Posted by Acheick on March 30, 2002 at 08:08:42:
In Reply to: toxic 'religion' posted by marina on March 29, 2002 at 12:01:02:
That's always what comes to my mind and immediately afterward, "there is no fear in love" - if these people were truly trying to follow the life of Christ or to be Godly, they would not be instilling this fear in their charges. The Hell, fire and brimstone message is as old as the hills, but they take it to the next level. It's one thing to try and live a life of morals, it's another thing to look at every little thing as a sin and some form of Satan, that's just pure fear - there is also the verse, the devil is the accusor of the saints. I don't think it's our job to be accusing people of anything, how can we judge?
Just yesterday we heard a song on the radio from AC/DC and I thought it was a nice song, when I asked who it was and found out, I had to chuckle. When we first left the F. we would talk about them as if they were Satan in the flesh and oh, we could never be caught listening to such satanic stuff. It's this fear of anything and everything that is not deemed Godly. Then it turns inward, every little thing you do is considered Satanic and has to be cast out, all those now overused bible terms. I think it's partly the reason so many F. girls suffer from bulimia, all that looking inward and trying to be perfect. Not to mention their obsession with not being fat, a la David Berg rantings. I think that man's religion is of the devil - it's just too damaging and hurtful.