CJ Penn's Online Writing Hangout

The reason I write: To promote Christian truth and help Jesus get His Christianity back.

Tag Archives: Christian church


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Did traditional church not work for you?

Many people who end up leaving church started out looking for something, something they perhaps couldn’t find in their traditional church experience. So, they left. Sensing that the Christianity I’d been experiencing was influenced more by man than God, and desiring true Christianity rather than some manmade version, many years ago I left church. Without having to look beyond the Bible, I then stepped off on a journey in search of answers, understanding, and a relationship with God that I couldn’t find while attending church.

It’s been about 18 years since I began my journey. Along the way I wrote a book, “Beneath the Graffiti: A De-churched Christian’s Search for Christianity.” My book is a record of what I found when I peered beneath the accumulated graffiti of the past 2000 years, graffiti painted by church history and human nature—graffiti in the form of manmade rules, doctrines, beliefs, and traditions.

While writing this book, I found the answers and understanding I’d been looking for, I found healing and recovery from my de-churching experience, and I found a relationship with God and Jesus that’s far beyond anything I was looking for. I hope this book will similarly help those who read it.

If you’re curious about the book, please check it out on Amazon. The “Read sample” selection for the Kindle version is generous. For some weird reason, the paperback “Read sample” selection is small—Amazon quirk, I guess.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DK7VD71B

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There can be danger in manmade versions of Christianity

I just came across a post on Reddit showing an example of the harm inflicted by manmade versions of Christianity. The title of the post is “Goodbye Christianity,” and here is, with a few bits edited out:

“I first joined Reddit because at the time I was very evangelical. Now that 4 years have gone by along with events in life that involve the church, I have come to the conclusion that people who profess the name of Jesus Christ are untrustworthy and rotten to the core just like everyone else. … If you all can stay in this religion with peace in your heart and you’re not a terrible person towards others, then God bless you, as for the rest who do not have the aforementioned trait then you can only blame yourself and people likewise yourself as a sole reason why Christianity is on the decline, not the devil, yourself. So long my former Christian brothers and sisters, I’m gonna live my life now.”

Upon reading this, I first felt sadness for the person who wrote it. I then felt anger, anger toward the true root cause of what has led this person to leave Christianity. It’s not the people who the writer claims are untrustworthy and rotten, for those people are just more wounded victims. The true root cause is a manmade version of Christianity, a version of Christianity that promotes such things as judgment, hypocrisy, bigotry, and arrogance.

Manmade wounds - Jesus healsBut, where manmade Christianity inflicts wounds, true Christianity, Jesus’ Christianity, heals wounds. So if I were to try and comfort the person who wrote that post, I’d encourage them to leave their painful experience in the past, turn to God and Jesus and their words in the Bible, and pray.

And as Brother Lawrence said in the book “The Practice of the Presence of God:”

“It isn’t necessary that we stay in church in order to remain in God’s presence. We can make our hearts personal chapels where we can enter anytime to talk to God privately.”


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Church for the Un-churched

churchless 2

Did you know that most of the people who don’t go to a Christian church had earlier in their life attended church? This is most apparent with the young adult generation, like from 18 to 30 years old. They attended as a kid, probably because their parents dragged them there, but they followed a different path when they gained their adult freedom.

I’m reading “Churchless,” by George Barna and David Kinnaman. It’s a book based on survey results of those who don’t go to a Christian church.

I just finished reading a chapter that describes the reasons young adults no longer go to church. And then this idea slipped into my mind: instead of the traditional brick-and-mortar church, what if there were an on-line church? Maybe it could be a Facebook group, where people go to talk about Jesus. Would this be more appealing than a traditional church? Might this type of church be able to avoid the turn-offs of a traditional church?

Please let me know if there is such an on-line church. What do you think of the idea? Thanks.


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From Mild Atheist to Ravenous Christian

I was having an email chat with a friend, and they asked me my story. I decided to share my answer with anyone one else who might be curious. Very briefly, here it is…

I waffled between agnostic and atheist during the first half of my life. Periodically I felt an interest in learning more about this person called Jesus. I even read a bit of the bible while in college. But it didn’t go beyond a weak interest. Then, in my thirty-something years, my interest started to grow. I started going to church.

I ended up helping lead our church youth group, where I grew much stronger in my relationship with God, and my interest became a hunger. Eventually, church started feeling uncomfortable to me, yet I didn’t know why. Though it was a hard decision for me, preceded by lots of conversations with God, I left that church.

I tried several other churches, but I never felt “called” to stick with any of them. I’m still not sure why, but I haven’t attended a Christian church for over 4 years. All I want to do is God’s will, yet so far it appears His will does not include me attending a church. Yet, thanks to my continued hunger and thirst for God, the amount of personal one-on-one time I spend with God, and His love and grace, I feel closer to God, Jesus, and their Spirit than ever in my life. And it didn’t require any kind of manmade religious structure or personal effort. All it took was desire on my part (I consider desire as faith that’s ready for action), and God did the rest. And I’m so grateful.


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Seeking Truth

Please, tell me your story of truth. If you’ve read any of my posts on this site, you know that the theme is all about contrasting false images of Christianity we see in our world, with the truth. Sometimes what we see is not anywhere near what the founder of Christianity, Jesus, had in mind.

I haven’t written anything on this site for a long time. The reason is that I’ve been spending my writing time working on a book. But instead of getting back to writing posts for this site, I find that I’m now more interested in hearing the experiences of others. What have you experienced in your exposure to the Christian church that may have been a false image of Christianity? Please share your story.

I know a lot of people who have been wounded by false messages coming from some churches. And I have a growing passion to help people find freedom from the pain of lies and deceptions. It occurred to me that maybe simply providing a forum to vent might be helpful. So please vent. Have you been wounded by a so-called Christian church, or so-called Christian? Then please, tell us about it, if you want to. Just comment to this post.

And if this kind of sharing becomes popular, I’ll try to find a better way to help facilitate it.

Thank you