Why Do We Keep Doing This?

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by OBW

...I would like to understand how those of us who were around at various times — Daystar, the minor "rebellion" surrounding the ouster of Max R, the ouster of John Ingals and others (and the event surrounding Phillip Lee for those within Anaheim), on up to the turmoil in the Mid-West — could rationalize away the problems. For example, why were there not more concerns about the church indirectly becoming involved in manufacturing and sales of items generally not within the reach of or useful to the membership of the LCs?

Why did it not bother us that the chairs sold to us by our own Taiwan mfg entity were identical to commercially available chairs made by others? Did we have a license to the particular design? (Maybe none was needed?) But if applicable it might never be caught as long as they did not sell them to the general public. I know as a young student/career accountant something always seemed a little off to me, but I never asked any questions.

Why were the red flags missed or suppressed?

I know we will say that we have talked about this before in different ways. And while this could lead to underlying spiritual issues of the leadership, it also should lead us to consider how we were unable to spot the kinds of problems that were festering right under our noses?

The events you list out did not have a direct effect on me, but I think honestly a part of the "why" is simply that most Christians are not trained or equipped to do so (oh no, now I sound like WL....."most Christians.....")

What I mean is, Christians generally AREN'T standing there actively aware they should have the whole armor of God on. That they SHOULD be on the look out for hidden things, for sins, for wrong teachings, for "off" behaviors. The church is where we DON'T expect the wolves of the world to be prowling (jealousy, money-grubbing, abuse, selfish gain, lying, sexual impropriety, back-stabbing) and so people simply aren't there ready to identify and defend against those things. We are sheep, even as described in the Bible. We read the Bible and think "that's stuff they had to deal with in the early church". Wrong!! We have to be on the lookout now just as much as ever.

I also do think Raptor was correct in his Groupthink response. Why were so many of those red flags missed? Because anyone with concerns looked around and saw hundreds of others contentedly milling around unconcerned and going along, and ......as people are wont to do......just went along with the group. Groupthink, group pressure, group conformity.....man....all those things are strong, powerful forces. They shut your mouth up, shut your thoughts down, force your head down, and make you stamp down your worries so you aren't the problem-causer. Mind control is a core part of the LC experience.

You asked for a personal mea culpa. One thing that I recall was that sometimes, to outside entities (say, governmental), a church would state that it was "part of a network of affiliated local churches around the world". And other times, it would state outright that it was "just a local city-level group with no other affiliations". Of course, the definition changed according to how the church could benefit in each case from it's having or lacking other affiliations. I remember noticing this discrepancy and thinking "ahhh, the elders are so wise" and literally feeling so proud at how skillfully they handled things. But then as these discrepancies built up over the years, it burst out of me one day, "WE'RE JUST LYING!" We're just saying whatever we want to say to get what we want!!!

Why was it so hard for me to see?

1) I wasn't looking for deception from the elders. I trusted them because of their position, rather than allowing them to persuade me they should be trusted.

2) It would have radically changed my view of the elders to admit they were being intentionally deceptive. It's a foundation-rocking thing.

3) The local church literally has pithy sayings and dominant teachings that get mentally plugged in every time a red flag rears it's head. The system has been streamlined that way over the years. "The two-foldness of the truth" comes to mind for my example.