Maxwells explain it all for us

[FloraDoraDolly]

I just looked-- The Stepford Children is still on YouTube. It was posted in installments. Just do a search and you should be able to find the first part right away.

[Brightonbelle]

Sarah really doesn't blink often does she?? Couldn't get through Steve's video. There's something very off putting about him.

[nokidsmom]

Yes. Steve's paranoia and need for control is simply not normal.

The thing about the Maxwell parents that I find the most frightening is that they do initially present as pleasant, educated and very socially skilled people. Also, Steve seems to reserve his off the charts ranting for the Men Only groups so quite a few naïve people at the conferences probably leave thinking they are a sweet and precious family.

It is only when people dig deeper into their presentations, teachings and books that they realize how strictly all interactions with the evil world are controlled -- and how skillfully they instill fear of the outside world into their children.

Steve and Teri's own lives were certainly not so limited. I differ slightly to Sparkles: don't think that SOMEthing big necessarily happened in Steve's life. I think it was probably more like a series of things. IMO, Steve has always been arrogant and controlling as hell and that doesn't always play well in the military or business worlds. In addition, he is scared to death of his own sexuality and is possibly/probably hiding major anger issues and a very violent streak under that benign public persona. He's used Teri's depression and vulnerability against her so she is now a fully participating guard at the Maxwell prison.

Had to comment on the above. As someone who was raised in a family that has shades of Maxhell, though not to their extreme thank the :fsm:, I wll say that Steve's behavior as a father toward his family is not normal, in fact it's pretty disturbing once you can see behind the "loving Christian family" veneer. The sad part of it is that Teri and all the kids have totally bought into it thinking that Dad is so damn wonderful. Steve's been pretty cunning, if not skillful, to take advantage of his wife and kids to get them on board with his crazy.

Agree that something happened to Steve but never was sure if it was one thing or a series of things. Even if one thing, it might not have been anything particularly earth shaking, at least to us, but to Steve it was. If he was always this paranoid, he could have reacted very extremely to whatever it was.

I have always suspected, and I have mentioned this before, that Steve's leaving the business world had more to do with him and not "the Lord calling him home". And I am not sure that it involved female coworkers / bosses / vendors. It might have been part of it but I suspect that there were other issues with Steve in his workplace. The type of engineering work he would do would very much be a team effort, I know from working in a similar workplace. People not playing well doesn't go over unless you are so darn brilliant and your contributions to the project at hand is so critical so your boss will overlook it. Don't know if Steve was that brilliant, it sounds like he was probably average. Average guys get a lot less leeway than the brilliant ones and even then the next boss won't necessarily overlook things. It might have been a change of bosses (possibly female) or projects (that may or may not have involved dealing with females) that precipitated Steve's leaving or maybe he just went too far down the rabbit hole by then that he was refusing to carry out important job functions that he performed before. But whatever happened, let's say he probably "engineered" the Lord into calling him home.

Not surprised that the crazy shows up in the men's sessions. His goal is to create more family headships in his controlling, paranoid likeness.

[nokidsmom]

He's used Teri's depression and vulnerability against her so she is now a fully participating guard at the Maxwell prison.

Also have to say, and I know that I am not the only one, but I find it oddly symbolic that that the Maxwell prison compound is in Leavenworth, KS. Just very symbolic and it was probably by coincidence too.

[freejugar]

lol mysteries and thrillers are evil?

[Jessica]

LOL. "My books are not thrillers." I never would have guessed!

[salex]

lol mysteries and thrillers are evil?

Of course they are. They include some crime and people trying to figure out how the crime was committed. IMagining committing a crime is a sin equal to committing one. And if it isa murder, or if the detective lies to someone to during the investigation... obviously more sin in the mind of the reader.

Not to mention the possibility that someone might have sex, curse, wear inappropriate clothing, have a woman working or a man treating a woman as an equal in one of these books and suddenly, you are sinning like the character in the book just thinking of it.

And then you have to write "sackcloth and ashes with the moodys"

[sparkles]

Of course they are. They include some crime and people trying to figure out how the crime was committed. IMagining committing a crime is a sin equal to committing one. And if it isa murder, or if the detective lies to someone to during the investigation... obviously more sin in the mind of the reader.

Not to mention the possibility that someone might have sex, curse, wear inappropriate clothing, have a woman working or a man treating a woman as an equal in one of these books and suddenly, you are sinning like the character in the book just thinking of it.

