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In Reply to: Re: Rare nonfinancial concessions in RC abuse case posted by CB on February 03, 2006 at 16:37:58:
Your comments are interesting but here are some thoughts about the following that you posted:
"I think the Family's leadership circle is criminal and that some of the ordinary members are criminals, but that there are also some members who are just very naive, trusting, socially isolated, and willfully ignorant about their leaders.
--I think many things people are taught within the Family are criminal such as tax evasion etc. but I think within the state of mind a person is in while in a destructive cult, they are not willfully ignorant as much as deceived and believing in the poison they have been fed. I can remember being in Europe and seeing many leaders trade tales about ways they saved money by not paying tranportation fares for example. There were "how-to's" and a sense of entitlement of being God's chosen people and so we really should have things like this given to us. I think many people did NOT do this, but it was common practice just as tax evasion was and non-reporting to anyone but Family regarding income.
*I don't think people are "willfully ignorant" because I think it is much deeper than that and with your studies I think you know what I mean here. Looking back at myself and my state of mind while in the family I had quite a bit of magical thinking going on and I saw the Family's God as a sort of 'watcher' (isn't that one of their supposed protector spirits now? ugh.) who can take a person out if they aren't watching their proverbial P's and Q's. That kind of fear had a hold on me and I had to get away and be around sanity before any sanity could be restored to me.*
"I've concluded that the criminal leadership may have actually cultivated a cadre of front line membership who are pretty much what the group says it is--independent missionaries with some strange doctrines who've cleaned up the worst abuses of their past. This would explain why there is such great variation in what people say they experienced growing up in TFI, or even what someone might be experiencing today, depending on home status (WS, MM, FM), what country they're located in, who's in the local chain of command, etc."
* Although I do believe that many experiences are different depending upon what local leadership you are around and how closely they enforce the letters or GN's, I don't see any homes in the destructive cult as being simply missionaries with some strange doctrines. I see the cult as very destructive to both adults and we both know it is to children. In light of the letters that are sent to all levels and how graphic, repetitive and in many cases instructive as to what people should literally do regarding teaching children, practicing praying to cartoon and fiction as well as crudely made up figures and particularly the LJR and it's recommended practice it is clear that the Family is a very harmful place to be. I also have to consider that Berg always taught that "suggestions" were "orders" so I would say that far too many members are controlled much as a battered woman is. Until they get away they cannot think rationally. I also think of the continued shocks of doctrinal changes, breaking up of family units, condemnation for illness etc, burn people out and over time whatever it is that gives people a spark- fizzles and is snuffed out in some cases. I wish it was just eccentric and weird and not so dern destructive.
Regarding illness and how Maria and Peter asked for prayer for illness I don't doubt that they did but the perspective was different in the family for top leadership. When Berg was hospitalized and there was a fast for his condition I remember being made to feel like it was our fault and so we better not eat and better pray like the dickens that Berg would get better. The same thing happened with chosen elite leaders such as Abner who "God" supposedly took to "Stand In The Gap" and he was seen as a hero when he had been drinking and had a wreck on a motorcycle one night. The average member would be made to feel the accident or illness was some horrible thing wrong with them or their home. Only top leaders or a few people who serviced motorcycles and cars would know the real story of the death or the nature of Berg's illness.*
