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Getting Out : Leaving
Jungle of the Mind: An open letter to current second generation Family members | from dave - Wednesday, September 11, 2002
accessed 3186 times The time is coming and now is… There seems to be a media PR crisis in the Family right now. The Family is remaining virtually mum on flammable issues, but still trying to show current Family members they are more open and forthcoming than ever before. I am no lawyer nor have I studied public relations/political science, but everyone can agree that the Family can benefit from some serious spin control.
When I was a teen, my peers and I did not have the privilege to surf the Web. Shit, the few homes that had a computer kept it pretty much for sending the TRFs or stupid shit like that. Sometimes the only way we could get information back then, the word “on the street” if you will, was literally on the STREET when out postering and panhandling for the cult. I sometimes found out about persecution in some countries from strangers I met on the street, or on the news, way before I read the Family’s miserably late “Latest News Flash”. I now understand why the story of Adam and Eve is so heavily endorsed by Christians. Pretty crafty to have that fable in the first few chapters of the Bible. So on day one, or rather, soon after page one, they slap you with that “take it by faith” crap. You know, if the tale of Adam and Eve is true, then I consider them both to be heroes. They had questions. They had a yearning to get educated and smart. They were hungry for knowledge. They were brave enough to ask questions, and their eyes were opened. My eyes started “opening” years before I left the Family. And another thing: Why is it that people were so severely judged in the Bible for having doubts and questions? As a kid I always felt sorry for John the Baptist. Jesus basically cursed him and mentally bitch-slapped him for wondering “are you he that should come, or wait we for another?” “The least in the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus said. How sad. Poor John. He was in prison for crying out loud, probably sedated, tortured and worse.
The Family leadership’s only leverage is playing mental mind games in the jungle of your minds. Farces cloaked in religion. The Family’s leadership are wolves in sheep’s clothing, walking about "as a roaring lion seeking whom they may devour. –Don’t be their next (sexual) meal". Why are they restricting their own people’s access to information? If you think you are free in the Family, ask yourself this: Can you pick up the phone and call whoever you want any time you want? Can you go out and party with your friends whenever you want? Can you watch TV whenever you want? Even at 2 a.m. when you can’t sleep and it seems those rock videos are doing what prayer, prophecy and aspirin could not do to relieve that throbbing headache? OK, those were the easy questions. Let get down to the real goods: Can you decide to not participate in morning devotions cause you don’t feel like it? Can you decide you would rather not read the MO Letters because you...just don’t want to? Can you opt out from any and all forms of witnessing and get a real job of your choosing? Or is coding XML frowned upon because it’s not in the Bible, and it’s "better to serve god than mammon"?
This is it: What you second gen-x folks still in the Family need to do is to start demanding straight answers to your questions. You all have questions. If there’s one or two of you who don’t have any questions, then stop and ask yourselves: What am I doing with my life? What am I doing with my time? Do I want to wake up tomorrow and be 30 years old with half a dozen kids, no money to my name, no real skills, no job, car, house, education, bank account, no future? Ask yourself, do I want to beg for spare change the rest of my life? Do I want to only be able to communicate with other cult members because all I know about current events and the world today is what was written 30 years ago in some MO Letter by some child abusing, rapist, drunken old fool? It’s easy not to ask these questions if you are living pretty comfortably in some fancy (but may I add, temporary) situation. Soon you will find yourself back at square one no longer used to pounding the pavements with the “lit” like everyone else on the grassroots level of the Family. That’s when you will have questions. If you did not have some before, you surely will then. These are not easy questions to deal with. It’s a matter of taking into question everything you’ve been taught from day one. Believe me, it’s easier to shelve it get trashed and not bother. What I’ve found out is that if I did not ask myself these life-altering questions, no one was going to come around and just give me the answers. The Family has already robbed us of our youth, please don’t let them rob what’s left of your lives.
Sure, no one said it was easy living out of the cult. It’s a real drag some days. But you gain so much out here. You see things like never before. You realize that your life is yours and no one has the right to keep you closed off to the world, restricted from freely associating yourselves with whom you please. You realize that your body is not a temple where you are fucked by a bunch of sick, ugly, perverted and demented people old enough to be your parents and/or grandparents (vomit). You realize your body is yours and you can say "NO!" without guilt and feeling like you’re lower than dirt because you refused some beaded drooling bastard from wanting to have his way with you and yours, fuck what his made-up prophecy says. You realize that you do matter.
We all have to find our own ways with dealing with our past and experiences. No one way is better than the other. There is no right or wrong way. What’s right for others may be wrong for you. What’s right for you, may not be right for others. We all have to deal with our demons (sorry, UNIX overdose today) in our own fashion. All I’m asking is that next time you’re out and about, stop by your local library or bookstore and do some research on your own. Break down and buy that mug of cappuccino, you’ll be there for some time. If you can surf the Web, that’s even better. Find out more about what other scholars and minds have to say about the Family. You may not agree, you may even decide that the Family is the right place for you and if you feel that way, that’s your choice. Good luck. But do make up your minds based on well-balanced study. Not solely on some phony answer in some moldy GN. The Family is right about one thing: Time IS short. Not that this is the “End Time”, it isn’t. Or let’s put it this way: It’s always the End Time because things are always bad. Time is short for the Family, because their time is limited. We know this, you know this and Family leadership definitely knows this, that’s why they’re freaking out.
Your time is short because every minute you spend in the Family, the harder it will be for you when finally wake up and decide to leave. I wish each of you the best.
Later,
Dave
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Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article |  from lisa
Sunday, November 28, 2004 - 13:38
(Agree/Disagree?)
