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The notes were destroyed weeks ago. Frankly, it was a very low priority on my end but found out anyway and they are gone, destroyed.
I thought you said you would notify us when it was done. The amount of condescension you show here is emblematic of the whole problem I have with Trinity, which is the way it dehumanizes its former members. As Rick Ross has noted, this is the most accurate barometer of whether or not a group should be considered a cult (see the beginning of this thread).
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We do have some people here that are concerned with the personal notes that you and Wendy took (to use in your book) and they would like them destroyed as well. These are the ones that you took when you were a Bible Study Leader.
There are no such notes, and nothing of the sort was used for the book. You imply that I was taking notes while I was still at Trinity to use in some future book, which is certainly not the case. The whole idea of the book was not even conceived of until at least two years after we left the group. Wendy did her own independent research for the book, taping and transcribing interviews with former members. We have signed releases from everyone she interviewed, and they all knew they were being taped and what it was for. In other words, everyone who talked to us gave informed consent. Those tapes and the transcripts of them are in no way equivalent to the hot seat notes.
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I do have to say one thing that has bothered me. I've always thought that these notes should be turned over to the police but Trinity believes in grace and forgiveness. (Me...I'm still out on that one). It is amazing that the same people that accuse Ole of being "a clean cut kid" instead of the rebel or point out the lies he spouted are people that have raped and abused children and attempted murder.
I’m not sure who you are talking about here—certainly not me or Wendy. Remember, Trinity’s interpretation of things says, “if you’ve thought about something it is the same as actually doing it.” Moreover, they say that to hate someone is the same as murdering them, and to withdraw from someone is to hate them. Therefore, if you withdraw from someone, you’ve murdered them. I can imagine that Ole might write “murderer” about someone in the hot seat notes, that being his spiritualized interpretation of the idea that a person is “guilty” of withdrawing from others at times. This is one of the reasons those notes needed to be destroyed, because they are so subject to misinterpretation.
Ironically, by these standards Trinity is guilty of murdering all of its former members.
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Yeah...now everyone really KNOWS why they are scared for these "confessional" notes that are floating around.
I was concerned about this. Instead of doing the moral thing and simply shredding the notes, y’all went back and read them all and have made them a subject of gossip. Shame on all of you for this.
This is a perfect illustration of why those notes needed to be destroyed, because by their very existence they violate confidentiality. This is why priests in legitimate Christian churches do not take notes in the confessional.
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Ask they the REAL reason they left.. WHY...because they were SCARED of these notes
Do I take your comments to mean that you read the confessions of people whose hot seats you did not attend? Have you no decency at all, Michelle?
For the record, I do not know of anyone leaving because they were scared of the notes. However, that may be the reason some people who are still there have stayed.
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Sorry...just read of a 2 year old being raped, beaten and killed and to know that some ex-members actually have the gall to bring up Ole's past.. Well....I'm just...speechless.
I do not know of anyone ever confessing to anything that extreme. I am appalled that you could be so reckless and irresponsible as to say something like this—it goes way beyond the pale, even for you. I thought that perhaps you had matured some in the last few years, Michelle, but apparently not.
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Bleh...goodnight, goodbye and hope you all have perfect lives.
People don’t have perfect lives, but I know mine is much better since I left Trinity.