And then you have to write "sackcloth and ashes with the moodys"

Ah, but mysteries and thrillers DO exist in the Maxwellverse! Who could forget the Mystery of the Missing Glasses and the Great Cheese Paper Caper? I still haven't gotten over the excitement!

[Jessica]

And then you have to write "sackcloth and ashes with the moodys"

:lol: HAHAHA!

My 5-year-old is a big fan of the Frog & Toad series, and books by Thornton Burgess (animal adventure books that tell you a bit about the animal but without being textbook-y). I wonder what the Maxwells think of Dr. Seuss. What's so horrible about Yinks drinking pink ink?

[VodouDoll]

Apparently they are, along with any books where any characters sin at all. I just discovered the other day that they've reposted all their Corners going back to 1995. It's a Maxwell treasure trove. I'm reading my way through them now and there's a lot I've never seen before.

For instance, the reversal kids were trained to call Teri ma'am and Steve and Nathan sir! Nathan and their parents would reward them with skittles and M&Ms every time they did until it became an ingrained habit. I know some families call their parents sir and ma'am as a cultural thing, but Nathan is their brother and that is weird. According to Teri, Nathan loved it and fully encouraged it though because it showed the children respected him.

They also mention that Steve didn't like working at his engineering job because of all the aggressive women in immodest clothing.

Anyway! About books. Here's what Teri wrote in her May 1998 Mom's corner about choosing next year's English curriculum for Sarah, who was nearly 17:

These past few weeks, as Steve and I were praying and discussing schoolbooks for next year, we were faced with a decision. Sarah has loved one of her school courses this year, particularly because of the self-paced, work-text format of the curriculum. She would have been very pleased to use that curriculum for all of her studies next year. In one of the workbooks of this course, though, was the summary of the story of Dracula. As we prayed about the curriculum choices for Sarah, we came down to feeling we could not go wrong by following the principles of purity and holiness the Lord has placed on our hearts. Therefore, we chose, with Sarah’s wholehearted approval, a publisher whom we have not known to compromise by presenting evil in their materials.

So there you have it.

Back to the Maxwell rabbit hole!

[sparkles]

:lol: HAHAHA!

My 5-year-old is a big fan of the Frog & Toad series, and books by Thornton Burgess (animal adventure books that tell you a bit about the animal but without being textbook-y). I wonder what the Maxwells think of Dr. Seuss. What's so horrible about Yinks drinking pink ink?

Does Dr. Seuss glorify Jesus? No. NEXT!

[Black Aliss]

Mt Everest is fascinating and so are the people who live there. What is the SIN in watching the ways others worship? You don't have to agree with it and another type of worship can not pull you from your own beliefs.

It seems to me that a faith so fragile as theirs isn't worth keeping. What I believe I believe wholeheartedly and, while I am willing to consider evidence to the contrary, merely being exposed to someone else's beliefs isn't going to have any effect on mine.

[kpmom]

I just discovered the other day that they've reposted all their Corners going back to 1995. It's a Maxwell treasure trove. I'm reading my way through them now and there's a lot I've never seen before.

Where did you find these, VodouDoll?

[sparkles]

Where did you find these, VodouDoll?

Awesomeness! I have a lot of them (including the two Just Around the Corner books) but some of them had definitely been pulled.

KPMom, in the Articles tab on titus2.com. By date in the right-hand sidebar, by subject on the main page.

[twin2]

Finally got around to watching Sarah's video. To me, it sounded like she was describing her books to a group of 5-year olds, not to parents. Perhaps that was the intention, I'm not sure. There was something very off about it. Maybe she should read "Making Great Conversationalist" to pick up some tips on effective communication.

I'd be interested in those who have crashed the dog and pony show how she comes across at conferences.

[justakitten]

Grace B:

"Thank you for these inspirational videos! My daughters love the Moody books, and are always thinking of new adventures we can have! We are planning on making pancakes and reading Bible stories for Father’s Day already. What a great idea! I never would have thought of it otherwise."

Kudos to Grace B! Just like her, I am equally inspired by the story lines in what (little) I have read of the Moody books. I am surprised that comment actually got through seeing how blatant the sarcasm was! But when FJ comments sometimes comprise half of the comments submitted for a post, I guess Steve-o has take what he can get lest it be known no one really takes their posts seriously.

