Dear seekingsusan

Thank you I really appreciate your words and explanation. I am sorry that some of your family are still there.

Please accept a virtual hug from me as well. I mean this is all sincerity

Thank you and take care

Hello Old Skool
I also go back a long way in Struthers and can remember the previous female leaders of whom, yes, we were terrified and were scared that we'd do something wrong and get mentioned from the front (platform) either by name or anonymously. That's why I wrote in a previous post that recent problems in SMC are not confined to the Cumbernauld church. I was in SMC before the Cumbernauld church came into being and the same controlling behaviour existed back then and has been passed on. I'm well aware of how leaders intervene in situations and get things changed, often causing confusion and hurt to those involved. If we questioned this, we were told the leader was right and "knew the mind of God". So if you believed that, you submitted in remorse and kept quiet thereafter.

Yes, Old Skool, there were a lot of rules back then relating to dress, jeans, TV etc. Rules on dress were relaxed over the years, but TV was still deemed unacceptable and few members owned a television. I never saw anything on a TV for years. I didn't know what certain people in the Government or in the News looked like! What seemed a bit hypocritical to me was that using the internet or mobile phone was never spoken against, and much of the same content can be found there as is seen on television. Can't we be trusted to select that which is good and switch off the bad? If we can on the web, then why not similarly on TV?

Many cults prohibit the watching of television. Could it be yet another method of control and a means of taking people out of reality into a confined way of life where you find your way by obeying only what the leaders teach and tell you.

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Rensil

I never saw anything on a TV for years. I didn't know what certain people in the Government or in the News looked like!

Did this affect how you got on with other kids at school ?. Did it for example make it harder to make friends and be accepted ?. Or were you discouraged
from making friends with "outsiders" anyway ?.

I think this is particularly damaging to how children get to perceive and interact with outsiders and diversity in general. It allows everything to be filtered throught the Stuthers "lens" rather than hearing or ( perish the thought ) learning from and about these outsiders directly.

Used judiciously and carefully by parents, television can be formative in a very positive way on future careers and life choices. Subjects that many kids might find boring in school, suddenly become interesting, inspirational and fun when presented engagingly on TV.

In addition, not hearing and seeing outsiders with different views, faiths or lifestyles speaking for themselves directly, means it is easier for negative stereotypes
of outsiders - as painted by Struthers leadership - to become engrained in these children. They - in effect can end up subconsciously hating the "sinner" as well as the "sin", even if this isnt explicitly being taught in sunday church.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2011 08:27PM by seekingsusan.

Hi Old Skool and welcome to the forum

I never met Miss Taylor or Mr Black but also heard how 'wonderfully anointed' they were. No doubt the same wilol be said of the current leaders in years to come if Struthers are still going. With regard to the list of unnacceptable activities it is still quite long, or at least was when I left in 2008. Jeans were allowed but frowned upon on a sunday morning (at least in Cumbernauld) TVs were banned as was make up, ear piercing and dyeing hair etc.

I raised the question regarding dyeing hair. After all if we are meant to stay as God designed us, women shouldnt pluck their eyebrows, shave their legs or cut their hair. Likewise men wouldnt shave etc. I was told that dyeing hair was vanity and the bible spoke against that. Aside from the chapter from proverbs 31 about a womans beauty should come from within and not externally I was given various references from Ecclesiastes about numerous things being vanity. Even though the context was clear that it mean doing sometyhing in vain (pointless) as in chasing after the wind, ther word vanity was used and that was 'proof' that dyeing hair/make up etc was going against Gods word.

I also came across the phobia ministry at Struthers. You were basically told that if you had phobias you were not trusting God so I imagine some people just shut up about these phobias afterward and dare not admit it. Its not that I dont believe God can take away fears. I know that after I left Struthers God totally took away my fear of thunderstorms. Its interesting that I heard that one of the 3 main leaders of Struthers has or at least in my time, had a fear of big dogs, that is rarely mentioned. Yet others are made to feel they dont trust God if they struggle with a phobia.

Just to pick up what you and Rensil said. I agree that it wasnt just what went on in Cumbernauld that was controlling. I know there are many others who have had similar experiences from other churches that come under the Struthers banner. Even though I went to Cumbernauld and so thats where my main experience came from I know that the rules went across the board, certainly in the central Scotland churches. Also regarding my experience I understand that it was both Diana and Grace Gault who made the ruling that my friend was to have nothing to do with me. So in short, not much has changed and theyre all pretty much as bad as one another.

God bless

CovLass



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2011 08:30PM by CovLass.

Hi Cov,

So would it be fair to say that in some part, you ended up in the position of being accused by the Struthers leader of being a lesbian because you chose to dress or wear your hair differently ??.

Did you have ( "perish the thought" :0 ) ....... piercings ?.

Seekingsusan, I'm sorry if I gave a wrong impression that I was a child in SMC and grew up in it with parents. That wasn't the case. I joined Struthers as a young adult with some friends of the same age. So I can't say what the effect of having no TV would be on a child when mixing with their school-friends. Maybe someone else could say. However, yes, it did cause problems in the workplace and with family, as you couldn't discuss much about current affairs or sports events. So it must have been and still be hard for a child in this situation with no other background memories to link in to.

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Rensil
Seekingsusan, I'm sorry if I gave a wrong impression that I was a child in SMC and grew up in it with parents.

No, my fault - I just assumed wrong :)

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Rensil
So it must have been and still be hard for a child in this situation with no other background memories to link in to.

Maybe one reason that the most likely people to stay loyal to the SMC and never leave, are the people who spent their whole lives there from birth or early childhood is that besides being indoctrinated to avoid the "outside world", they simply find that by adulthood they now are unable to make relationships with non SMC people. They now find the outside world utterly alien - a little like the Amish maybe. So for them, SMC becomes the only place they feel comfortable and in fact neither want to or are able to explore new vistas outside of their safe and sanitised SMC "home".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2011 07:07AM by seekingsusan.

Growing up in smg very much affected how i got on with other kids in school,all the way thro primary for example once the school day ended and at weekends i would not really socialise with them,the only birthday partys i would attend would be church ones and the summer holidays would usually be used going to camps.none of us thought anything about strange about it,it was all we knew,and as i said before camp was a happy time,alltho as you got older,the amount of meetings would start to do your head in.a lot of my generation became gospel hardened,i would switch of with the first hymn and waken up with the last prayer.

Hi Seekingsusan

I too have members of my family who still go to Struthers. I know how painful that can be, however they are our family and we have to go on loving them in the hope that someday the truth will triumph. I understand why they would still want to go there. I myself found an amazing presence of God. That is one thing I can never explain to anyone, If the abuse and false doctrine, are really going on, why is the presense of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so eveident there. Does anyone know?

Susie

Hi Susan

You know I couldve maybe understood their prejudice a little if I turned up to the church in denim dungarees, dr martin boots and a shaved head lol. Ive never really been one for skirts and the first time I visited Struthers I had fairly short spikey hair with red highlights. I did often wonder if thats what sparked this 'discernment', coming from the school of 'oh my word, she has short hair and wears trainers, therefore she must be gay'

I did notice that there were other women who never wore skirts and wore their hair shorter (although I had grown mine by the time I moved to Struthers) I wonder if they had the same 'discernment' over their lives too.