Breaking down the fear


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Posted by Thinker on September 07, 2012 at 19:14:06

In Reply to: Re: Question #1 posted by Extreme on September 06, 2012 at 19:58:44:

Yes, I can relate. I had difficulty coping too.

The way I see it is that TFI taught us to worship a GOD OF FEAR. They claimed to live and teach love, but it was nothing but fear and it was integrated into every aspect of being a member. There were all the things you had to do to please God, to please your leaders, and all the things you couldn't do and say, and all the things you couldn't leave undone. TFI used the fear of shame--immediate plus eternal shame--to motivate people into following their program. To be a member was to be a believer with a privilege of knowing things the ignorant systemites didn't. This elitism went together with a responsibility--now that you're among the "chosen," what are you going to do about it?

The tool they used to ingrain that fear was the Bible. Consequently, the Bible was the best tool for unlearning and breaking down all my internalized mechanisms of fear.

We were taught to read every single part of the Bible as something that was relevant, immediate, applicable--as God speaking to "me," personally. There was no other context available. Everything was high-strung, urgent, exclamation marks, all-CAPS, imperative and impending. We were taught to live in a state of constant vigilance. That constant heightened alert has a way of screwing with your psyche in a very deep and lasting way.

Looking back, I think the one thing that helped me most upon exiting, was to learn was how to prioritize. In life, there are normally a range of options. We can respond to challenges and imperatives by categorizing them as must-do's, should-do's and nice-to-do's. As an exercise, I would read different parts of the Bible and learn, for example, to see portions as something Jesus said to a specific person, not necessarily to me. I allowed myself to put a context to the situation, to "explain it away": this was about so and so, not me; this is symbolic of such and such--it does not address me specifically.

You can decide what part of the Bible is relevant to you as a must-do, as a should-do and a nice-to-do. The book of Chronicles is largely genealogy--certainly not every verse there is God shouting something at you. Not everything in there is a must-do or should-do or nice-to-do. It is just genealogy. God will not strike you with lightning if you "explain away" the Bible. In fact, theological studies are largely about learning to assign context, relevance and interpretation to different parts of the bible. If you are a Christian but don't want to be a "fanatic," then that is probably one of the ways you can dial it down a few notches.



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