In Reply to: Re: interesting discussion posted by Acheick on May 18, 2004 at 16:45:34:
She was watching some sort of documentary or show about a woman in a cult whose child died because she didn't feed it enough. She was in some sort of cult and they coerced her into breast feeding only, even with people watching her and all. My daughter was upset at the way the prosecutor was going after this woman. She said, "Don't they understand what it's like in a cult?"
I saw that NBC Dateline episode (A Twist of Faith) and recorded it. It's about the Alteburo cult led by the woman's father in law Rubideaux (sp?). I read elsewhere on the net that this cult leader was driven by the doctrines found in a book called Born in Zion where all the systems of man, gov't, religious, medical, judicial, economic etc... are all considered the seven mountains of the antichrist.
It disturbs me greatly when I see well educated men making assertions to which they have no knowledge. In the Alteburo case, the prosecuting attorney asserted that the victim was the baby and not the woman, as if there can only be one victim in any given tragedy. People like that should be locked up in public stocks and ridiculed for blatant stupidity in a public office that requires much more intelligence than shown.
I think that any spiritual advisor that recommends medical advice on the basis that it is from God should be held accountable when their advice fails. After all, to claim perfect revelation from a perfect God would naturally result in perfect results wouldn't it? That would certainly minimize the flapping lips of spiritual narcissists. I think the Jews had the right idea in the handling of false prophets, but hey, this is America, and it is perfectly legal for pathological spiritual leaders to psychologically abuse their converts and create the environment for tragedy that results in death. That's how Robideaux got away with it, and how Woroniecki got away with what he did to Andrea Yates and her children.