[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi everyone, loooong time lurker. First time poster. I will create an account eventually, just need more time. I’ll share my testimony as well one day.

When I keep reading about “mind control” and “brainwashing” and “cult tactics” and elders needing to meddle in the saints lives, Something that always nags me is the end result, why do they want this much control? What benefit does it give? Why would they waste so much of their time with meddling and harping on going to the meetings, going to the meetings. Etc. Maybe I have a screw loose but I just don’t know why anyone would want to be like this. Why CAN’T we just have meetings to enjoy and be there. I’m a “responsible brother” and every meeting I’m in, it’s expected to go a certain way or else it’s a failure. Why is this?

Welcome to the written part of the forum, Long-with-four-o's time lurker!

I've often wondered the same thing as you - what on earth is the POINT of the control? What do those perpetuating the control get out of it?

One verse that came to mind when reading your question is in Matthew 20, when Jesus tells the disciples that they will not be like those who lord it over others.

25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.
26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The rulers of the Gentiles lorded it over them and exercised authority over them. Why? Because they wanted to become great and to be first, or at least feel that way. I don't think it's any different today.

But for me, I think it's ultimately a lack of understanding the gospel. Christ set us free so we would be free. ("It is for freedom that Christ has set us free"). He was very harsh on the leaders who put extra burdens on the people's shoulders, who tied them up and weighed them down, who cared for the tiny gnats and yet let camels pass, who measured out little herbs and yet ignored serious matters of mercy, justice, faithfulness.

"Having a good meeting" is, in my view, an extra burden, a heavy yoke, a tiny gnat that distracts from the things we should care about - the people, not the meetings. You can spend your whole life "having good meetings" but the souls in those meetings are actually miserable and suffering at the same time and when they get home too. It's caring for the whitewashed tomb, and pulling the rug over the decaying bones. As a responsible brother, have you felt that condemnatory weight upon you when a meeting didn't go "well"? That condemnation is utterly futile. It's a condemnation not from God.

Does "building up the church" mean "having a good meeting"? Nope. The church is the people. So it's the people who need to be built up, encouraged, edified, noticed, inquired after, served, helped, assisted, listened to, understood, cared for, etc. Caring for the meetings sounds like it's caring for the people, but it's not. It's a notch or two off......enough to lead astray, but small enough to be hard to detect.

This type of control is actually a prop for the insecure. Secure people, those who understand they are sinners accepted by God not because of anything they've done to earn it, those who trust in the righteousness, mercy, and love of God, those who understand that a good or a failed meeting doesn't make God love or accept them any more or any less, don't need to control in this way. People like to control, or like "good meetings" because it's an outward clue that tells them they are doing the right thing, or that they are "running the church well". People also like unnecessary rules they can wield to condemn others because it makes them feel like they are in the exclusive, elite "at least I'm not like that guy" club. There's all kinds of reasons, but I think neglecting the gospel is a big part of it. There's a reason Paul and the others kept harping on the new church not to forget what they've been taught, not to deviate, not to stray from the sound teaching.

Trapped