Can someone give me a Maxwell summary?

[PrairieGirl]

I went to see my grandfather who lives on the Alzheimer's wing of a nursing home the other day. As you walk in the lobby you have to pass the top floor common room, and that day they had a family ministry there. Let me preface what I'm about to say: these are elderly people who can not get away for the most part. As I was walking by, I heard "Bringing in the Sheeves" and "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" being performed badly. The fact that they were singing songs entirely about death and judgement to elderly people who are definitely on the last part of their earthly journey, and who *can not* get away, made me think about Steve. I tried to fight the giggles. Giggles won.

Oh my, what would you have done if it HAD been the Maxwells? I probably would have been rendered speechless in the presence of the almighty Stevehovah!

Their nursing home "ministry" bugs the shit out of me. Particularly for the reasons you mentioned. These poor elderly folk, most confined to their wheelchairs, some not even "all there" anymore, having to sit and listen to people talk about your pending (and probably not-too-far-off) demise, and the fact that you will most likely be burning for all of eternity.

Have these fuckwits ever considered that they could serve much better by just going and visiting? Maybe sitting and LISTENING to a resident talk about whatever they feel like talking about. Or just sitting? Maybe in the presence of someone whose mind is gone, but who may know that someone is there who cares.

Years ago, my grandma was in a nursing home and I went to visit her. She was napping when I arrived, so I meandered over to the other side of the room to say hello to her new roommate. I ended up spending the next two hours listening to this lady talk to me about her long, full life. She had no family that visited her and waas obviously lonely for companionship. Her loneliness really struck me that day as I began to realize how many of these people had no one to share the end of their lives with. I made it a point to always visit my new friend whenever I went to see Grandma.

[thoughtful]

Hell, the therapy dog visits my dogs and I have done were probably much more helpful than the Maxwells.

And they mostly involved the dogs standing around, being . . . y'know . . . dogs.

Well, occasionally I had them do tricks, and sometimes they were invited into a bed, so maybe we were cheating. :shhh:

[hoipolloi]

Their nursing home "ministry" bugs the shit out of me. Particularly for the reasons you mentioned. These poor elderly folk, most confined to their wheelchairs, some not even "all there" anymore, having to sit and listen to people talk about your pending (and probably not-too-far-off) demise, and the fact that you will most likely be burning for all of eternity.

Re: bolded. Yes to the jillionth power.

Having had family who were in nursing homes or longterm rehab facilities, the thought of a cosmic asshole like Steve Maxwell coming in to lecture my family member on his or her sins, talk about death, and then inflict some shitty singing on them would drive me wild. It would be enough for me to throw him out bodily, if I discovered such was going on and my family member had to sit through it. Also, I have always wondered if all those who have to attend the Maxwells' bullshit services are actually Christians. While nursing homes are usually supposed to respect residents' choices, given Prairie Girl's poignant account of her grandmother's roommate, one can see how the lure of being with SOMEONE could well overcome one's religious scruples.

Steve: we know you read here. Why the FUCK don't you & your family go to a REAL church instead of imposing your twisted, false views on the residents of the nursing home? The only "church" you're running is the Chapel of Steve Maxwell, a.k.a. the Church of Daddy Said So.

[nokidsmom]

Re: bolded. Yes to the jillionth power.

Having had family who were in nursing homes or longterm rehab facilities, the thought of a cosmic asshole like Steve Maxwell coming in to lecture my family member on his or her sins, talk about death, and then inflict some shitty singing on them would drive me wild. It would be enough for me to throw him out bodily, if I discovered such was going on and my family member had to sit through it. Also, I have always wondered if all those who have to attend the Maxwells' bullshit services are actually Christians. While nursing homes are usually supposed to respect residents' choices, given Prairie Girl's poignant account of her grandmother's roommate, one can see how the lure of being with SOMEONE could well overcome one's religious scruples.

Steve: we know you read here. Why the FUCK don't you & your family go to a REAL church instead of imposing your twisted, false views on the residents of the nursing home? The only "church" you're running is the Chapel of Steve Maxwell, a.k.a. the Church of Daddy Said So.

