I first saw this cartoon about a year ago and it really struck a chord.
It’s perfectly possible for people to have very different ideas of people in their head depending on how they were treated by that person.
So for one person, Bill Turner might have been a nice, kindly man, maybe a little too fundamentalist, but still a decent person with a moral compass. For another, however, he could have been yet another controlling arm of KCF.
I’m sure there were thousands of people who would have said Rolf Harris, or Jimmy Saville, were wonderful people. In fact I recall many people leapt to the defence of the former, refusing to believe such a huge figure from their childhood could have been guilty of anything so heinous, and the latter was often lauded for his charity work. And yet the truth came out in the end.
Please believe me I’m not accusing Bill Turner of the same crimes as those two. But I am saying it’s possible that he was lovely to some, and less lovely to others. It’s very important to realise that your experience is not the same as
everyone’s.
Personally, I remember feeling in awe of Turner. I certainly felt he was less strict and full-on than Cheryl or the other leaders/wannabe leaders. However I also remember some of his teachings on The End Times were absolutely terrifying, and not the kind of thing, really, that should be said to children. I had so many nightmares. (It wasn’t the worst thing done by KCF and their associates, but it’s still a very clear memory.)
A few years ago, out of curiosity, I googled him. I found a load of his teachings on YouTube. I started to watch one of them. Well, to me, as someone who is very much NOT any kind of evangelical/charismatic Christian any more, they seemed absolutely off-the-wall ludicrous. It brought back a lot of memories. Not good ones. Perhaps those of you who still have leanings in that direction might find them less strange than me. I don’t know.
I actually have fond memories of a handful of people who were in the fellowship the same time as me. I think most of them have since left, but I suspect one or two are still there. However, I’m also very aware that other people may have had very different experiences with those same people.
I can definitely think of examples the other way around. There are people who others think of as wonderful, funny, kind and quirky, but I know what they’re capable of.
And perhaps some people have changed. However, and I don’t want to speak for anyone else here, but I suspect most of us won’t believe that until we have an apology or admission of guilt or even regret.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2020 10:03PM by ALongTimeAgo.