This topic has been covered the posts below but my original intention had to do with the point that each colony in TF was center of indoctrination, and that the indoctrination had a strong American cultural component. The institutionalized idea of a babe’s ranch served this purpose. We would memorize Scripture, learn the basics of the Christian faith, read the basic milky Mo letters (that we later learned he had plagiarized) and go witnessing. There was a rigid schedule and we had to be disciplined. The day would start with a song after 8 hours of sleep, the breakfast was hardy, house clean up and off we would go to a Bible class to tell us what we were supposed to believe.
Not knowing the Bible, I was happy to accept whatever I was given, and I remember these days as very happy indeed. I had just “forsaken all” in the form of all my possessions including a sizeable amount of money I got from the bank. I was happy and free from problems but without realizing that the extreme busyness was also keeping me from fully considering the extent of my decision.
And the turn came, after many years, to be the leader of a similar center of indoctrination. I started thinking how uncanny mini world of the American culture I was putting together. The storage room was all, or mostly American clothes (actually just foreign but mainly American), the language was English even though I was translating the classes and letters into the country’s language, the schedule was the same, very American – even the food. Sara Davidito, the pedophile who lives in Houston, Texas these days, rebuked me once for not serving an American menu. What a witch!
Of course, the Christianity, I realized later, was also American styled, in spite of the attempts that some people have made to split hairs on this one. American Protestantism inherited the anti-catholic views of its European predecessors and TF continued this tradition. The separation between church and daily life in the community is very small in most parts of the world, not so in American culture. Once out of a church building, the attitudes of fellow parishioners change. Unless you happen to be one of the officers of the church, all they have is a look and maybe a smile but most of the time it is the same attitude that one finds in any other event such as a movie, or in the shopping mall. Being inside of the church makes church goers behave one way but their attitude changes dramatically as soon as they walk out. Maybe this is understandable, but it is quite and impressive change nevertheless.
As a member of TF, we were all brothers and sisters, all smiles and sacrifice. What went on inside of TF walls was one thing but all that friendship and closeness disappeared as soon as people came out of the walls. Insiders consider outsiders apostates. Is this American? I don’t know but I was hoping all those people who tried to defend the American church as if it was better than anything else would have had the eyes to see what I was talking about. The American culture has many good points but many horrible points, but somehow many Americans are blind to these, defensive. American Christian Churches have a lot of good things but wanting to dwell on the good things, as many preach, prevents them from correcting what is wrong.