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In Reply to: To X-Family second generation in general posted by Andrew McMillion on May 01, 2002 at 16:33:40:
I was born in the family back in 1975. I totally agree with eveything you wrote. And I have to say it's nice to hear someone speak of the family without attacking Grandpa. I think it's a shame what happened. It was such a great thing when it started, as any one who has read the Books Of Rememberance can tell you. But as with all religous movements, as soon as you try and put it into print, and try to make rules and regulations, people can't help but lose track of why they came in the first place. They got caught up in following the letter of the law, and turned every suggestion or comment made by Dad, in some moment of inspiration or happiness, or maybe even deppression, into a commandment of sorts, and then people tried to self-righteously hold everyone else to it like it was the law or something.
You mentioned in your post how kids in the Family got excited about the smallest things, because they were never allowed to do anything, like listen to outside music, or read outside liturature. I remember when I was between 8 and 12, I would be forced to sit down for hours at a time and read nothing but the Bible. I would sneak into my moms trunk and get Back To The Basics(The big green book....a friend found a copy of it at the Main Library here in Memphis,btw.HA!) Anyways, one thing I always came across in his letters were comments he made about that very thing. In almost every letter about some serious issue like problems people had at their homes with certain people, he would say something about not turning everything he said into "the letter of the law", and encouraged people to govern themselves, and think for themselves. I remember more than a few rants on this issue.
The fact of the matter is, I learned at an early age that everything is not always as it seems on the surface. I have my problems with the family, and my problems dealing with a God that let me go through the things I had to go through during my years in the family, but one thing I will never forget, and that is what the family stood for in it's formative years.
Just like the Christian movement was to the Jews, so were the Children of God to the Church and the establishment. Like Jesus when he came along and said that he was "not here to abolish the law" but to confirm it, so to speak. "And the law is this; love thy neighbour as thyself, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. These are all the law and the prophets." Jesus came along to free people from all that bullshit and take them back to the basics, but they couldn't deal with that kind of freedom, that kind of responsibility. They needed a crutch. Some kind of belief in something that told them the could justify any thing they did by twisting words that were written by men many thousands of years ago, who themselves had no faith in humanity or in their own consciences. Sadly to say, that's what happened in the family. Dad came along and told people to think for themselves and that everything wasn't about the letter of the law, but the law of love instead. For a while it was great. But when the time came for others to pick up the torch and be examples themselves, they went back to old teachings and rehashing old bullshit, and trying to hold everyone else to it, completely ignoring the "new wine vs the old wine" ideals that it all started with. People lost faith in themselves, which I'm sure the whole "chain" and RNR had alot to do with, and could't deal with the responsibility of making their own decisions based on love, but rather got caught up with following the letter of the law, turning everything dad said into some kind of commandment, and twisting words to justify their less-than-honourable actions.
In conclusion, as I have very little spaceleft, It makes me sa that we tried to disassociate ourselves from the name Children of God. That marked the beginning of the end as far as I am concerned. Has everyone forgotten why we started? WE ARE ALL STILL HERE!
