[CelticJourney]

We have lots of new and relatively new posters here at GCM lately, so I want to take just a moment to state a reminder. Unprepared as a forum is to discuss punitive teachers and their work. We DON'T discuss those who follow the teachings, mostly because the variations on how people impliment a teachings are so great that it becomes meaningless, and we don't discuss their families except when that relationship has relativity to the teachings (ie a teacher promises a strong relationship with adult children as a result of their teachings, but they have no relationship with their own adult children, for example).

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As to the idea of 'take the good and leave the bad', as Allison said, we all have a varied ability to 1) walk away not feeling 'dirty' and 2) differentiating what is good and what is bad. I have lived long enough and studied deeply enough to never forget my humanity and my own falability - I am not a perfect truth detector. I am striving every day to be the lamb that 'knows her Shepard's voice' and to teach that to my children. If I hear a voice teaching things that are AT THEIR VERY CORE in opposition to the truth that my Father teaches, then I am making myself vulnerable to continue to listen to their lies. Every false teacher begins with truth - people are vulnerable but not stupid. If there was no truth to begin with, the teacher would be impotent. Our vulnerability comes in when we can't decide where the line between God's truth and their twisting/changing/distorting comes in or WORSE when we think we can when we actually can't.

I recently had a conversation with a young women who is 'dabbling' in many different religions, including Wicca. She finds 'some truth' in various places. As I told her, 'yes, you will find fragments of truth in many places, but they are not the complete truth, so why waste your time and spirit on the lies.' The same goes, for me, with Christian teachings - when I find that the core the teaching is a not in harmony with the truth of the Gospel, then all of the 'practical' or 'good' has to come into question.

At it's foundation, concern over Punitive teachings are about the core from which they start - the core belief that something outside of Christ is NECESSARY for a child to grow to become a mature Christian. That parents have the power and responsibility to determine their child's spiritual future - that they are at war against their blessings. Spanking, punishment, etc are an outward symptom of an inward distortion of the Gospel message. So if the foundation is flawed, why hang out in the house it's built on.

In my opinion and experience, there is no need to subject myself to questionable materials, no matter how wrapped in sunshine and roses they might be, unless I am specifically called to do so. We are to be discerning enough to avoid temptation, not flirt with doctrine that we know is clearly in contrast with the words and works of Christ.