When did you leave the Family? Because when I was last there, we not only got the paper everyday but had 24/7 access to the internet. Has it ever occurred to you that the second gen's your preaching to have questioned everything, and simply come up with different answers to you. You seem to forget that alot of them have chosen to remain family members. Some have even left and then returned. Their not mindless, brainwashed zombies, but people who have simply chosen a diffrent path in life.
(reply to this comment)
| | | | from whatever1037
Saturday, November 27, 2004 - 13:33
(Agree/Disagree?)
Dave why is it you you tend to mix the Bible and Christianity with TF . I'd say if the members you so care about had the least idea of what is in the Bible they would have left long time ago. The only reason Berg and K.Z where able to manipulate (and still do) everybody was the lack of Bible teachings and all their own shit backed up by a few Bible verses. If you dont mind i will rundown your article and give you my opinion.
1- You say Adam and Eve is heavily endorsed by christians.
I am a christian and in my opinion its endorsed not because they were looking for whatever reason you gave . They were punished for disobedience not for curiosity . God gets pissed of because if you have a question why dont you just ASK him. I could quote a million verses of where God says if you ask me i'll answer but in this article i'll take it easy with that. Instead humans do what they usally do go to Satan not because they were curious but because they were tempted and offered power etc. Remember "you will be like Gods". They obviuosly were not brave instead hid when God came and were even ashamed . But anyway what christian doesnt consider them heroes ? I never met one that didnt.
2- You ask why were people so severely judged in the Bible for having doubts and questions? I never heard of that example in the Bible. As for John the Babtist when he asked that question Jesus sent him this message:
Show John those things which ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And then on top of that he compliments John in front of everybody Saying:
But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, AND MORE THAN A PROPHET. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women THERE HATH NOT RISEN A GREATER than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
As for the "notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" let me explain that to you with verses now that i was tripin about that the other day:
But we see Jesus, who was made a LITTLE lower than the ANGELS for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
In other words Jesus was also made smaller than the least in the Kingdom of God. But theres more :
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (He did not hold to His rights as God):
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Now do you understand that part?
(reply to this comment)
| | | | from Christian
Friday, November 26, 2004 - 23:26
(Agree/Disagree?)
You obviously have been out too long. This will have no affect on cult members you forget that they are brainwashed and cant think logically like we can. But other than that its not a bad article.
(reply to this comment)
| from DarkAngel
Sunday, November 16, 2003 - 08:23
| from Wolf
Monday, November 18, 2002 - 15:17
 (Agree/Disagree?)
WTF? I know I’m joining a dead discussion but I’m kinda drunk……this has no chance of striking a nerve among any current cult members! You’ve got to appeal to their morals, which is the reason they’re sticking it out in the cult…..unlike you not everyone lives for the latest idiotic MTV broadcast. And some people still appreciate their Christian values (like I appreciate getting drunk).
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| from Belle
Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - 09:49
(Agree/Disagree?)
Hi Dave,
Thanx for this. Thanx for taking time to express what is so right and true.
Belle
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| from Ony
Monday, September 16, 2002 - 09:18
(Agree/Disagree?)
Dave,
Wow, I'm impressed! I had similar thoughts and I appreciate how well you expressed yourself. Said it better than I could've. I really hope the SGAs & other young folks in the cult will read this & start thinking on their own, mainly get the point, & make intelligent decisions based on fact & thourough researsh. I think it's disgusting though, that some folks decided to attack others on this site instead of just commenting on your article. They totally missed the point. And you'd think they have better things to do. I love you Bro! Take care!
Sis
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| from Anthony
Friday, September 13, 2002 - 22:47
(Agree/Disagree?)
Dave, this is a well-written and articulate article, certain to bring about the kind of introspection and critical thinking, which hopefully, will help many to leave the cult. When I first started reading it and saw that (at the time I’m writing this) there were 55 comments, I thought to myself, “he’s really struck a nerve”, sadly, this in not presently the case. I hoping to see intelligent reflection and discussion surrounding your open letter, instead, I found the ramblings of a fool.
I can only imagine your relevant disappointment with the distracting sideshow, not because you wrote the article, but because the message is a bit lost amidst the seven serpents. As I read all the back and forth, I was hoping to find a least one comment having to do with the subject at hand, gladly, Porceleindoll’s comment did, and if only JP's suggestion was adhered to. On the other hand, no offence to anyone who did answer the fool, I had to restrain myself and fight the urge to do the same. Well, I can only hope that the people, to whom this letter is address to, find it and give us their reactions here, despite the fact that they will have to wade through much rubbish. Anyway, I’ve been away from this site for a few days, and coming back to this is very frustrating, to say the least.
Again, great article, thanks for taking the time out of your very busy schedule to write it. Later.
Regards,
Anthony
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| from porceleindoll
Friday, September 13, 2002 - 16:56
(Agree/Disagree?)
Seems the comments turned into a major fight here, but Dave, I wanted to say that this was well-written. It got me thinking and I hope that it will do some good for those who are still in. If we could just get them to stand back and take an honest look at their lives and what they believe, perhaps we could help them save themselves years of heartache and missed opportunities. I have one friend in the group still who I am planning to send this to, if she hasn't already read it.
Peace!
(reply to this comment)
| from jpmagero
Thursday, September 12, 2002 - 09:46
(Agree/Disagree?)
Maybe others still feel the urge to answer this guy (Andrew, Some, 7* etc) but I think it will keep the site a lot cleaner if we ignore this loser.
I honestly can't understand why he left, he seems to have such a love for the group and stands up for them in every way.
(reply to this comment)
| | | | from Andrew
Thursday, September 12, 2002 - 09:30
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