Male Duggarling on Journey to the Heart

[Whimsical]

One of the things that bothers me the most about fundies (which may be stupid, because they do so many deplorable things) is refusing to allow their adult children to live independently. It's one thing if the man/woman wants to stay at home. If everyone's happy with that and they're contributing to the household somehow, I see absolutely no problem. But it's that they "CAN'T" leave home. EVEN IF THEY OWN THEIR OWN HOUSE. Joseph Maxwell owns a house and he's ~not allowed to live in it~. I'm sorry, that's just rage-inducing! So I really hope that if John David does own a house, he is living there. For crying out loud, the man is 23-years-old, he doesn't need to be sleeping in a dormitory with his grade-school-age brothers.

One of my friends is from Lebanon. He has owned his own house, 5 blocks from his parents for the last 3 years. He's NOT ALLOWED TO LIVE THERE!! He's only allowed to live there once he has a wife. So, he spends all his time there and sleeps at home. It's so weird.

[AVENues]

There are some people who really do like the things. When I taught Pre-EXCEL there were some families that this was their yearly vacation and the kids had a blast. And then there were the kids who were miserable. At least in the 90's they had really stupid craft ideas for Pre-EXCEL and I always felt horrible making the unhappy kids attempt to do them. "Here's a stick, write the names of God on it." all while their brothers were outside doing really cool stuff.

I remember going on trips with teens from the same church. My upbringing was patriarchal but not fundamental. We enjoyed these afternoons, we had great food, guys and girls were involved in the same kind of activities. Yes, when we did crafting, the guys were sewing and stitching too and we laughed ourselves kaput. We cooked, made candles, learned new songs, and I don't know why but the entire group did everything together, they did not separate us. As kids, I can imagine they have fun activities but just my guess, they might use it as a bait so that the kids will want to come back and before they realize, it's a full tilt indoctrination madness. Just my guess.

[Elinor]

Can you give us any insight into your ATI experiences? (Welcome to FJ, Elinor!)

I've been really busy, so I just saw your post! I might share more eventually. My family was one of those who didn't agree with everything ATI taught, and we didn't realize how much of a bad influence it was until we left. I am still a Christian, and a lot of people here would call me fundie-lite.

I always thought Bill Gothard was scary, but I thought there must be something wrong with me for thinking that. I never wanted to meet him or shake his hand or anything.