Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedom
I have a number of LC members as friends on Facebook and I noticed a pattern with those who have attended the training. Upon starting, they will add a "canned" post on their page explaining that they will be unavailable to communicate on Facebook or by phone for a duration of a few months. It really makes you wonder just what they are being told to do. It is definitely not normal to convince people that they need to drop virtually all communication with the outside world.
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Yes, that's really what it was. Their schedule was so busy- it was either a rule or "unspoken" rule to communicate with family on Monday. I knew that if I wanted to talk to that family member on the phone- I needed to call at that time. I'm not saying that in and of itself is bad....its all the benign rules and structure that slowly change a person to just follow. Independence isn't really possible. It's just a system that's very unbalanced. Yet, that is somehow "expressing Christ?" Doesn't make any sense to me.
It seems like it just makes sense that their experience with the Lord and growth is only limited. I've seen the same sort of posts on FB, it's part of the process and just easier to follow the path set before them instead of stepping outside the behavioral box. I think the rules run so deep with things that so much is unspoken pressure- and that's hard to identify unless you grew up in it. I know it's true bc I was influenced by it. The "way" to do things is pretty clear in the LC when you're a "church kid." To not do it, of course, is to not "be one." Which, of course, is not the way of Jesus- it's the way of the Pharisees. Jesus didn't fit in. We all have our own paths and convictions....
I guess I just had the epiphany recently that this is not Bible school. In this day in age, you don't need to communicate/learn in the FTT environment to learn the Bible.
Ironically enough, I remember after the first semester of the training that my family member was in- they complained to me about the way they were tested. It wasn't a test in which they had to show their knowledge of the concepts and ideas about the Bible or ministry in a general way and in their own words. They had to memorize EXACT wording. It just clicked with me- it's so important for them to indoctrinate the trainees with the exact wording. "All-inclusive" "life-giving dispensing"- you know the lingo. It's all in this long looking paragraph full of strange adjectives and explanations- yet it's one sentence. Just the fact that they have to learn the exact wording in their testing and not be able to explain it in their own words- says a lot.
Funny, in school we call that plagiarism! They need those words repeated verbatim though.
Has anyone been to a FTT graduation?? Wow- PERFECT EXAMPLE!!!! It's like an out of body experience when you're not around these methods. You have a couple hundred people, who all look like they're high on life (which is great, not saying it's not Jesus. Obviously, they're proud of their accomplishment of finishing), and they all, one by one, just say about 5 different versions of the same thing. There's about 5 ideas being "preached" and a few funny stories, but they all just take turns talking about these points, using the LC lingo.
Someone needs to record it. Obviously, I'm not trying to make fun of these people. I would be doing the same thing if I went to a thought reform school! It just changes you, alienates you, and takes away your self awareness.
I would just encourage anyone who knows someone going or is thinking about going, to read about thought reform tactics and ask yourself if you see them in the FTT and even LC, and if you think that its ok to practice them and combine them with your faith. Also, do your own research on church history and doctrine before you go and don't take everything WL says as fact. I'm learning the hard way on that!!
God bless
