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In Reply to: I thot the religious questions were valid posted by Oldtimer on October 30, 2005 at 16:46:00:
I realize that religious questions may not have so much meaning, in general, to all of the posters here, as there seems to be a wide variety of persuasions whichhave been embraced by individuals, so my posts are not intended to persuade anyone in that direction. However, for someone still in TF,the reasons for staying in stretch way beyond the practical. If the religious part was not inquestion,
only the practical, you could still find reasons enough not to stay in, as TF life style does not exactly putthe practical first and foremost when making decisions about themselves, home issues, or their children. Since it is a strong basic Family belief that before any decision is made,regarding
business, who goes where, what kids stay with who,
who shares with who, who joins or cannot join a particular home, how to spend their money, the members involved must "hear from the Lord" or get a specific prophecy about it from whoever,
The whole practical Family lifestyle revolves around this religious question of contacting a diety for counsel on every matter. Otherwise, they beleive that if this step of contacting the other world is not taken first, it can result in serious consequences. Also, taken into consideration that
when they do bring their questions, requests, etc.
before their dieties for advice and direction, they must also claim the power of the keys, and it is a strong belief that failure to do this can also result in undersirable consequences. Follwoing these steps still does not assure things will turn out precisely in the desired way,but no matter what happens, the belief is ,that following
these steps and getting a confirmation from these
dieties , they will be doing the will of God, even if there is a car accident, or someone gets sick,
or whatever happens, because they followed these steps first, they beleive they did their part, come hellor high water. You might also call this
a fatalistic way of looking at things, as whichever way they did it, or whatever happened,
no matter how things turned out , they know that they got prophecies on it, and claimed the power of the keys, so it must be God's will. This is applied to TF's everyday decisions of their practical life, and is deeply ingrained in them.
It is also taught to the kids. I mentioned about the teen camps before. Any teen who wants to go also must sit down first and channel their spirit helper or Jesus for a prophecy as to whether or not it is God's will to go. IT is not up to the parents to decide. CHildren are taught to do this
froma very young age. So it is not merely a question of religious preference weare dealing with here. It is a very strong mind set which is ingrained in all the members, even those leaving TF. They are encouraged to hear from the Lord regarding if they should stay in TF or not, so even upon leaving TF, this mind set is carried with them wherever they go and affects their practical life afterwards, because they dont know how to make decisions otherwise.
That is one reason why many who leave, who went through this period of indoctrination,have a hard time making it. They dont have the faith to contavt their dieties anymore, or claim the keys, sothey dont know who to turn to. That is how strong it this mind set is.To have a truly successful break with TF this powerful mind set has to be completely broken. And it can only be broken by recognizing the evil of it,rejecting it, renouncing it, making a complete turn around, a U turn ,remove that powerful mind set by replacing it with new habits, convictions, self esteem, integrity.Because someone coming out of TF loses these things, and that is why so many stay in and are on the edge, or verge of leaving, but they are afraid once out they will lode their identity that has made them what they are and have been for years. I know , I just went through that, and it was no picnic,I tell you! In fact, it is a daily battle to regain my integrity, identity, and individualism. Its a struggle, but I know I have tomake it so I can turn around and help my kids to do the same. Those kids of mine who have been out a while have succeeded in this, and are doingfine, but those who leave , and carry the burden of the condemnation of this Family mind set with them, do not do well.
