joined this forum. Then I let her read all of your comments. She was very impressed and glad that I joined.