AD:
There has been quite a bit of discussion amongst our group of ex-pats regarding the variety of abuses within TLW, and interestingly enough, many of them can be traced back to doctrinal justifications.
-- Feeling chosen and separating yourself apart
-- Maintaining cultural purity
-- Designating relationships
-- Spiritual hierarchy
-- Financial support of said hierarchy
-- Unquestioned obedience/submission
-- Praying for the destruction of ‘x/y/z’
-- Condemnation of certain sexual practices
-- Extreme discipline
-- Separation from family
-- Etc., etc., etc. . . .
When one ‘believes’ they are ‘doing the will of God’ in enforcing any of the above (and any that were left out), LOVE tends to take a backseat, especially if the Kool-Aid that has been drunk was spiked with the ‘violence to take the Kingdom’.
This list, of course, is not all-inclusive, nor does it cover all the abuses that have taken place over the decades, but it does cover an alarming number. It represents just how far afield Christianity can go in losing the message of the GOSPEL of LOVE, which was so elegantly stated as LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR BROTHER--period.
There has been quite a bit of discussion amongst our group of ex-pats regarding the variety of abuses within TLW, and interestingly enough, many of them can be traced back to doctrinal justifications.
-- Feeling chosen and separating yourself apart
-- Maintaining cultural purity
-- Designating relationships
-- Spiritual hierarchy
-- Financial support of said hierarchy
-- Unquestioned obedience/submission
-- Praying for the destruction of ‘x/y/z’
-- Condemnation of certain sexual practices
-- Extreme discipline
-- Separation from family
-- Etc., etc., etc. . . .
When one ‘believes’ they are ‘doing the will of God’ in enforcing any of the above (and any that were left out), LOVE tends to take a backseat, especially if the Kool-Aid that has been drunk was spiked with the ‘violence to take the Kingdom’.
This list, of course, is not all-inclusive, nor does it cover all the abuses that have taken place over the decades, but it does cover an alarming number. It represents just how far afield Christianity can go in losing the message of the GOSPEL of LOVE, which was so elegantly stated as LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR BROTHER--period.
