nazi's, snakes, tares, and drug addicts...

Apart from the comment about Joel who (thankfully) never comes to this board and therefore cannot defend himself, I think this is an important topic for discussion. I appreciate ray's points, no matter how much they are in the "minority" view or possibly just a less-frequently expressed view.

Thinker

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Posted by ray on December 05, 2002 at 05:25:27

In Reply to: the ties that bind posted by MV on December 03, 2002 at 20:31:07:

one can really get a little lost in these analogies piled on top of one another. it starts to sound like joel...

as at least some of what you are driving at seems to be related to the cherub thing, and the discussion of a few days back, let me try to clear up something. i do believe all family mems, no matter how nice, would be much better off free of connection to the group. but i also question the wisdom or effectiveness of harassing individual mems , thinking it will somehow affect "the head of the snake." i do not think so. m&p , as most in their position, have shown little sign of allowing the suffering of their followers to change their direction, (other than perhaps to order the making of bricks w/o straw...)

unless i am wrong, the cherub folks are NOT a ws deal, and it seems to me, from rf's response, it looks like they are trying to get as independent as possible.(which in my experience, is a move in the right direction.)

so what gets accomplished? the paranoia meter jumps up a few notches, p&m tout this as proof compromise leads to persecution, the fences get higher, contacts w/ outsiders more controlled, and some folks who seemed to be moving in the right direction are in the doghouse, thinking God knows what.

understanding our exp. and the emotions that swirl about it may be more nuanced than recognizing a drug problem. simply striking out at anything that is in anyway connected may be counter productive...you can end up chasing folks who may be moving away from the inner circle back in! waco and jonestown succeeded at shutting down destructive cults...but was it worth it? a more reasoned, strategic , and perhaps scriptural approach might be worth examining. imo.