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20 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

I felt for Seth, the teenager who felt forced to leave his family at the compound because he felt unwelcome.  In polygamous societies, I believe young men are problematic. 

Re: bolded. This is the case for many mammals (and other zoological classes) where the single adolescent/young males are actively forced out of a herd or pack at sexual maturity due to polygyny (alpha male controlling all access to breeding females).

Sad but perhaps predictable that humans are no different since it may well be a basic genetic force. By driving away the other males, the alpha provides somewhat of an evolutionary advantage for his genotype to flourish and get passed on.

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4 hours ago, Cleopatra7 said:

In terms of Mormonism, the Mormon Expression, Mormon Expositor, and Mormon Feminist Housewives podcasts are excellent sources. The first two don't seem to be updated anymore but are still up on iTunes and are a great source for all things Latter Day Saints. MFH did a series on polygamy from the POV of Mormon women that was great and now they're doing one on racism that is also awesome. "No Man Knows My History" by Fawn Brodie is generally considered the definitive history of Joseph Smith. "Under the Banner of Heaven" will help you understand how and why the Latter Day Saints movement keeps spawning these freaky and often violent splinter groups. 

As for the Branch Davidians, the only book you need to read is "The Branch Davidians of Waco" by Kenneth Newport. As far as I know, it's the only work that traces the BD and their theology back to the Ellen White and Victor Hoteff, the founder of the Davidians, and explains why the BD theology make them act in the way they did during the siege and the fire. Amazon is selling it for $90+ although o know I didn't pay that much for my copy. If you can find it at a library or used, don't hesitate to buy it, because it cuts through all the bull about Waco that has accumulated over twenty odd years (the fact that Newport is British helps, since he presumably doesn't have a dog in the culture war interpretations of Waco).

Another book that might interest you is "Urantia: The Great Cult Mystery" by Martin Gardner. The Urantia group was a more new agey spin-off of the SDA church, but the book has a lot of good information on the SDA church in general and the role of prophecy in the group. Gardner grew up as a fundie SDA, but became a notable skeptic. He wrote a lot about the SDA church, but many of those where in magazines and may not be accessible. However, you can go on Amazon and look through his books of essays and see which ones contain articles on the SDA church. You local library should have many of Gardner's books as well.

I wish FJ had a way to save an individual post and come back to it later. 

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10 minutes ago, tumblr said:

I wish FJ had a way to save an individual post and come back to it later. 

You can save the link (it's the icon at the top right) and then come right back to it:

 

Here's a broken version of that same link:  

www.freejinger.org/topic/25977-strong-city-cult/?do=findComment&comment=1139908

@Cleopatra7 thanks for all those resources (and others who posted, my thanks too.)  I got sidetracked watching the Finicum news conference out of Oregon.  The Mormon link ties that in, and I'm fascinated by all of these interwoven elements.

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I watched that whole film this morning, I thought I'd watch maybe a few minutes. I was heartbroken watching Matthew pull out his handmade models (that looked pretty accurate) of the planets. When Heal (sp?) was back at Michael's side laughing like a child defending him I was just sickened. 

I can't believe Michael didn't try to do something on apocalypse day. He literally did nothing, but his followers had just enough hype that the hype was enough. Insane. 

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Michael's son is the one I feel sorry for.  I got the impression that somewhere, deep down inside himself, he knows his dad is a fraud but has been so brainwashed that he'll likely never break away.  And I will never, ever understand a mother signing over guardianship of her minor kids when she initially took them because a.) she was concerned about a mass suicide and b.) concerned that the cult leader likely raped her daughter.  Cults like these fascinate me because I simply can't get my head around people acting like such sheep!

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On 3/9/2016 at 8:32 AM, habert said:

I watched that whole film this morning, I thought I'd watch maybe a few minutes. I was heartbroken watching Matthew pull out his handmade models (that looked pretty accurate) of the planets. When Heal (sp?) was back at Michael's side laughing like a child defending him I was just sickened. 

I can't believe Michael didn't try to do something on apocalypse day. He literally did nothing, but his followers had just enough hype that the hype was enough. Insane. 

It's a compelling story to me, and I'm not sure why, but I find it sucks me it, just as it did you.

He's back to talking about the end of days in his posts (which he is posting a long text every day.)  It must be exhausting expecting the apocalypse perpetually.

On 3/9/2016 at 10:15 AM, Queen Of Hearts said:

Michael's son is the one I feel sorry for.  I got the impression that somewhere, deep down inside himself, he knows his dad is a fraud but has been so brainwashed that he'll likely never break away.  And I will never, ever understand a mother signing over guardianship of her minor kids when she initially took them because a.) she was concerned about a mass suicide and b.) concerned that the cult leader likely raped her daughter.  Cults like these fascinate me because I simply can't get my head around people acting like such sheep!

I think Jeff has a background in law enforcement somehow.  (Like, he was a cop for a while.)  I do think he finds himself in a weird spot.  He has been a consistent and vocal advocate for his dad during the prison term.  It seems to me that just disappearing into the ether would be the only way to really move on for Jeff.

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