He took down the materials and added an addendum at my request (archived here). This was more than sufficient.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

If you compare this latest archive of Chris's site (archived on 12/15/2011) with the one provided above and reposted here (archived on 10/27/2011), you will notice he still has me listed as a Christian, although several eyewitnesses know I have told him that is no longer the case. It is also significant because the 12/15/2011 archive says that he updated the site on 12/13/2011. I'm not
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

"as of 10/27/2001" should read "as of 10/27/2011"
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I keep returning to this forum as time goes on. I am no longer a Christian and I am not speaking to Christopher Warren anymore. This is generally due to his ability to avoid topics he personally finds uncomfortable (I still have a number of unresolved issues with the group and he refused to discuss them) and because I do not know if I can trust the man. There are a number of things that still con
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Thank you, Ross. I have decided in my mind that this is mostly an ethical issue and so I can understand why some sociologists are hesitant to use the label in order to ensure that they are able to continue researching a group; nonetheless, I do agree that people should stand up for things and this is one of those things that I believe they should stand up for. One of the things that drives me up
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

I can agree with a lot of what you said. There's a lot of things that I can appreciate about ancient (and probably, by extension, modern) religions, one of those things being that their categories were prescientific; in other words, they tried to categorize and explain their world and some of those categories were based on observations of phenomena such as cause-and-effect. One of my favorit
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

I recently read an article about "Apostates and New Religious Movements" by Oxford Sociology Professor Bryan Ronald Wilson. In this essay, Wilson rejects apostate testimonies as being biased since they are birthed from a desire to justify one's rejection of a religious group. While I can agree with Wilson that apostate testimonies are colored, I would imagine that other testimonies
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Although as I review this post, I still want evidence of hypnotic writing; anecdotal evidence from Crapo is not acceptable. I do not see anything that separates what Concern said from persuasion. I am not saying Concern and Crapo are wrong, I just do want evidence for it, as an academic.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I think I might have posted this to the wrong forum, so if it reposts elsewhere or here, I invite the moderators to merge the two topics and/or delete this one (I want it posted here, though). ------------------ I am not writing the following to attack Chris or NCCG. I think he is sincere, although I disagree with him. However, I will say that I have come to the conclusion, as a result of my
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Thanks Mr. Ross for your response. However, while I do have some questions about what you have stated, I'll forgo those until I have read more about it (I intend on getting or borrowing the book the material is referenced in). However, I do not think we're speaking of the same thing. On the NCCG.INFO website, Concern says the following: QuoteNCCG ConcernREADING MATERIAL WITH HYPNO
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I wanted to know this group's definition of "undue influence". How far do we take it? Can being "persuaded" be the same as undue influence or does it take more than that? I have no doubt that groups out there exist that demoralize people and, because of that, people might adopt positions that they might not otherwise adopt (although I'm not entirely sure whether t
Forum: Coercive Persuasion and Undue Influence

QuoteNCCG ConcernThe pattern of a friendly, internet-based relationship with the cult's leadership, plus participation in the cult's messageboards (the current one being hosted on the "Ning" service as described above), is typically present when someone is in a controlled relationship with NCCG ( ). This has been the case since 2002 or 2003 through today (2009) ( timeline: )
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I know I said I wasn't going to post here again, but I received an update to this via email. So here goes . . . Not true, NCCG Concern, if by "involved" you mean I'm a "member" or a "fringe member". I'm on friendly terms with the group, but, as stated, believe differently than them in vital areas of doctrine and practice. I *did*, however, write
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Excuse me, this is the correct link: Former Critics Testimonies This is my last post on this topic. :) I wanted to correct it here just in case someone doesn't know how to do it. Although I also wanted to add one more thing: I've been to the "compound" only one time and for a three month period, not "many times", as Concern suggested.
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I wanted to add (if I may) that the group does maintain a page of the testimonies of former critics <a href=";. Three of my testimonies are likewise on that page. I think that, like anything, at the end of the day, one must decide for themselves based on the facts. As I said, I'm not a member, but I cannot refer to the group as a cult because to do so would invalidate most of my o
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

I'm the OP (original poster) of this thread and I wanted to clarify a few things. I want to make it clear I'm not a "cult apologist" and while the group definitely has "strange beliefs" when compared to mainstream society, I think its classification as a cult is more a polemical argument from the personal life of NCCG Concern (which I will leave out of this post) and
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families