I_woke_up:

Nothing objectionable in the posts you quote. Pretty standard considering the Christian background of the group as I posted before.

IMO there are people who are now trolling this thread in an effort to frustrate people posting here. They seem to want to chase people off and/or start arguments that lead to people not posting anymore.

Trolls and trouble makers will be banned.

I am not going to argue with you.

rrmoderator Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NickleandDimed:
>
> YOu seem to be here as a troll and/or a cult
> apologist.
>
> Rebecca Moore is a cult apologist who engages in
> the worst sort of apologies about Jim Jones. She
> worked to include his name on a memorial at a
> cemetery where there is a mass grave of Jones'
> victims. Jones is not buried there, but Moore
> wanted his name engraved on the memorial stone at
> the mass grave anyway.
>
> Sick.
>
> To be extremely charitable--Moore's theories are
> less than credible.
>
> And there are other apologists that have been paid
> by cults like Eileen Barker, Gordon Melton and
> Dick Anthony.
>
> See [www.culteducation.com]
>
> The label "new religious movements" is barely
> relevant as many groups called "cults" (e.g.
> NXIVM) are not even religious.
>
> Einstein's theory of relativity is no less
> relevant today than it was decades ago and
> Galileo's basic observations and theories remain
> relevant after centuries. The writings of Robert
> Jay Lifton, Edgar Schein, Robert Cialdini and
> researchers like Singer, Conway and Siegelman,
> Zimbardo and Milgram remain directly relevant to
> the cult phenomenon today.
>
> Moore is little more than a minor academic hack
> without any stature other than her personal family
> ties to Jonestown, which makes her less than
> objective.
>
> You seem to be here to undermine this thread and
> attack people that post here personally. If I
> receive just one more complaint about you--you
> will be banned from this message board.
>
> No one is really benefiting from your posts other
> than the cults.

RRMODERATOR,

Please allow me to be the voice that finally rids this group of the N&D troll.
I find the very mention of Jim Jones and the events at Jonestown to be beyond repugnant. This comparison, no matter how phrased, is extremely dangerous.
Any attempt to justify the cults behavior in a forum designed to permit and facilitate dissenting discussion is counterproductive to the forums reason for existing. IF one wishes to start a PRO-CULT forum is this website the place to do it? I would guess your response to be NO. SO.. why allow PRO-CULT or apologist posts at all, especially if they are gross and disgusting like N&D's last regarding JJ?
Enough is enough in my mind. Please pull the plug on N&D.
Thank you!

I will be watching and may pull the plug soon.

You are right this isn't the place to plug for cult apologists and people that try to somehow spin that Jim Jones wasn't so bad.

I want to share with you what I was going to post originally. I have some pretty strong feelings about what is happening now so got a little side tracked:)

I was 15 years old when I came in to TLWF in 1970. I spent 40 years of my life in in it. I married and raised my child in it. I experienced all that you all have expressed. It was so incredibly messed up. My biggest regret is that I subjected my child to this horribly abusive upbringing. (Who now I am so thankful to say is free from it and getting healthier and happier every day...and has forgiven me).

I want to address what "TheyCallMeJonah" brought up awhile back about adjusting to life outside of the cult. I too felt like I didn't have this massive change the Earth plan anymore. For a long while I felt like an unteathered balloon. I didn't feel like I had anything to "ground" me. It all felt so new and scary. Therapy really helped!!!! I began to realize that this was freedom. Freedom to explore who I am, what I believe, what I like to do etc., etc. It's an adventure and so much fun. And oh yes...FREE TIME to do whatever I want!
I was extremely lucky in that I had a couple of people who left at the same time as I did. We did and still do support each other. It is so helpful to have others who "get it", to talk about it - and talk about it we do!
What I found with us was that it was a gradual process in how we came to the truth. For me at first it was "This just isn't for me anymore", but they (TLWF) were ok in my mind to as they pleased. Then it began to become more and more apparent that they were really WEIRD. I remember the first time I told someone that I had been involved in a cult. It felt so scary to say that! Then the next step to say that I thought MH was crazy...I waited to be smitten down but I wasn't. The list goes on and all the way back to JRS. Now I acknowledge what a truly messed up organization it is.
My heart breaks for the people that are still stuck. Espeacially the one's who I know would leave but feel like the cost is just too great, losing their families. So so sad.
I am thankful for all of you brave and good people who have had the courage to begin new lives.
Here's to the journey of FREEDOM

Life OTOS - As I read your post I was caught up in a visualization of years of being in TLWF and what it looked like and what it looks like not to have to constantly be under a microscope. Freedom is brilliant. I hope you will keep posting as I love your writing style and what you have to say.

