Quote:
Originally Posted by Curious
I have been studying and considering how people become ensnared and I have a comment to make on it, that I think is relevant to this forum.
The group starts off meeting their needs, rather than teaching them truth. Persons whom have a deep need for the following: belonging, certainty, security, significance.
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Very perceptive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Curious
For the person longing to belong, fearful of their future, lacking confidence etc, it’s easy to feel so comforted by the strong sense of certainty provided by these charismatic and narcissistic leaders, (as to be so certain one has to have little actual conscience). That is what hooks them. I know because I was once young, afraid, had no confidence and longed to belong. I made my own mistakes too..
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Same here. I came from a background of instability, holding shame, hoping to belong somewhere, and to matter. I was young, ignorant, naïve, trusting. So, "when in Rome do as the Romans do" - I soon found myself on the front row, doing the "fist pump" as I said "amen" in unison, praying in the sing-song manner with pauses appropriate for the "amens" of others to support me. Within months I was in a "brother's house", mailing ministry materials to my extended family in the hopes that the magical powers of these writings would somehow transfer into them as well. Our leader called it "metabolic transformation" - where the word, once read (or pray-read, or sung) would come into us and make us divine. Just go to the meetings, listen to the message, say "amen" when the brother speaks, and you are "in the central lane of the divine economy".
Not only that, we were told not to trust the 'uninterpreted word' - the Bible - but the 'interpreted word' - the ministry. You see, the Bible was full of fallen human concepts and only "God's oracle" could knew which were revelatory, and how. For example, in the
RecV Bible, the majority of the Psalms is treated thus, even though the book is cited like 40 times in the NT. The footnotes (and lack thereof) are striking.
As you say, it's a sort of confidence game, in which the confidence of the leader is transferred to the followers, who supposedly get a one-stop-shopping cure for the ailments of life. In retrospect, I'm realizing that this may be true if the leader is named Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and seating in bright glory with the Father in heaven, and probably is
not true if the 'leader' is actually one of your fellow sinners. (Older but wiser.) I left after several years of 24/7 immersion, because my shame (&c) didn't go away... it had merely been temporarily relieved by the euphoria of group shouting. But it was hard, as my mind was thoroughly programmed into reflexive non-thought. I've been on this forum for several years unpacking my various issues, Christian and otherwise.
Thanks for chiming in, and welcome!