What ticks me off about the Maxwells' nursing home ministry is that they are preaching / singing to a completely captive audience who are unable to get away. They can't walk away because either a) they don't know what's going on or b) in the case of my Grandmother who was sharp as a tack but was there because of physical disabilities so couldn't physically get up or c) as noted above they are so hungry to have any human contact. No matter what, it's completely taking advantage of these people. Interesting that they choose to do this rather than being at a real church and contributing to that congregation / ministry. It's very telling of how they really don't want to interact with anyone outside of their little family cult who might object to their views or have different ideas. Or in the case of nursing home residents, walk away.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

Hell, the therapy dog visits my dogs and I have done were probably much more helpful than the Maxwells.

And they mostly involved the dogs standing around, being . . . y'know . . . dogs.

Well, occasionally I had them do tricks, and sometimes they were invited into a bed, so maybe we were cheating. :shhh:

I love that you do this. When I worked in the hospital I sometimes got to see therapy dogs in patient rooms and it was always such a marvelous thing to behold. I can't imagine the same joyous atmosphere with the Maxhells present.

[Trynn]

I wish there had been a therapy dog at my hospital. Of course, since I was a surgical patient I might not have been allowed, but... I would've been happy

[DomWackTroll]

Thanks so much to all who have provided info on this thread! Now that the VF people are keepin' their cray on the downlow, I've been looking to broaden my fundie horizons. :)

[lilith]

Thanks so much to all who have provided info on this thread! Now that the VF people are keepin' their cray on the downlow, I've been looking to broaden my fundie horizons. :)

Oh, you'll love the Maxwells. They don't have the flamboyance of Dougie (they don't do flamboyance at all) but their self righteous crazy is hard to beat.

[thoughtful]

I love that you do this. When I worked in the hospital I sometimes got to see therapy dogs in patient rooms and it was always such a marvelous thing to behold. I can't imagine the same joyous atmosphere with the Maxhells present.

Aww, thanks. I actually haven't been done it in a while, and I really miss it. I will get back to it at some point. We had some amazing experiences.

And yes, my dogs didn't make anyone feel guilty or preach about death, and we only went where we were invited, to be with people who wanted to see us, whether in groups or in their own room.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

This may have been posted here before, but this is a thread on a message board for conservative Christian homeschool mums, discussing the Maxwells. It's interesting to see the reaction from their target audience, and that even that demographic seems to agree that they are getting more and more extreme as the years go by.

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic ... ast-night/

That was very insightful, thanks!

[hoipolloi]

Aww, thanks. I actually haven't been done it in a while, and I really miss it. I will get back to it at some point. We had some amazing experiences.

And yes, my dogs didn't make anyone feel guilty or preach about death, and we only went where we were invited, to be with people who wanted to see us, whether in groups or in their own room.

Therapy animals are the best. Thank you for making that love & joy available to so many people in need of both.

[Lillybee]

Has the fact that Teri has to pray that Steve remembers to order pizza has been mentioned or the fact that Teri feels that she needs to put toothpaste on Steve's toothbrush before bedtime?

[uber frau]

Has the fact that Teri has to pray that Steve remembers to order pizza has been mentioned or the fact that Teri feels that she needs to put toothpaste on Steve's toothbrush before bedtime?

Or that those things make Steve feel loved and respected?

[ILoveJellybeans]

Has the fact that Teri has to pray that Steve remembers to order pizza has been mentioned or the fact that Teri feels that she needs to put toothpaste on Steve's toothbrush before bedtime?

Steve makes Teri put his toothpaste on his toothbrush before bedtime?

Seriously? He has her treat him like he is in preschool. I do that for my littlest kids, cause if I don't they put too much on and get it everywhere.

Does she also wipe his ass?

[louisa05]

There was a family a bit like this that sent their oldest child to the Christian school I taught at for a year. That was my first real nightmare parent anywhere that I taught. The father objected to the fact that the school had a female principal (it was heavily charismatic, having originally been Assembly of God, a tradition that is far more relaxed about females in leadership and ministry) and refused to even talk to her, so her hands were tied in a way.

