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THE LAMB SHALL PEACEFULLY DWELL WITH THE LION
by Sabrina
($1.00 US, $2.00 elsewhere from Sabrina / 9804 Cardinal / LaPorte, TX / 77571.
E-mail)
Review by Rick Bradford
Man. With all due respect, Christianity is just
weird. It doesn't matter which faction, which denomination. It's all just so weird. I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, so how come the Eastern religions seem to make so much more sense to me as an adult? Why does personal spirituality seem much more essential than ceremonial hoohah?
Because Christianity is just weird. I know that "weirdness" is relative but, having stepped out of organized religion some time ago, that's my take. I think my main issue is that
any religion is off-kilter when the focus seems to be on pomp and ceremony, rather than personal spirituality. Okay, so I'm a little biased.
Sabrina knows what I'm talking about here as she had it even weirder than most Christians. She grew up in what's called the Worldwide Church of God, which has been labeled a cult by some (but it's no more unusual than any other Christian denomination). This zine deals with her struggle and longing for that comfortable Church home she had in her early teen years. It seems that a major schism (another element of the weirdness of organized Christianity) severely impacted her in a personal way and things haven't been the same since.
Especially interesting to me is the explanation of the Church's beliefs and practices. It's so unusual how these things vary from group to group and how congregations deal with the inevitable shifts that come with personnel changes and whatnot (some leave, some simply decide it's okay to change their beliefs).
I can only assume that writing about such topics can be very cathartic for the scarred Christian and I would certainly like to see more people do the same. You already know whether or not the topic interests you but if it does, I recommend this zine.
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