The R Part Two

Alright, so it was another fine day at the R. This time I went with Laura, it was a long drive to get there, especially since the roads were covered in slush. After service the members of the church made sure to remind me that it started at 6:00 instead of 6:30, I told them that I knew that, I just didn't think the roads were so bad. Anyway, backing things up a bit. Laura and I walked in the door and this time one of the members, a really nice guy came and greeted us at the door and took us to our seats, (I think they saved a seat in the middle of the congregation in case I decided to come back). I must admit it was a little awkward to be seated in the middle of everything, sometimes something would be said and I would tap Laura gently on the elbow to see if she caught what was just said, but I didn't want to be too obvious. As we sat down, the pastor quoted a verse from Kings, where Solomon was asking for discernment, the whole sermon was basically about discernment, any verse in the Bible which talks about someone judging good from evil must have been mentioned. Even "Judge not and ye shall not be judged" was quoted, but only to dismiss it saying that we had to know good from evil otherwise there would be no way we could know how to get to heaven.
There was one moment which really creeped me out in the sermon and that was when the pastor was saying how a "church of God pastor KNOWS if there is sin in your life." he must have said this atleast 5 times in succession, it kind of gave off the aura that God tips him off to when someone is sinning and tells him all about it, as if a church of God pastor can see into your soul. Soon he said "you might think you can hide your sin from me, but trust me I know when there is sin in your life, I may not know exactly what it is, but I know when it is there." At this moment I was reminded of being back in my church again, when pastors would come to our church and tell of people who would stand at the front of other churches and then call people to repentance by pointing them out individually and telling them their sins. At that moment I was thankful that a pastor hadn't done that to me, and I must admit, there are things I prefer to keep between me and God.
Moving away from my personal life.... After the sermon we sung a song, I don't remember the words exactly, though if one wants them Gloria knows them, they were something to the effect of "If there is sin in your life you can't enter in, One spot on your soul, you cant enter in." and it was sung triumphantly, as if they were happy that people would be excluded from heaven.

Well, that was my experience this week, I may go again next week if I have time, I was invited to one of their houses this time and wanted to go but Laura had Homework to do so we didn't do it.

Oh, and apparently one can get excommunicated from this church for drinking caffeinated beverages (except hot chocolate, because the man who started the movement enjoys chocolate). So, i will have to hide the fact that I consumed five large cups of tea throughout the day before attending the church in the future.