Hi, I'm a cult kid. :) We joined Dayspring in Jewett City, CT when I was 7. The church was affiliated with 3 other churches, New Wine in New Hampshire, King's Chapel in Norwich, CT, and Bethel in England. Over time New Wine and Dayspring were dissolved and everyone wound up at KC. (KC and Bethel can both be found in the main Rick Ross site)
My father found himself on the outside of the church doors, after disagreeing with and questioning and being wrongly interrogated by the pastors, and turned to drinking. My mother, two sisters, and I continued attending despite this. Later I found out that the pastors had falsely accused him of molesting my sisters and me, on the word of the resident "prophet", Syro.
I was 16 when Dad started his sobriety, and when Waco happened. The local newspaper published a checklist of things to look out for if you think you may be involved in a cult (which I now believe is
Isaac Bonewits' ABCDEF), and King's Chapel matched probably 95% of the items. We left KC soon after that.
I will be 29 this summer. I stopped going to church of any kind as soon as I was out of my parents' house, and began my own spiritual path. I am still working on the way my mind works. I haven't been in therapy, other than a few sessions at Alateen when Dad was newly sober. But it sounds like without the right specialist, therapy can be counterproductive for us cult kids. Phooey. :)
It's difficult to figure out what was cult-learned, and what was ingrained by my dad's alcoholism. I think that they played off each other and magnified the results of each.
I noticed that it was mentioned earlier that
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Like the parent, the child usually picks up and drops a variety of interests.
Holy cow is that me all over. :shock:
I am really looking forward to nosing my way through the rest of the forums. :)