The Family Children of God by insidersChildren of God Family International
Home Chat Boards Articles COG History COG Publications People Resources Search site map
exFamily.org > chatboards > genX > archives > post #8523

Re: Importance of our experience in The Family

Posted by Bart on May 21, 2003 at 14:58:11

In Reply to: Re: Importance of our experience in The Family posted by Lyle on May 21, 2003 at 11:39:00:

Just two points: Idealism and human differences.

There had to be a certain amount of idealism not only to join but to stay past a few month. There were too many hardships in daily life. However, it only lasted until people got into either comfortable situations (where they had all their needs taking care of) or untill they got to a place of leadership, and their needs were pretty much taken care of by those below. Shaul, then a regional shepherd told me the "secret" of leadership: all I had to do was feed and take these people out litnessing or singing every so often and I would have it made. He was not the only one with that attitude. He was a nice guy otherwise and generally personable but what happened to his idealism? The capitalistic organization the Family swallowed him as it did so many others.

The second point is that because people are different, we tend to react differently to things. Not everybody sees the Family as evil or bad (BTW, I do, even as I say that my experience was not that negative). Also, not everybody sees the same things at the same time. In fact, for some feebleminded people and others, the Family might be the perfect place. What I see wrong in the Family is their intent to deceive by denying their doctrines and practices.