*takes a bow* Thank you! Maybe next time we'll make *gasp* waffles and have THREE animal crackers each! :D

[FloraDoraDolly]

For instance, the reversal kids were trained to call Teri ma'am and Steve and Nathan sir! Nathan and their parents would reward them with skittles and M&Ms every time they did until it became an ingrained habit. I know some families call their parents sir and ma'am as a cultural thing, but Nathan is their brother and that is weird. According to Teri, Nathan loved it and fully encouraged it though because it showed the children respected him.

The Duggars do this, too. There was an episode where Johannah had to say "yes, ma'am" to whichever sistermom (Jessa?) was making her do something she didn't want to do.

[johnhugh]

"After Dad prayed, Mr. Delome announced, “I’ll grab the meat.†Mr. Delome hummed a tune and used his tongs to pick up a brat. As he squeezed the brat, a stream of grease shot out and caught fire. He dropped the brat onto the platter and reached for another when more grease spurted out and nailed his apron. “Whoa-a!†Mr. Delome jumped back excitedly as another brat let loose. The liquid arced like a fireworks show, and flames shot up through the grates while brat after brat started spurting. Mr. Delome cried, “Jim, can you give me a hand, "

poor Sarah :lol: :lol:

[thoughtful]

"After Dad prayed, Mr. Delome announced, “I’ll grab the meat.†Mr. Delome hummed a tune and used his tongs to pick up a brat. As he squeezed the brat, a stream of grease shot out and caught fire. He dropped the brat onto the platter and reached for another when more grease spurted out and nailed his apron. “Whoa-a!†Mr. Delome jumped back excitedly as another brat let loose. The liquid arced like a fireworks show, and flames shot up through the grates while brat after brat started spurting. Mr. Delome cried, “Jim, can you give me a hand, "

Afterwards, Mr. Delome insisted that the earth had moved, and asked Jim for a cigarette.

[anjulibai]

lol mysteries and thrillers are evil?

Anything that depicts negative behavior, even if that behavior is shown to be wrong and the person doing it is punished, is evil.

[Hane]

Anything that depicts negative behavior, even if that behavior is shown to be wrong and the person doing it is punished, is evil.

Hell, these are the parents who blacked out the words to "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in the kids' music book, because the words don't glorify Jesus. Of COURSE mysteries and thrillers would be off limits!

[uber frau]

Anything that depicts negative behavior, even if that behavior is shown to be wrong and the person doing it is punished, is evil.

Because the Bible is just full of roses and pomegranates and skipping gazelles...

[Coco]

Afterwards, Mr. Delome insisted that the earth had moved, and asked Jim for a cigarette.

:lol: The actual explicitness of that passage, it's hilarious.

[Coco]

Selling something no one wants or needs? Check.

and Sarah's mom did go to college, right? Check. :lol:

youtube.com/watch?v=jNtMaaX_9e8

Although Sarah won't be using her Moody money for college, probably. And selling her books isn't exactly brave and being an entrepreneur either like Deb was in that movie. Sarah's closer to an employee of her dad, selling to her dad's customers. Sad. So much wasted potential in Steve's kids, because he wouldn't let them grow up and possibly make mistakes or do things their own way.

[Coco]

I read that post about the Mt Everest video. I tried to find anger, but all I could come up with was a good amount of sadness, and this time for Steve and please everyone don't hate me. Steve expressed an interest in Mt Everest and mountain climbing and bought the videos. Well, good for him. Great way to learn about the world! Mt Everest is fascinating and so are the people who live there. What is the SIN in watching the ways others worship? You don't have to agree with it and another type of worship can not pull you from your own beliefs. I can imagine how beautiful the Buddhist worship was. What is the harm to him and his children. And the second video, where the man cursed, so what? It was a subject that Steve seemed very interested in, but because someone cursed the whole video, in which Steve was interested was thrown out the window.

I have often thought that these Fundies were only controlling jerks and holier than thou. But I think Steve does believe what he preaches. If so, his life is as sad as Sarah's. The difference is that Steve had a choice to close off the world, but his children didn't.

I guess they think allowing it to be said in their presence makes them guilty by association. My parents are the same way. I can't count the times we had to turn off some old boringly innocent movie from the library because someone cursed. If that doesn't drive a kid to swearing what will.

:evil-laugh: