ALL THE RESOURCES YOU NEED FOR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

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Dr. Moe, as a child I embraced the "born again" christian belief. As an adult I aligned with the Charismatic movement and all the "spirit filled" aspects of the born again Christian faith. My faith was always the foundation of my life yet the outcomes in life didn't seem to reflect the belief in my heart. I knew there was more but didn't know what.

At age 43 I began to open my thinking to other ways of enhancing my spiritual experience such as meditation, self development and attending seminars promoting human potential. I found there was value and opportunity for personal growth in many of these endeavors.

I was married with three children. My wife felt the nature of these practices were not biblical and were of satanic origin. When I chose to continue this personal growth path she felt the need to inform the church pastor of my "activities."

End result, the church, after admonishing me for practicing these satanic rituals and refusal to "turn from my wicked ways" instructed her to divorce me. My children were told I chose to embrace the satanic beliefs of the "New Age Movement" and in doing so "daddy doesn't love Jesus any more" and mommy shouldn't stay married to him. "Christian Psychologists" continue to enforce the claim that my influence is detrimental to the spiritual well being of my children because of my participation in these secular beliefs.

The controlling belief taught in fundamentalism and anchored as God's command to insure one's continued participation is: One is better off to have never "been saved" than to profess salvation and later turn from God. I was catagorized by the church as such thus eternal damnation is my fate.

I now live my life in love and peace more than ever, yet at times this sense of fear hits me and I find myself questioning my "saved" status in God's eyes.

I quickly move past this feeling but it concerns me that the thought is even present.

Is this religious abuse?

I love your question. This is very serious. You have found a true path to God and are being condemned for it. That is Religious Abuse without question. When you are supposed to defer to the religious system over the reality of your connectedness to God your are dealing with a dysfunctional system. I myself am a Christian with no affiliation to any church for very similar reasons. There is a revolution going on and those that hang on to the stilted ways of honoring the system over the experience of God are in for a rude awakening.

This is my short answer for today. Next week I will reply in more detail because this is such an important topic and I want to address it in a thoughtful and fair manner for those of us like you and I who are totally bewildered by these archaic systems that seem only interested in perpetuating themselves under the guise of supporting Jesus. I can hear Him cringing right now. Talk about taking his name in vain.

By the way, there is no devil, and there is no Satan, just another invention by those who would use religion to control the masses and fill their bank accounts.

At my site there is a section about "Religious Abuse". Go have a look and see what I have to say about my Catholic upbringing. You and other Christians like us need a safe place to be, to honor our God from our Heart. It's time to say goodbye to these sick enterprises who have run religion into the ditch.

Dr. Moe, thank you for your reply. Perhaps you are right in your statement of my being condemned for discovering a new path but I have always felt more betrayed than condemned. It was no secret that I had chosen to search for answers beyond that which were being provided by the church. My spirit knew there was more. This was what led to the admonition I received from our pastor for looking outside the Bible and his council for answers.

What I did not share in my initial letter was that the recommendation for divorce was done without my knowledge. I was attending an "emotional discovery" type seminar which required that we stay connected with our loved ones as we progressed through our learning. Each night over this 10 day course I would call home, elated with the new information I had learned. I found out later that my ex-wife would then contact the pastor the next morning to inform him of my new revelations.

We spoke every night and she never led me to believe there was any concern. It was not until my return home from the seminar that I found the house empty and my wife and three children gone. The neighbors were the ones to inform me my wife was filing for divorce. I had no idea where they had gone. The only letter left for me was a piece of paper I discovered, folded tightly and left in a kitchen drawer, written to me by my nine year old daughter.

Dear daddy, I don't understand what's happening. We are moving. Why did you decided not to love Jesus any more and can't be my daddy. I love you.

I later discovered people from the church came and swiftly moved our household belongings into storage and my family had gone to live with "Christian" relatives who would be supportive of them during this traumatic time of transition.

Dr. Moe, in the midst of all of this, I was crushed emotionally beyond consolation, but at the same time I never felt anger. Even during the trying days and months ahead, my pain was that of grief and loss, but never anger. There was a peace, an understanding so deep within my heart of why they were doing what they were doing. I knew, because I had been taught to believe exactly as they chose to believe.

This is why I never made the connection to this being abuse, I was taught to believe it is simply the consequences of my own choice.

For me none of this seemed to matter. I simply desired for my family to know how much I love them.

For so long everyone around me kept telling me I was in denial and that some day the anger toward them would surface, but it has yet to appear. I have processed through many emotions and stages in my healing journey, but anger has never appeared.

It has become so clear to me that to embrace that which does not come from love, serves no one. I choose not to spend energy on anger because I am not willing to allow anger to diminish the love I hold for my family. Any attempt to do so is not of love. I simply recognize the absence of love and choose not to participate in that energy.

It comes from love, or it doesn't. I need not label, ego, hate, anger, greed or what ever the negative energy might be. I simply recognize that it is not of love therefore it doesn't serve me. To me this is not denial. It is the applicable nature of God's love living in and through me in the fullness of His intent. I experience no judgment, because I feel no need to judge.

Yet at times these "flashes" of fear still appear. I am puzzled that I would ever experience this "feeling" of questioning my "saved" status in God's eyes when I know it is God's love represented in my new nature.

It amazes me the depth and effect of the subconscious programming exacted on behalf of the "religious." Thank you for bringing this understanding to my attention. The act of writing these words have been healing for my mind.

There is a section at the site called "Dr Moe Unplugged" Unlike you I have been very angry at my catholic upbringing and purged myself of that here, thanks to encouragement from my friend and T4M's Webmaster Peter Shepherd.

As I read your response to my first reply I could see you were in a vastly different place. However, just in case there is something lingering go to this section "Dr Moe Unplugged" and read how I dealt with the issue.

In the meantime, stay focused on your Heart and continue to ask your Higher Self for guidance. What you have experienced sir is the tyranny of religion, at the hands of your wife and community pastor. These people are living in a Twilight Zone where the nonsense of religion prevails and the truth about God and our individual Divinity is completely absent.

There is no understanding that attitude, any more than one can understand people like Pat Robertson or the Fox Television Network and its collection of dysfunctional but well-dressed pundits. It is beyond understanding how people can live in a self-created fantasy world that has nothing to do with the truth of who we are as humans and why we are here.

You have to chart your own path my friend. And sadly, you had to lose your family in order to find that out. Stay focused on your Heart and on input from the Real Source of our lives. That's your guiding beacon, and likely you are being prepared for some mission having to do with this very subject of dysfunctional religion.

Good Luck with that.

Dr. Moe, thank you for your encouragement. I am in the midst of devouring the information I discovered on the Trans4mind website. Thank you for working with them to provide these tools.

I agree that I was in a vastly different place when it came to my personal family situation, as you referred to so properly as, the tyranny of religion. In my opinion such action is nothing short of criminal. It was my choice to choose peace and love rather than become embroiled in such a pursuit.

The issue of neutralizing the depth of control that "religious" programmed beliefs have on my mind is a separate issue. Trans4mind has provided a safe space for me to realize that I am not alone in this regard and given me the necessary tools to overcome the hold this controlling programming has had on my mind. Thank you my friend.

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