Thats good advice to see what he is lacking. The biggest thing he keep saying is that god blesses those who worship him with all thier heart's desires. I have yet to see this happen...in fact, quite the contrary...he has less freetime which he always complains about, and he has no notable change in income which really bothers him. Mom and I keep trying to push him to take the technical school classes on how to start your own buisness as he is a marketing genuis, but he cant get upward mobility because his boss wants him making money for him and with being in church 4 days a week on top of working full time...he has no oppurtunity for advancment...yet somehow his church convinces him that this miracle will just fall in his lap. He wants enough money to be finacially comfortable which right now he is not, and seems to think that getting all religious is going to hasten that process. I hurts me so when he blames himself when he does not see results from his religious devotion.
What bothers me more than anything with the changes he has undergone with this church is victim blaming. He was always so compassionate towards people down on their luck and did what he could to help out...but since joining, he has adopted this belief that bad things happen to people because of "rebellion against god." This deeply disturbs me.
Also on a personal level, I am an atheist, my sister is a deist, her husband is an atheist and we all come from a rather secular family. My mom is a Christian, but is more of a works-based Christian than a faith-based Christian and she is probably the best example of a model Christian I know. But it deeply bothers me to see my brother become so hypocritical and full of nearly everything that is wrong with Christianity. I love him dearly but its killing me to see him become this way. He used to believe that whatever one believes...that is where they will go in the afterlife. This is much more palatable than this holier-than-thou crap.
Meanwhile, he sacerfices his morality for this group and when he doesnt get what he strives so hard for...he blames himself. And thats the most heartbreaking part of it all.

Knotty

Sorry to respond so late...this is such a slow moving forum sometimes that its safe not to check all that often.

Anyway, Things have not improved with my brother all that much...you are so right, he is addicted to god. That explains it better than anything I have yet seen. He has addictive qualities as alcoholism runs deep on his father's side...so this explains alot really. Mom has given him a few verbal lashings about religious hypocritsy which have actaully helped some.

But on the other hand...he spends what time he is not working or going to church on reading religious inspired material that is pretty radical that basicly tell him to give up his entire life for god.

Sounds like you have a community problem in the works there. I also have no doubt that he used the adam and eve speech to verbally excommunicate a member...sounds like the whole speech was prepared around making the person who left seem like the "fallen one". 150 people already...thats not good.
There is a church like that around here that keeps going to bigger and bigger buildings and the pastor is a real tithe hound and has become really fundamentalist. I used to go to his church before I de-converted to atheism and it is an indie penniocostal church, but I never trusted him, so I left. He has a long history of drugs and illegal behavior that was "miraclously cured" after being zapped by the spirit. Gee, that sounds like the Brownsville, Fla guy, also a pennicostal church...is there a blue-print for this?

Anyway, I hope your mother sees that by going to his church, she is supporting this guy.

As for my brother, I see that I am in for the long haul....he has swallowed it, hook, line, sinker.

Thanks for the info,

Knotty