Dear Paul,

I agree with Josephus. Her husband hopefully can
influence her. At least he should stand by her
during these difficult times and show her that he
does care. If the entire family supports her and
let her know they're there for her - hopefully with
time she will come around. Fingers-crossed that this
is just a passing phase of some sort.

Always dangerous when you guys get talking about religion. So many misconceptions. For example I saw someone say that Pentecostals think they are the only true Christians. In fact Pentecostalism is a movement across congregations and denominations, and it doesn't make any such claims to exclusivity. It's actually the Roman Catholic Church that does.

I know a few Pentecostals, and they are all lovely people. They believe some odd things, in my view, but then they think some of my views are odd too. They believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, which is a bit problematic. While all Christians believe that the Bible is God's word, most of us think he sometimes talks in riddles, and half the fun in a really good sermon is teasing those riddles and contradictions out.

But they spend a lot of time thinking about what it is to be a good person, and they socialise with a community that does the same thing, and supports each other in striving to be good. Their fundamentalism lies in them trying to get back to a proper reading of the Bible, particularly the New Testament. So that makes them less dangerous than many other organisations.

It is not fair to compare them to fundamentalists in other religions without looking at the fundamentals of those other religions. I don't hold the same optimistic view of Islamic fundamentalism because the Koran is quite different from the New Testament (although not so different to the Old Testament).

I find the hysteria about Christianity, particularly fundamentalist Christianity, from the militant Atheists hard to understand. They want to replace an organised system of thought and practice dedicated to doing good and personal salvation with what exactly? And how will this be better than what they've replaced? I think some of them are the fundamentalists we should be concerned about.

Foxy, I'm not sure crossing your fingers is more than superstition. However having deep concern expressed in private does work.

Josephus,

Crossing my fingers is merely an expression. It was not
meant to be taken literally. And as you'll notice
I did stress that active support would help.

Foxy, I appreciate your agreement. however I have learned that to say what you mean and mean what you say is closer to how you really think.
I would have to agree with Graham Y as I come from a large family two sisters married to Baptist ministers, two brothers in Penticostal Churches, and nephews and neices Orthodox Jews including a Rabbi.I would say the charismatic sections of the Denominations are doing great work in third world Countries in education and health.

One thing I'll give you ttbn, is at least you had a go, which is more than most can say.

Most Churches as I view them are a positive influence. My wife's Anglican Church does a surprising amount for the community. This local church is neither domineering or controlling, its rather benign. What concerns me is the growing fringe groups within Christianity that outwardly appear as positive, but often are secretive, controlling and will take over the everyday functions of peoples lives. This is a well established fact for fundo churches like the JW's who go beyond preaching into the precinct of life control. These churches like extreme political ideology's demand total allegiance without question, from the brethren at the exclusion of all others. Taken to the extreme the result can be disastrous for the individual or the group as a whole, who can forget the Branch Devidian's which grew out of the somewhat mainstream Seven Day Adventists in the 1930's. The end result was the tragedy at Waco Texas, or who can forget the over 900 dead at the hands of Jim Jones Peoples Temple, at Jamestown Guyana. These are extreme examples of runaway Christianity, but they did happen, and can happen again.

"Jones’s idiosyncratic blend of evangelical Christianity, New Age spirituality and radical social justice attracted an enthusiastic following. He called his burgeoning church the Peoples Temple." Sound familiar, the ingredients are there, it only requires the catalysts to create the disaster.