Arizona,
I'm glad that you didn't get hurt in the Local Church, and I certainly didn't want to say that it was all bad. But the bad that was bad was really bad.
To be quite honest, you can grab any group from the pages of history, no matter how radical they were, and find quite a bit good in them. There will always be those who only want to paint a pretty picture of where they came from.
"The picture of the LC life was not what some here seem to want to paint"
Maybe not for you. But it isn't fair for you to want to denigrate the testimony of those who didn't have your same experience. Our experiences were real, and continue to be real to this day.
Many can tell you that their children were eventually lost because of the way they were “taken care of” in the Local Church. Many of the participants on the other forum were themselves children in the Local Church life, and suffered immensely in the wilderness before they finally picked themselves up and turned the Lord like they had never before. Other are still wandering around.
If they were only our experiences, that could easily be called hearsay. But the fact is, the way the Living Stream Church has treated those who disagree with them is a matter of recorded history. No one could sit through the mock trial that was held at Whistler and say this is a group that just abides in "oneness" bliss.
No one could read about how brothers were treated in the late eighties, mainly over a cover up of sexual impropriety, and say, "Boy, must be a whole lotta good goin on over there."
We are not here painting anything. We are telling it the way we experienced it, and saw it. I know this is a lot to stomach for some who would rather make nice with LSM. But I don't think that is what forums like this are about.
So far as taking responsibility is concerned, may I suggest that you can now say that you should have taken more because you are saying it in hindsight. At the time, brother, I have little doubt that the peer pressure was what kept you from taking more responsibility.
And that, my brother, was my point.
Having said all that I would have to agree with you about most of the brothers. You spoke of the ones who took care of your children. I know hundreds of brothers like that. They are precious indeed.
But the fact remains that LSM is corrupt, errant, and wants to cover up a dark history, while going forth with quite another image. These dear brother who are precious are either having their heads in the sand, just don’t know what’s going on, or don’t want to know. They continue to stand with clinched fists and shout a big AMEN to EVERYTHING that the Blended Brothers say. Nevertheless, that should not prevent us from telling the truth.
Roger
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