The father ran a small home church with four other families. They had five kids and were sending the oldest to high school for his last two years because they believed in college and thought he'd get into a better one with a real diploma. It sounded like there would be no such concession for their girls, though. They believed in courtship and no touching the opposite sex until marriage. I had the boy in 11th grade English and a drama class. In drama, when we did our first duet scenes, the scene he and his female partner chose included a stage direction for him to touch her shoulder. He came to me distraught that he needed a new scene as he could not touch her because they were not married and she was not his sister. I told him to just ignore the stage direction. It was actually my first knowledge of the extremes of courtship doctrine. We all learned more when he started a wicked debate in his theology class and called all of his classmates "impure" and the girls all "sluts" for things like freely hugging male classmates. The kid tried out for the fall play and was good enough for a small role (which required him to touch no one else on stage). The parents fought me on most of my direction as I was not supposed to be giving instructions to males in the cast (the classroom was okay but they felt that female teachers should have no role in activities that included male students). And the poor boy was not allowed to attend the cast party as they did not allow their children to be involved in pursuits like "parties and general fun".

The real hell broke loose when we read The Scarlet Letter in English. His father considered the family to be Puritans and desired that the country return to "our glorious and faithful Puritan roots". That is a direct quote from a letter he sent to me the first week we started the book. The entire time we were reading the book, I got long single spaced lecturing letters delivered (albeit with some embarrassment) by his son no less than twice a week. They explained how I was incorrectly depicting Puritans (really, if you're that upset, blame Hawthorne--I didn't write it), destroying the faith of the students, dooming the country and going to hell. The principal requested he come in for a meeting to solve it and he refused on the grounds that we were both women. Eventually, he started leaving nasty voice mails on my home phone as well.

Here is my favorite part of the story: I saw the man's son at a Shakespeare Festival about six years after he graduated. He was with a large group of young adults who were clearly having fun. He recognized me, came over to talk, bringing a young woman who he was holding hands with. He introduced her as his girlfriend. And before he went back to his group: he asked if he could give me a hug and did so. Guess dad had an epic fail with him! :lol:

[Jana814]

There was a family a bit like this that sent their oldest child to the Christian school I taught at for a year. That was my first real nightmare parent anywhere that I taught. The father objected to the fact that the school had a female principal (it was heavily charismatic, having originally been Assembly of God, a tradition that is far more relaxed about females in leadership and ministry) and refused to even talk to her, so her hands were tied in a way.

The father ran a small home church with four other families. They had five kids and were sending the oldest to high school for his last two years because they believed in college and thought he'd get into a better one with a real diploma. It sounded like there would be no such concession for their girls, though. They believed in courtship and no touching the opposite sex until marriage. I had the boy in 11th grade English and a drama class. In drama, when we did our first duet scenes, the scene he and his female partner chose included a stage direction for him to touch her shoulder. He came to me distraught that he needed a new scene as he could not touch her because they were not married and she was not his sister. I told him to just ignore the stage direction. It was actually my first knowledge of the extremes of courtship doctrine. We all learned more when he started a wicked debate in his theology class and called all of his classmates "impure" and the girls all "sluts" for things like freely hugging male classmates. The kid tried out for the fall play and was good enough for a small role (which required him to touch no one else on stage). The parents fought me on most of my direction as I was not supposed to be giving instructions to males in the cast (the classroom was okay but they felt that female teachers should have no role in activities that included male students). And the poor boy was not allowed to attend the cast party as they did not allow their children to be involved in pursuits like "parties and general fun".

The real hell broke loose when we read The Scarlet Letter in English. His father considered the family to be Puritans and desired that the country return to "our glorious and faithful Puritan roots". That is a direct quote from a letter he sent to me the first week we started the book. The entire time we were reading the book, I got long single spaced lecturing letters delivered (albeit with some embarrassment) by his son no less than twice a week. They explained how I was incorrectly depicting Puritans (really, if you're that upset, blame Hawthorne--I didn't write it), destroying the faith of the students, dooming the country and going to hell. The principal requested he come in for a meeting to solve it and he refused on the grounds that we were both women. Eventually, he started leaving nasty voice mails on my home phone as well.

Here is my favorite part of the story: I saw the man's son at a Shakespeare Festival about six years after he graduated. He was with a large group of young adults who were clearly having fun. He recognized me, came over to talk, bringing a young woman who he was holding hands with. He introduced her as his girlfriend. And before he went back to his group: he asked if he could give me a hug and did so. Guess dad had an epic fail with him! :lol:

Sounds like the father was a real piece of work!! Clearly u made an impact on him if after 6 years he recognized you & wanted to gave u a hug.