Quote:
Originally Posted by rayliotta
... how many times does this cycle then repeat itself...
This in-and-out cycle is part of the paradigm many of us were caught in. And I think it's just one more aspect for us to unlearn. Because it's not balanced.
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Yes -- if you get a kid to cry for his sins at age 12 or 13, and to scream loudly at age 14 or 15, then you have an emotional "hook" in them. Then, they may eventually get sick of all the fakery and quit, but quit to what? They find unanswered questions and contradictions in "the world"; without oversight they're lured into sin-binging in the lusts of the flesh; they chase empty pursuits, dawdle in loneliness... then the 20-something comes back to LC meetings and tries a fresh consecration. As if the fault, originally, had been with themselves! They confess that they'd been too immature to get the rich ministry of the age. So they plunge back into the church life, for a time...
Like a druggie who couldn't handle the sickness of it all, and quit. "For good, this time"... Then, they couldn't handle life on life's terms, so back to the drugs, for temporary relief. Again and again, like Charlie Brown, and Lucy putting the football in front of him. "This time it will be different"...
LC kids are arguably ill-equipped to handle life apart from the LSM ministry/LC church life crutches. So even if they have the impression that it's not "the glorious church life", what are they going to do? Where's a better alternative? They don't have any search strategies in place. Certainly LSM constantly negates any searching, because "you are home in the LC" and everything else is constantly criticized as empty or worse. So, they go back to the LC. Try again.
I think the "Charismatic experience" deeply reinforces this. If you can get them psychically "high" (read, "burning in spirit") then the roller-coaster will always lure them back. Doesn't matter if the Maximum Brother is corrupted, if the elders are yes-men and lackeys, if the "ministry" is recycled endlessly, if the true history is whispered and covered up. Where else are you gonna go to get high?