>>5911519Well, what helped me with this struggle was realizing that virtually everything in this world is completely, 100%, non-negotiably, worse than imagined-ly, totally wrecked, corrupted, and gutted to the fullest extent possible to man and demon.
Our money is backed by nothing. Or houses are made from flimsy drywall. Most people will never amount to anything other than debt slaves for empty things, most worthwhile countries are actively selling out and preparing to genocide their own inhabitants, marriage is worthless in society, the food is garbage, the political spectrum is two sides of the same coin and one could go on...
Why should the average church or denomination fare any better?
Things are corrupted in this world, we have to try to separate ourselves from this and focus on the good which still exists. One thing to realize is that when the bible speaks of a Church against whom the gates of hell will not prevail, MANY people take this to believe a body of people, not an institution in and of itself. This helped me a lot.
There is one thing - "The Orthodox New Testament", it was translated directly and while I'm not an expert in the differences between many translations, I'm told this is the one to have, by people in my Church who I regard as genuinly knowledgeable (They've been studying the faith for years, speak multiple languages, etc).