In Reply to: Re: Demands on God. posted by Farmer on November 21, 2004 at 11:55:11:
I was reading something about cults a while back. It had to do with why people don't leave, when it's the obvious thing to do.
This talked about the concept of "investment". Human nature seems to dictate that the more we have invested, the harder it is for us to stop.
In business, this idea is used as a sales tool. If I'm selling you something that costs a lot of money, I can usually make sure I'll get all my money by simply asking you for a "deposit". If you don't finish the deal, I get to keep your deposit. It might only be a small amount like $5.00, but it works like a charm.
When my wife joined The Family about 30 years ago, she started out by giving everything to the "forsake all". Her Father had died a few years before, she even cashed in a time deposit account containing her inheritance, paying a withdrawal penalty, to give the money to someone in the cult. That was the investment.
Of course, in The Family, it goes deeper than that. Next she found herself overseas. No outside friends, no regular contact with Family, etc.
So, getting back to the concept... let's say that I buy some stock for $1,000. The next week, the stock goes down to $800.00. Do I cut my losses and get out? Or do I hope it gets better, and take advantage of the lower price to buy more?
When you cut your losses, you have to admit to the world that you were wrong. Most of us have a very hard time doing that, and we just keep investing digging ourselves deeper and deeper.
I can't even imagine the process someone has to go through after 25 or 30 years in the cult. The investment amounts to a lifetime. I guess that's why so many people I've met who have just left the cult still send in a tithe for a while. I think it boils down to the belief that if we stick with it, sooner or later it is going to pay off.
I'm sure the fear of long time members is that if they leave, they have wasted their lives. But, the fact is, they still have so much life left. Why waste the rest of it?