Thinking Outside The Box
I had recently written on a message board how I have come out of the King James Bible Camp. Now notice I never said I have given up on God's words. I did not say I reject Scriptures. However, no matter how much I try to clarify myself, I know for a fact that the majority of KJVO will disregard what I say anyway. So the following is for those who don't have the mind-set of "I'm right, and you're wrong....good-bye."
As for my testimony? The one thing I will say after being involved the past 10 years with the KJVO camp and its people, whether personally or via Internet, is that they can be the most opinionated and judgmental sort of chaps, along with being pompous towards those who disagree with them. I'm talking about the extreme KJVO's. I even have a couple (from the UK) who like to check up on my webpage once or twice a day, I'm guessing, to keep up with what they think are my heretical views. As far as the extreme KJVO's, with most of them, you can be sure that behind them lurks the name Peter S. Ruckman (I have been cleaning my book shelves of his commentaries and throwing them in the trash or my fire place. I still have some left that I am going through). His attitude and sometimes his language has integrated with theirs. And I'm going to tell you something, I learned their ways! I became one of them: opinionated, pompous, and judgmental, but have since repented.
So what opened my eyes? It wasn't until I found myself getting kicked in the rear by close KJVO friends when I dared cross the line of a certain doctrine I was brought up with in the Catholic Church, which to me, I now consider false The Doctrine of Original Sin Refuted Scripturally). When I first started my website about this doctrine, I had a very close friend send me an email to tell me I ought to reconsider what I am doing. In other words, you need to take down what you have on your website. I tried to explain my position, but that only lasted about two emails, and when I tried to respond once more, my email addressed was blocked from their personal email address. So much for discussing the Scriptures and so much for friendship! I never hurt so much as I did when all this took place. And was I angry? Of course, who wouldn't be? I was not angry at the point of wanting to be vindictive (God will take care of that), but angry over the situation and bewildered at the lack of any effort to try and reconcile, whether we came to an agreement or not on the doctrinal issue. I had someone else write and say not to make a hobby horse of what I considered false. I had another get very bitter in attitude and started with the name calling. It was as though these people, these Christians, thought they had the right to control my mind and what I believe. And because I wouldn't "conform" to their ideas or belief, they no longer desired fellowship with me and still don't unless, I guess, I conform to their standards.
It was over a year before I finally came to terms with the loss of my "Christian friends." Just the same, I continued my studies and searching the Scriptures.
I will have to say though, the Lord was able to minister to me during this time and still is. It was good that all this happened because I really started to begin questioning most everything I have been taught since becoming a Christian (you can view My Blog, especially for the month of April 2007). The Lord got me to the point of learning to think outside the box concerning anything I was involved with or was taught. There was a lot of garbage that I had to do away with.