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In Reply to: Exactly posted by And then on March 11, 2005 at 22:12:02:
Although I defended Shulamite as a loving, concerned mother and I still do, I'm only now realizing what Susie was trying to say. I wish Susie had actually said it at the beginning, as it would've helped me understand what was bugging her so much, but she did say it today in a post down the board, and it's significant.
Susie has taken particular offense to Shulamite's statement that "Merry has demons." I had forgotten that particular sentence, but now that Susie mentions it and reminded me of it, yes, I had trouble with that too. Even Achieck who also defended Shulamite, stated that she doesn't agree with that kind of doctrine.
Now, I can read that and think, "That's Shuly's doctrine, and she prays for her daughter to be free of any evil forces fighting her, but Shuly would never perform an exorcism and do anything crazy. She would just pray."
But I can see how this statement so freaks out Susie that she can't understand how a mother would look at a mentally-disturbed daughter that way. She's afraid that yet-another exorcism is on the list of "solutions." I have schizophrenic friends and they are best helped by medicine more than exorcisms. A Christian friend of mine was suffering from schizophrenia and doing just fine with his medication but his church insisted he had to "get the victory" and not depend on medicine. They prayed over him, took authority in prayer, and basically drove him into the ground. He suffered so much that he became angry with Christianity itself. So that is definitely NOT the solution.
Remember that Susie had a schizophrenic brother who committed suicide, and the Family told her he had been demon-possessed. What BS! Is there any wonder some people that this subject has pushed Susie's hot button so much?
I don't think Shulamite is in that same category. She's not like the Bergs and she loves her daughters, and I don't think she would do any weird religious thing to "take authority" or whatever. Like someone else said, Shuly is a highly-intelligent woman and highly-educated.
