Hi all, I'm new to this forum- bit of background on me, I grew up in a cult but left with my family about five years ago.
The place we went to claimed to be christian. Since leaving there I still follow the christian faith, but it a healthier way. I was just wondering if other people still go on with religion after leaving a cult, or am i a rarity?

i left a charsmatic christian cult in august. im still a firm believer, however, i feel as tho im starting from scratch as they distorted Gods character for me. all fire and brimestone, punishment etc. the church i attend now is far more healthy---of course my cult would disagree as they were the one TRUE church. lol....spiritual eltism at its finest.

i find it almost impossible to read the bible tho---it was used in a twisted way to control me. i realize now the group was about control. ive no desire to control anyones life so it confuses me why they needed to---insecurities, mental probs whatever...they were a sick group of religious addicts/fanatics and friut-loops. but my new church is fine---god is good!

There's a whole bunch of articles here that may be of help to you.

John

Abigail1977- i totally felt the same way as you wen i left the cult. Sorta like i had to discover what the truth really was, no distortions. It was hard but by the skin of my teeth i hung onto my faith and now am much stronger in it.
I suppose a helpful thing i learned from bein in a cult is to test everythin an not jus believe what people say to you just because they come at you in the name of God or whatever.

John Fox- Thanks for the link

Just tripped over this in an old file ...

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Father Kent Burtner, a Dominican priest in San Francisco, counsels former cult members and their parents. He believes that the best way to view the behavioural aspects of these groups is to place them on a continuum that runs from positive support of the person to mind destructiveness through the use of deception and abusive behavior modification techniques.

“When you get to Moon and his Booneville, California, training camp, there is no question about the subterfuge and trickery going on there,” he says. “But when you look at some of these fringe ‘human potential’ groups, then you get into this really fuzzy zone. Within this gray area, there may be a case and time where an individual’s freedom is totally betrayed and another case where an individual‘’s freedom, given slightly different circumstances, is not. You really have to judge it on a case by case basis.”

What is significant about these movements, according to Father Burtner, are the psychological techniques that have been used to convert and control followers. “I don’t care whether it’s someone leading a Catholic charismatic prayer group or if it’s Sun Myung Moon - whether they’re into a ‘socially acceptable’ form of spirituality of not - if they start using methods that deprive individuals of their ability to make a free choice, they’re acting in a tremendously destructive way towards the person,” he says. “And that, to me, is an objective evil.”

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firefly
Abigail1977- i totally felt the same way as you wen i left the cult. Sorta like i had to discover what the truth really was, no distortions. It was hard but by the skin of my teeth i hung onto my faith and now am much stronger in it.
I suppose a helpful thing i learned from bein in a cult is to test everythin an not jus believe what people say to you just because they come at you in the name of God or whatever.

John Fox- Thanks for the link

Thx John, ill bookmark that.

yes, firefly, I feel like Im just clutching onto Christs garment right now. The abuse I suffered in my cult was so damaging. If God is anything like this cult expressed than I dont think anyone would want anything to do with God, let alone worship, love and adore Him.

My faith is weak, but im well aware that God exists. Its just a matter of finding out his true character. This cult painted God as an egomanic, arrogant, fire and sulfar sending maniac. I SWEAR thats how they portrayed Him to me. They were wrong. Yes, God can be stern, but Hes also LOVE! He describes Himself as that in His word. Im at a new church that isnt so out there. There is a balanced teaching and good fellowship and NO ELITISM. My cult thought that they were the chosen ones. yadda yadda yadda...

They also said I would be chastized and devoured by the devil. They predicted dire things if I left their group. It was all control really---I soon am going to expose them so no other people fall into their evil clutches.

Theyd laugh if they saw this post----but there is something evil about spiritual elitism. They created divisions, were arrogant, and kept me there thru guilt, fear and intimidation.

Im having trouble forgiving them.... :(

I repeat myself alot...lol...i noticed my first post and second contained the same info...sorry, its a bad habit.

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firefly
I was just wondering if other people still go on with religion after leaving a cult, or am i a rarity?

Very good question. I am still spiritual despite my cultic experiences, but I am a bit more cynical and I did lose faith for a while. I still dabble a bit in new age stuff and Eastern religion (Hinduism, Buddhism), but not nearly as much as I used to. I do feel conflicted, because a part of me misses the intensity and meaning of my spiritual practices, but another part of me is really gun-shy.

I had recently left one of those types of cults too. They claimed to be "Pentecostal". They distorted the Bible to make us feel that women are inferior to men. Once I left the cult I went on a website and read the Assemblies of Gods Position of Women in Leadership. My self esteem came back. When you first leave a cult your mind goes in circles alot, and if you are not careful it could intensify and cause insanity. The scriptures that brought stability to my mind are Psalm 37. I read it every morning and night because it narriates exactly what I had experienced in the occult. It lets you look at your cult experience in God's perspective. And then brings you forward mentally. Another awsome scripture is 2nd Timothy 3. It talks about the mentality of cult leaders, "Men being lovers of themselves..." Reading and studying this chapter caused me to be able to emotionally separate the cruelties of the occult from who I am in Christ. It freed me from false guilt, and self blame. In addition to my study of 2nd Timothy 3, I read the book Malignant Self Love by Sam Vaknin as a study aid. It helped me to understand the nature of their cruelties, rather than allowing myself to become a lifetime victim of it. It also allowed me to understand how and why Narcissistic cult leaders distort scripture to fit their Psycopathic mentality. For example: since Narcissist are misogynist that would explain why my ex-pastor interpreted the scripture "It is good for a man not to touch a woman..." as it is not good for a man not to compliment a woman. So therefore we were not allowed to date, double date, or like anybody. I left 5 months ago.

Stay in the Word of God. :roll: :idea:

i also have trouble with forgiveness abigail1977- its so hard when i think off all they robbed me of an what they did to other people, its hard. I think the lack of any kind of remorse also makes it tough to forgive.
But i think [i:f7203731a5]choosing[/i:f7203731a5] to forgive them and then walking in that helps a lot. Even though its hard.

I'm glad that you now know God as love n not the maniac they made him out to be. I found that when i left the cult i went to it was like i had to start from scratch an discover who God was and what i actually believed.

DinaM- i think your approach to reading psalm 37 and 2 tim3 etc are really good. You seem to have a much better understanding and seperation of cult and God. Sounds like you were at a pretty strange one too. Did you immeadiately start reading your bible and things or did you go through a period of sort of no-religeon like the experiences of Gulab Jamon and myself??