When I first joined this forum I didn't know who was still in the walk and who wasn't and I felt very alone. Most of my close friends from the past were Blix girls and I think most of them are still very involved. Some are perpetuating the cruelty of the leadership and some may not have had reality exposed to them.

One thing I have learned over the past month or so is that each of us was exposed to the wrongdoing within TLWF on different levels and from different viewpoints. I strongly believe that we were kept "in our lanes" so to speak because it helped preserve secrecy. Now that we are coming up and out and communicating - the worst nightmare of TLWF is that we will be able to put our pieces together to arrive at the whole picture. And it's very ugly.

You are so right Onion! Life without being under a miscroscope is brilliant. I am so pleased that you and I and so many others are getting free. It’s hard to think that we invested so much of our lives in this bullshit...but so thankful that we aren’t now. We have so much life still to be lived!

Onion and Life OTOS you are both so right. Becoming free of the feeling that someone is watching and judging you constantly is a wonderful experience, even though it is scary in that how do you know who can you relate to safely. As for me I had been basically told I was never good enough and that my relationship was a Plan B. I watched as I and others were shunned and treated like we were trash. I am making new friends and finding that I am worthy of being loved and that I do not need to live afraid that anything I say or do will cause me to be rejected. I just wish I could help those I love discover this. Hoping I can find some others to talk to safely. I am looking forward to discovering the world around me and who I am and how I fit in to everything and being free.

I love that Reveal brought up that quote from Gary referencing the indifference with which his mother's pastors treated her. That IS the way of the Living Word...the very antithesis of "the Kingdom is relationships." My husband and I, rather than detaching from the cult suddenly, slipped away as we realized that there wasn't one person in the church whom we would call in the event of a personal or family emergency, but that the entirety of our "real tribe" exists in our blood family, immediate community, and my artistic community. Revealing, eh? I think we spent too many years holding each other at arm's distance, not making real friends, being told that bonding is "bad." Humbug!

My goodness...a lot of things came down while we were playing in Portland! I am so grateful to be observing this drama safely from the outside on my computer, rather than from the dungeons of Winterfell or Castle Black as winter descends. (Sorry for the geeky metaphor...some of you will get it.) Long story short, I'm grateful to be alive, awake, and aware that the king...as impotent as he may be...really has no clothes!

And when one sits the Iron Throne with no pants on, after awhile, he MAY "get the point!"

Road to Damascus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Onion and Life OTOS you are both so right.
> Becoming free of the feeling that someone is
> watching and judging you constantly is a wonderful
> experience, even though it is scary in that how do
> you know who can you relate to safely. As for me I
> had been basically told I was never good enough
> and that my relationship was a Plan B. I watched
> as I and others were shunned and treated like we
> were trash. I am making new friends and finding
> that I am worthy of being loved and that I do not
> need to live afraid that anything I say or do will
> cause me to be rejected. I just wish I could help
> those I love discover this. Hoping I can find some
> others to talk to safely. I am looking forward to
> discovering the world around me and who I am and
> how I fit in to everything and being free.

It certainly is a strange journey being out from under the bubble. My first experiences were going in to shock as I looked at the world around me--people--places---nothing like how I have lived so separate or safe from that horrible world.

Hello World!! I now can interact with you according to how it really is. It has been scary and lonely and all--but to actually finally have your own mind. That is the best no matter how bad it gets. Life on the inside was hell on earth.

To you young adults still in the Living Word. Please be aware that the Living Word is a sinking ship. There is no future in this religious group. Get out and get free. While you still can.