In Reply to: Re: Berg's misuse of scripture posted by Visitor on January 10, 2004 at 08:22:08:
Here is how I see it
When I joined, I was attracted by a group of youth like myself who seemed to have a cause which encompassed solving all the problems in the world and was wrapped up in a package as the total solution. That is what attracted me.
Even after all the classes, all the purging sessions and all the control, I never saw myself as buying the bridge to do what I wanted on, whether that be sex, postering, litnessing, etc. In fact, as the road I went down in the family got swallowed up in ever greater floods of twisted doctrine I became more and more distressed. I hated litnessing. I hated the sex because it was most often someone I wanted nothing to do with. It felt like rape and was often coerced. What kept me in was that I was conditioned to believe that God would reject me, my kids would possibly die (because God often punished backslidding parents by hurting those closest to them) and I was often separated from my kids. Not to mention that I had no one to go to and no family or friends at my country of origin that were still around or were capable of being supportive.
Maybe I am not understanding your view which you certainly have a right to and others may relate to better than me. And maybe you joined at a time that other attractions were there for you. What attracted you to the family? And what do you see as being the key factor that caused you to leave? By the way, I do see Berg as a master con man, but also way worse because of his penchant for rape, child molestation and his absolute love affair with a sense of power and control.