Tom, a follow up. IMHO, all this means that Jesus calls us to be with the people around us who need us. If the institutional church can help, fine. If not, also fine. Just do what we have to do to be with them. This presupposes some sort of prayer life on our part. We are not in a position to tell them how to make their choices, which rarely are easy, or what they have to do to meet our understanding of being "saved". We don't have all the answers. Again IMHO we have a lot of questions, which I believe are part of the Spirit's work among us. As I was reminded in the last hour, at times life is difficult, and folks need to know they are not alone. They do not need to be told how they have to choose in their times of loneliness and pain. As you said, we are not children, and at times we have to make difficult choices. It is good to know we are not alone, that somebody cares no matter what choices we feel (painfully) we have to make. Thanks for writing your thoughts.