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In Reply to: right there with you posted by porceleindoll on October 12, 2002 at 19:30:45:
When you have a lifetime of friends whose opinions you've valued, you can get a pretty good idea of what they say after you leave, 'cause you've probably seen them talk about others who left. For the purest of motives even, yet the Family has this kneejerk reaction that "they're backsliders, halfhearted, not soldier material, etc."
So they sit gossiping in their closed little rooms with their narrow closed little minds, whispering and talking down on someone who sacrificed so many years and gave so much---more than they should have. And all they can do is curse and talk bad about them. Well, that attitude is so pathetic and unChristian, so exclusivist and holier-than-thou.
I mean, just about the only thing holding the Family together at this point (apart from permission to swap partners and masturbate) is the holier-than-though feeling that "they're the best" and can look down on everyone else. So they sit in their smug ivory towers thinking they're so hot and have no clue that they're nothing more than a close-minded, unloving, unChristian condemning sect.
I'm speaking mostly of leaders here, but sad to say a lot of people we loved get into that attitude a lot too. Well, we were once there and did it ourselves, didn't we? We were in that mindset once too, so I guess we should be able to understand and maybe laugh some of that off and just feel sorry for them.
Except for the fact that that kind of social and religious God-will-curse-your pressure is destroying people emotionally and spiritually and keeping them in bondage. So I do feel sorry for the poor Family members who have that attitude, but on the other hand, I feel a whole lot more for the poor people who want to leave and have to buck that huge pressure. And then if they have the moral fibre and guts to finally take the step out the door and leave, some of those poor folks STILL feel condemned that they're "failing God" or "were too weak and God is displeased with them" etc.
That's why, in the final wash, I have no patience with that controlling attitude, keeping people in bondage through fear and peer pressure. I really agree with what you said about, "Who cares what they think?" When you get to the point that you just don't care, and where their opinion isn't worth the milliwatt of energy it took them to think it, then you're free.
