Troy Fitzgerald has another great story up from a former COG/UCG member talking about his exit from the cult mentality. The UCG hierarchy for some reason decided to humiliate him in front of his parents by informing them that Jeff was not tithing to the church.
Jeff describes what it was like growing up in the WCG and watching his parents become very vocal in their opposition of the doctrinal changes in ’95, bolstered by the fact their pastor was also opposed to the changes. He talks about being home schooled and how that lead to his independent thinking and ultimate analysis of church doctrine, which he did secretly, as a young teenager. He talks about the heartache of watching his teenage friends who had chosen to leave being shunned and ostracized by members in the church and how he relied on his friends for his sanity given his growing state of disbelief in the teachings of the church.
Jeff discusses how the church sent his tithing (donations) records to his parents prompting his mom to confront him about his not contributing for the previous year, about his ultimate exit from the church and religion at the age of 21, and how his relationship with his family — all of whom still remain in the church — has evolved. He opens up about the emotional turmoil and heartbreak, years later, watching his mother succumb to cancer all the while resisting modern medical treatment and how the church practiced the avoidance of medical intervention (faith healing) despite the unspoken policy not being official doctrine. Finally, he offers his advice to others having doubts about their faith.
Listen to Jeff's interview here: Coming Out of UCG
8 comments:
Congratulations UCG!
You have managed to establish yourself as a cult which alienates teens to the point that they don't just leave the church, they become atheists.
And smooth move sending a mother her child's tithing record! No integrity whatsoever. No expectation of discretion.
And congratulations on maintaining the doctrine on healing tacitly so a woman who might have been treated for cancer didn't because her faith in you.
But nothing here is a real surprise. We already knew what you are. There's a reason you had over 40 splits in 10 years.
The program of turning the hearts of the children against the fathers is working.
You are special.
There aren't any words sufficient for you... maybe if Jesus returns he can explain it to you.
Depraved indifference is a felony.
This young man proves that the leadership of the UCG has deceived thousands of its members to think that this group is not a cult. Some of the same tactics of control are being used that where used in the old WCG. The more things change the more the stay the same.
OF COURSE the UCG is a destructive cult!
It's nice to hear of people not giving them any money.
They don't deserve any, and never have. (Even wooden nickles.)
But it's not so nice to know of the UCG attacking someone in such an underhanded way.
The UCG's actions show that they care more about money and retribution than they do about family relationships.
Seeing as how this is coming from the United Church of God, this is neither unusual or surprising.
Ever since the UCG was founded in 1995, they've had some good chances to show their integrity...
But instead, they've shown so many examples of a COMPLETE LACK of integrity- like when they sent a bunch of their sleazebag ordained minister honchos to court- to DEFEND a sexual stalker in their midst.
Some of this is also a family/member issue as opposed to a larger UCG issue. For instance, the donation record would be a case of a parent opening their child's mail vs UCG notifying the parent. And, UCG has no formal or informal policy that forbids members seeking medical treatment - but some members certainly do, along with a lot of other incorrect beliefs from the past.
Let's take a container of cyanide, and for demonstration purposes only, create a label on the ol' laser printer, one that reads: Danger! Highly toxic WCG Armstrongism! Stick the label on the container.
Now, let's take another container of cyanide into the bathroom and flush about a quarter of it down the toilet. Take the remainder into the kitchen and mix some powdered milk with the cyanide, refilling the container to the top. Want anyone you know to ingest it? If not, create a label that says: Danger! Toxic UCG Armstrongism.
The only effective way of getting rid of the poison is to dump the entire container down the toilet, and scald the container with soapy water, and throw it away. Then go shopping, and find something completely different that is actually beneficial to your health, and rids your system of toxins. Poison, partially cut with an inert substance, is still poison!
The case in point here is that according to their own laws, it is perfectly OK for the church to violate "client" confidentiality by informing the parents of their child's tithing record. The hell with trust! They want their tithes! What has not even been considered here is that it would not be unusual for a child to have mailed in cash, which is easily lost. Nobody even gave this kid the benefit of a doubt.
I thought ACOG kids gave their tithes to their parents to add to their own when making out their checks to send in. That's the way it was done at our house.
There is a popular saying from the streets now. It's important to people from the street that their trusted colleagues "have their backs". Armstrongism is a world in which no one has each others' backs. Not the kids, not the parents, not the ministers, and not the church. There is no loyalty. It's all one way. You pay, and you obey, but reality is, you are on your own.
BB
The summation of the matter:
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