Saw,
I too was thinking about what you wrote about the children and young people blurring the line btwn the Lord and G&M to the point where they are identical in your mind. It is probably one thing to have grown up as a child with that indoctrination and another to have been coerced to accept it as an adult.
I left the Walk as an adult before the strong emphasis on the spiritual leaders beings viewed as little gods. I wonder if TLWF is the only cult/fringe Christian group where this is occurring, where Christ has incarnated himself. There have been a few posts from those who grew up in the LW and left and apparently rejected the LW doctrine and those posters were concerned about how to reach their friends still in TLWF.
I scanned on google bits of a new book, Perfect Children: Growing Up on The Religious Fringe, Oxford Press, 2015. In one section, the author talks about the "baddies" or those who seemed to have more rebel like characteristics and upon leaving their group pretty much viewed the doctrines as rubbish. Interesting. I thought of changedagain when reading that section due to the self described discipline he received while in TLWF. lol
On the other hand, some who left their group struggled to fit into the world sometimes finding acceptance through drugs and sex. However, the author concludes that there were many variables that went into each person's story and each story was unique.
I too was thinking about what you wrote about the children and young people blurring the line btwn the Lord and G&M to the point where they are identical in your mind. It is probably one thing to have grown up as a child with that indoctrination and another to have been coerced to accept it as an adult.
I left the Walk as an adult before the strong emphasis on the spiritual leaders beings viewed as little gods. I wonder if TLWF is the only cult/fringe Christian group where this is occurring, where Christ has incarnated himself. There have been a few posts from those who grew up in the LW and left and apparently rejected the LW doctrine and those posters were concerned about how to reach their friends still in TLWF.
I scanned on google bits of a new book, Perfect Children: Growing Up on The Religious Fringe, Oxford Press, 2015. In one section, the author talks about the "baddies" or those who seemed to have more rebel like characteristics and upon leaving their group pretty much viewed the doctrines as rubbish. Interesting. I thought of changedagain when reading that section due to the self described discipline he received while in TLWF. lol
On the other hand, some who left their group struggled to fit into the world sometimes finding acceptance through drugs and sex. However, the author concludes that there were many variables that went into each person's story and each story was unique.