Hi Pilgrim,
My most formative years were spent attending a Plymouth Brethren assembly here in the UK. My great grandfather switched from being a Welsh Baptist after attending a week of special meetings at a small Brethren meeting hall on the top of the mountain where he lived. My whole family (on my mother’s side) were converted and as a consequence these blood soaked choruses and stories were hammered into me with the double intensity of both friends and family.
The Brethren (as you may already know) are a King James Bible toting hell-fire and damnation sect. Every week for Sunday school I had to learn by heart a different set of bible verses (most of which are still burned into my memory). Despite many songs about the love of God I was always disturbed by the fact that their surety of eternal damnation meant that they had to stress it with at least equal intensity.
Adolescence in that sect (especially as my parents had both died by this time) was a nightmare for me and is in large part responsible for my current theological position (agnostic as to the existence of God but hopeful that if I’m wrong that UR is correct). Which is why I have been rubbed up the wrong way by certain hell-fire board members here on occasion (oh alright… more than a few occasions )
For me this thread strikes at deep chords within (no pun intended).