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In Reply to: Re: Quote of the week posted by Joseph on July 23, 2002 at 09:01:02:
I appreciate your view of this situation. I agree that looking at people's affiliation to the Family is not a good was to judge. On the other hand, people's attachment to David Berg's doctrines is more telling.
I have known many good people who were in the Family but the same is not true for those who follow Berg. Those who follow Berg follow not only a path of deception themselves but a path to deceive others as well. They are only true to Berg's (and now Maria's) indications.
Keep in mind that these are not "evil" people in the sense of Manson's family but in the biblical sense of distancing from God's righteousness. It is a subtle force that works under the radar of normally reasonable people.
Also, it is important to realize that it is not Berg's or Maria's direct orders but something less tangible, it is the channel, the proper path to get directions and leadership. Every member has a superior, leader, supervisor, authority, who is the most direct "voice of God" than his/her own. One of the most perverse rules (unwritten rules) is that a person cannot receive anything from the Lord which is not confirmed or has not been revealed first by leadership. This "leadership" is the direct chain that links the individual tol the top (MO, Maria, etc.) People who do things outside this line of control and show more initiative are targeted as potential sources of problems.
What defines individuals in and out of the Family. is not the fact that some leave in a sanctioned home or that one sends them money, etc. but their submission to this control. The control comes from the attachment the individual has to Berg's doctrines.
Verbalizing these situations does not come easy. An outside observer will judge us crazy and unreasonable because we seem to pre-qualify individuals but we are not. We know that a person who for years has been the second or third in the hierarchy that links the top end-time profit and the low grunt on the pavement is closer to Berg's doctrines than to the grunt's understanding. That closeness defines his righteousness, or lack of righteousness in this case. An outsider sees this as crazy and stupid but to us, exmembers, is clear as day.
Have you asked yourself why so many people who ARE a part of the Family and of their structure and hierarchy deny their being a part of it? What are they ashamed of? Their favority answer is that it's because their enemies have twisted their beliefs.
Talking about compassion, where is their compassion in actually DOING something to help the dozens, hundreds of displaced SGA's, or stranded families result of the hierarchy's decisions? Paraphrasing your own words:
"Those who do show compassion for ex-members are the most harshly treated in the Family (or even some ex-member) community. They are also branded as evil, or worse yet "systemites".
PS. I have not directly had a terrible and horrible experience in the Family but I have seen people have it. In fact I have many good memories of my life in the Family and their current effect on me. I wish the Family would be able to come out clean and actually do have that compassion you mention. I would love to hear about that, as I am sure many in the exmember community would also.
