Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
I continue to resist using the volatile C-word to describe the LC's...
|
I also go back and forth on whether to use the "c-word" to describe my experience with the LCs. I do remember being chastised several times by adults in the LC during my college years, when I recounted having fellowship with Christians outside the LCs. I was warned not to be led astray by their worldliness and low gospel. I was "given permission" to attend CCC only for the purposes of recruiting the students to the LCs. When I mentioned receiving spiritual help from a campus minister who was not in the LCs, I was angrily admonished and that minister was (ironically enough) criticized for being a "sheep stealer". That kind of prescriptive isolation is pretty scary stuff. I do think it's very damaging for both children and adults, especially when done with salvation/overcoming hung over your head. I bounce between regretting what a nasty jerk I was during my years in the LCs, feeling sorry for myself that I lost so many years of my life to that hooey, regretting that I had so little self-esteem that I joined in so willingly, and trying to leverage my experiences for the best now that I'm moving ion.
But also, that prescriptive isolation is why it is so important to remain a point of contact with someone, like Renee's daughter, who is inside high-control religious group. It was thanks to the Christians who continued to reach out to me with love during my college years, despite my arrogance and coldness to them, that I finally made it out. They showed me that there was so much more Christ out there than this little snotty group
I saw that I was pitied and I started to learn to laugh at myself. It took years...so hang in there!
Here's an article about Megan Phelps-Roper leaving the Westboro Baptist Church for inspiration. I always think if she could be led to leave, and if she could find purpose for moving on in her life after growing up in that group, what we ex-LCers have to deal with is peanuts:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...M2MDg5ODM5NAS2