In Reply to: Another c.o.g. survivor , 1971 - 1973 posted by Natasha on January 27, 2004 at 11:19:40:
Welcome to this site. I am also an early 70's exfam, left around the time Kohoutek didn't fly by with a bang and FFing was getting started.
What prompted me to leave was the desire to be married & have kids without some leader telling me what to do and how to do it. By Berg's standard, I was pretty selfish. Oh well. I put sexual relationships and the decision to have/raise kids in the "personal business" category. I always had a problem with authority figures, especially when they want to get into my personal business.
Have you had a chance to read Deborah (Berg) Davis' 1984 book about her father and TF? I tend to agree with her assessment of what went wrong...Berg was, from the very beginning, an arrogant, self-righteous prick and the social dysfunction around promoting & maintaining his leadership as teacher/prophet was enormous. Are you aware that he incested both his daughters?
I think of Family leadership as spiritual fascists. Your comments about M. are interesting. I'm no great believer in prophesy as hard-and-fast prediction of future events, but I do hope you are correct in your assessment of what is likely to happen (soon) if there are no changes in M's behavior and attitude. Better the fall come in this life than the next, as that would allow the second gen a better shot at reconcilliation and restitution.