Susanna You are very troubled. It sounds as if you had the peace of God in your heart at one time. If this or isnt the case I hope and pray that God would grant you grace to believe your ownsins forgiven. This mocking of the believers is wrong. But this sin along with all other sins can be forgiven. "Seek Ye first the kingdom of God". One thing on the "AUTHORITARIAN" group. I am one of this group. There is no higher authority than God. We have list of rules. We are guided by the Holy Spirit. Take Care , Remembering you with love and prayer.

I am sorry It should have said WE DO NOT HAVE A LIST OF RULES. We are in fact guided by the Holy Spirit.

Find what's healthy for you. The Laestadian tradition is not the only path to a worthwhile, moral life.

Nice to see have other Finns here on Amiright. Nice to also to get to know the Laestadians count on binary code. On what comes to religion, see my son "The Pondered" - I stated I'm neither left nor right and I'm not into religion, but I do have spiritual sight.

This is enough to make me sick. Can we not believe in peace? Those who reject God's calling should be intensely troubled by blaspheming God, with sites like this. I pray God will continue to care for your undying soul as well, so that you will not be too late to enter into eternal life, instead of eternal condemnation. It's simple. People make it difficult and complex. Simply believe. Pray for the desire to believe. Life is too short and temporary. I pray to always have faith and a desire to put sin away as it comes. Don't harden your hearts. What's left is Satan and his world. I've seen too much of those who take the world with all it's "glory". They end up scarred and incredibly unhappy and discontent; always looking for "something", yet not finding it. God knows all of our hearts. That's all I have. I originally went onto a former believer's website/blog in the hopes that it wasn't true; and found this link as well. Must be a Finnish blog. I lived in Finland for 2 years and I feel the same bond with the believers here in the States; as well as know the trials. We are most fortunate, however; it doesn't make us any better than anyone else, except that we have living faith. Therefore, we pray for those without that peace.

Like I said, I'm spiritual but I'm not into religion. Authoritarian cults make me sick. Making fun on human stupidity is not blaspheming God, but rather pointing out the basic human weakness and his inability to practise what he preaches.

I have a friend who has had an NDE and her testimony was enough to convince me there is indeed God and he is immense and unconditional love. But he doesn't care which faith we are or which religion we practise - all what matters is Dual Commandment of Love and Golden Rule.

Hm, funny how this wouldn't have gotten so much attention were it not for the postscript you wrote, Susannah. Come on folks, it's witty!

is a cult the same as a sect?

Peter, a cult is a sect gone awry.

Susanna, I am also a Laestadian, as is "Believer in the States," and I must say that I fully agree and my heart feels at peace when I read her comments. Yet, I disagree with much of which you have said. We children of God are not a cult, as a cult is simply a group (usually religious) that shows an immense ammount of "love" (which is deemed false love, hence the quotes) to one who joins originally, making them seperate themselves from everyone and everywhere else to keep them within the cult. In God's flock of children, to begin with, there is always true love and care. So often have I found myself struggling to only believe, often falling into the sin of self-righteousness. Yet, my dear brothers and sisters in this beautiful kingdom come to me in care and let me know that I am not forgotten. This is even after I continuously look down on them, finding myself "better" then the other believers, as this is one of my many trials. There is no way to describe this but to say that there is no other love like it, which can only be felt in God's gracious kingdom. I also question you in asking, is there anything that holds one inside of God's kingdom besides their own want to be there? Even with those stories of the many children who leave faith, they are shown such love that many of them make their way back into God's living flock. Also, as you commented that you, in this song, are not blaspheming God, I must post my thoughts, which are based on the Bible. "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it." -(Matthew 7:13-14) Is this not true that there are only few who find this way to Heaven? Susanna, where there is life, there is hope. You, and any others who feel a longing in their heart, can yet hold that name as a child of God if you can simply humble yourselves before the Lord and hear that gospel message from a believer that, your sins are forgiven in Jesus name and precious blood. So dark is the flock when looked at with hatred, yet from within beams a light so bright and wondrous as the faithful, through Christ, rejoice in God's great grace in forgiving even the lowest sinners here on this earth!