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This email was not sent by Brian Ryter. It was sent by me, Daniel de Sailles, hbeng151@csun.edu Brian does not make any use of his email account ever, and he has absolutely no knowledge of what I am doing. I was a member of the L.A.C.C. for 3 years and 1 month, and have been out for approximately 7 months now. I am writing this article because I want to expose certain forms of wrong doing that I have observed while a member of the church and since I have left it. Arguably, it is said that the United states is the greatest country in the world, yet still there is police brutality, injustice in the courts, and constant racial conflict. Clearly, there is room for improvement. In the same way, you who are members of the church believe that it is the greatest in the world, but to ignore the short comings of your organization would be foolish at best and disastrous at worst. Therefore, at great personal risk to myself, I will attempt to illuminate three areas of fault: mandatory minimums places on contributions, excommunication, and psychological damage done to ex-members. 1. Mandatory Minimums. Placing a minimum on what a member should contribute to the church is both morally and biblically wrong. In order to be a member in good standing in most campus ministries, an individual must give a set amount of money each week to the church, if not more. At C.S.U.N. (California State University Northridge), the ministry I was a part of , this amount was $10.00, regardless of employment status or lack thereof. The problem is that in many cases this places too large of a burden on college students. In order to pay an individual would have to at least have a 20 hour per week job that paid at least $5.00 per hour. Many times people made a lot more money and as a result gave more, however there were many who wrote bad checks and borrowed money from their parents in order to give the semblance of paying. In the U.C.L.A. campus ministry the situation is even worse. Where course work is heavier, the cost of living much higher, and with even fewer students employed the minimum contribution is $15.00 per week. These mandatory contributions coupled with the special contribution and the heavy time commitment have a detrimental affect on college students. An individual must work enough to pay tuition, bills, and their contributions. This leaves the individual little time to study, and as a result most people get poorer grades and graduate later than they would have. The truth is I have never met a disciple that was a disciple in college that graduated in four years. I am sure that there are some out there who have, but it should be clear that they are the exception and not the rule. In addition every ministry that I was a part of contained members that did bad in school. I have only known five disciples whose overall G.P.A. was over 3.5 . It would be much more logical to abandon the contributions for college students altogether, that way they could get out of college sooner, and upon graduating contribute much more. You could consider it an investment The doctrine behind these minimum contributions is the most abominable thing of all. In order to be a member you must give money. You must be a member to get into heaven. Therefore you must give money to get into heaven. Contributor=Member=Saved. In the middle ages the Catholic Church called this buying of grace the selling of indulgences. Clearly this doctrine and these policies must be changed. 2. Excommunication Excommunication is the process by which the leaders of the Catholic Church denied dissidents membership in their flock, passage into heaven, and communication with anyone who was a member of their church. Today the church calls this marking, and saves it for the most horrendous of offenders, like Ed Powers (this was the person that led half of the Indianapolis Church out of the movement). What I was told as a young Christian was that as soon as an individual repented and wanted to come back they would be welcomed back with open arms. This is not the case. A former member of the U.C.L.A. campus ministry (she will be referred to as Mary in order to protect her anonymity), left the church 6 months ago. A few weeks later her best friend George decided to leave as well. Mary was marked because she was believed to have convinced him to fall away, when I know for a fact that she pleaded with him not to leave. She felt guilty these 6 months and still felt that the International Churches of Christ were Gods modern-day movement. Recently, she tried to go back, she signed up for Womens Day and attended a couple of services. Shelly Metten upon discovering this ordered that Mary not be allowed to attend Womens Day, attend church services, or talk to any members. No person has the right or the ability to deny another person grace. This is Gods choice alone, and if you are honest with yourself you will agree that if the above circumstances are true then Shelly Metten is in the wrong. Upon hearing what Shelly Metten did, Marys friend George said, any thoughts that I had about going back [to the church] are now permanently gone. In effect it was not Mary who convinced George to leave and not go back to the church, but Shelly Metten.. 3. Psychological Damage This last point is perhaps the most personal as it was the hardest thing for me to endure. When a person leaves the church, something interesting happens. They are deluged with phone calls from every one that they have ever known in the church. When it becomes clear that they wont change their mind, they are simply dropped regardless of any emotional attachment or friendship that existed before. You might disagree with me on this point, but hear me out, I was guilty of this too. When a person leaves I know that you are concerned about them, but all that you do is try to convince them to change their minds. After several of these emotionally abusive talks the individual is forced to cut all ties because it is simply too much for them. Have any of you thought of simply being their friend and letting them sort out their lives on their own? Must your friendship always be comprised with membership in your faith? After being a disciple for three years I can not count on a single person inside the church because they can not deal with the fact that I left. They have given up one me, moved on, and you have done it to thousands of other people. The self fulfilling prophecies that you preach about people that leave are simply not true. I was told that if I left I would end up worse than when I joined, but this has not happened to me. I have the highest G.P.A. of my life since I have been out. But many people buy into that lie, and cut off from all of their friends in the church they do drugs, they get pregnant, they get someone else pregnant, they drop out of school, sure, but these people are in the minority. You people cause this because of your callousness. In the bible it says that if you cant get a brother (or sister) to repent you must treat them as you would a pagan. But how are you supposed to treat pagans (i.e. non-Christians). I was taught that you were supposed to love them, serve them, and help them. Apparently I was mistaken. There are hundreds of support groups across the country and across the world that are composed of your ex-members. You must change, you are destroying too many people. 4. Conclusion As I send this letter I realize that I am now probably marked, and I accept this. To be silent and inactive when you see something that is wrong you commit the greatest sin man is capable of. I hope that some changes will take place, but realistically, I know that they probably wont. I had to try though. Sincerely, Daniel de Sailles Contact: Daniel de Sailles
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