Greetings NayborBear,
I have asked many of them, not all, and they identify with "Reformed Theology" which is Calvanism, which is also predestination. Now before we put on a frown, there is very much in their doctrinal base that we agree upon and just a couple tenets that we have dissimilar understandings of. Personally, when it comes to "Church Doctrine", knowing I have been given a desire to know Gods will, I trust the Holy Spirit as a guide through the Word of God to establish His absolute doctrine over that of a sectarian religion.
If there is one thing I have learned, it is that "religion" is the box man has put God into! Any time men establish standards they have their own Pharisees (Lawyers) scrutinizing your actions according to their doctrines/laws/tenets. Many religions have tenets or guidelines they share lovingly with potential converts, then they show them as DOCTRINES as they "Indoctrinate" them once within their halls and then they become LAWS over time through which they Enforce their "tenets". Many churches have their "Pharisees" who review pay stubs, checking accounts and tithes to verify strict compliance to church Tithe doctrines! That is the tip of the iceberg for many "churches" and before we become too rebellious against these practices remember the early churches in acts and the example of Ananias and his wife when they lied to the believers. But when those whose purpose it is to be helpers within a body of believers wield their authority like the Pharisees did with brutality and loveless militancy, then it becomes a burden to the people! It becomes legalism where gentle guidance becomes comply or die! So the very thing that these individuals hate the most is what they have become! Strict, unloving enforcers of doctrine (some good doctrines and some questionable) Legalists! It must be frustrating to them to have us who are beyond arms length who have no fellowship in common that we rely upon and love which they can leverage against us, so they use name calling and enumerate the curses and damnation's that await the non compliant. They draw men into a pseudo fellowship on here and then pull it away at the least infraction and call them names and write them off hoping the rest of those who do not know for sure what is going on will join the mob in their condemnation.
I have commented to some of them that they wield their doctrine like baseball bats with nails in them as that is what I feel when I share my testimonies of how Gods Grace has transformed my mind to love His will/Laws;
Rom 12:1-2 KJVA I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Sadly the very thing, THE VERY THING, they rail on the most, which is "Legalism" is the very thing that they have become!
Even if their doctrine was sound and I am not saying it is, why don't they preach these words from Paul?
Rom 14:1-12 NIV Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. (2) One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. (3) The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. (4) Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (5) One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. (6) He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. (7) For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. (8) If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (9) For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. (10) You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. (11) It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, "every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.'" (12) So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Bless YHWH!