In Reply to: Some thoughts about perpetrators and old wounds posted by AG on February 05, 2004 at 14:42:03:
Berg had a doctrine that if you haven’t forgotten, then you haven’t forgiven. He blamed the Jews for being hypocrites who say we can forgive but we’ll never forget, in regards to the Holocaust.
In the same vein a huge big deal was made out of Berg's so-called wonderful capacity of love because he’d forget the mistakes and sins of the leader or disciple who’d gone astray once they’d recognized & repented of their waywardness. For example with Keda, when she’d been excorcised of the demons that had been oppressing her, and she’d subsequently gotten “the victory”, Berg was tauted as having treated her with so much wonderful love, no mention of the former things, the usual Dad and Mama have so much love, all that “How great is the love of David” type vomit..
I was explaining to some friends a couple of weeks ago that there are some individuals that I’ve had a very hard time forgiving because of how they’d betrayed me as a person and financially as well. I didn’t give them the details but I was thinking of Berg, and Maria, and Family leadership, and how I had been lied to. Also at one time there had been a sizeable inheritance from my grandfather we’d “forsaken” to the Family. At the time my mom tried to get us to put into a mutual fund. Too late now, but it would be so helpful if some of that was available today, and sometimes I get angry about not having just lost that, but even more how much of my life I lost to the cult. As far as Berg and Co. are concerned I don’t get as angry as I used to.
Anyway, my conclusion is that as I lose my anger toward Berg, Maria and Family leadership I’m able to begin forgiving, but this has nothing to do with forgetting. Forgetting is irrational. Berg’s insistence on the premise that forgiving means forgetting too was another example of his insanity. There must be some control and manipulative elements involved in that as well.