Maxwell 43: Divesting from the First Church of Stevehovah Reversalist

[Bluebirdbluebell]

14 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

I checked the bios and it says that Sarah does bookkeeping, and Anna does IT help desk support. It may be that Anna also has some bookkeeping knowledge. 

I'm not sure they've updated the bios for the girls in a long time though. 

[Howl]

14 minutes ago, crawfishgirl said:

As for me, I'm always ready to do the time warp again... (Rocky Horror reference)

There used to be a regular mid-night showing for YEARS here in Austin. 

[Alisamer]

17 hours ago, NancyDrewFan1989 said:

The thing though is that many naive Christians seem to love the books she writes. Chelsy mentioned that she made it a point to meet the Maxwells because her younger siblings were fans of the Moody series and Sarah posts frequently about the readers of her books. I think they like them because the books are focused on a Christian family that reads the bible and does everything together. 

I suspect it's less that they like the books, and more that for the kids those are some of the only books they're allowed. If your choices are the King James Version of the Bible and the Moodys, well, there you go. 

15 minutes ago, crawfishgirl said:

Sarah linked some interesting family articles about Halloween.

I don't remember my kids being scared of other costumes when they were younger, maybe because they recognized other kids wearing them.  They were more interested in the candy and the activity around them.  

There must have been some serious brainwashing going on in that house, to be scared of other kids in costumes.  I can see where young children might be intimidated, but this seems extreme for age six.

My kids always loved Halloween when they were that age.  I know that some churches host carnivals during Halloween to avoid the 'scary' aspects of the holiday, and allow the kids to dress up in non-scary costumes, such as cowboys, ballet dancers, etc.  That sounds like a nice alternative for people who don't observe Halloween.  

As for me, I'm always ready to do the time warp again... (Rocky Horror reference)

That is so sad. Halloween is my favorite holiday still (more so for the aesthetic than anything else these days - most of my year-round kitchen things are Halloween ones). I could see a kid being terrified of someone in a very scary costume, but most kids costumes are not scary in the slightest. 

It seems like churches seem to fall into four categories: ignore Halloween entirely, have a not-so-scary carnival or similar, have something that is blatantly and loudly as anti-Halloween as possible (technically - there'll still be Bible costumes and candy most likely), and then there are the ones that put on super scary Hell Houses to try and scare people into "getting saved".

[deborahlynn1979]

I really do wonder how much Sarah brings in with her books. She has to subtract the printing costs, for example, which would cut significantly into any profit margin she may have. And really...how many people could possibly be devouring this stuff? Most traditional Christians would be fine with their kids reading something far more interesting mainstream.

[Fun-Dee]

6 hours ago, Tangy Bee said:

I think I will purchase one of Sarah's books for my niece. I'm just very curious about her style. When I was a kid, I enjoyed reading Dr Seuss, Goosebumps, and Babar the Elephant. Sarah might remember reading popular children's books before her Steve converted the whole family.

I read the first one when the kindle version came out for free.  I thought it was interesting, because I think it gave a clear snapshot of how their daily lives were growing up.  I'm convinced that everything in the books happened in real life, or was at least based on true events.  The distant mother who was always resting because she didn't feel well, or had a headache.  The father who was always pushing for the kids to start their own business.  The kids who are always apologizing to each other for every unkind thought.  I might consider buying a second hand book at a very good price, for the same reason I read the blog.  Pure curiosity into a bizarre lifestyle.  

[HereticHick]

So Maxwell kids are afraid of other kids in Halloween costumes, but showing them anti-choice bloody fetus posters is AOK.

[JordynDarby5]

Since fun isn't allowed in their house its not surprising. Halloween is just a fun holiday. You can dress up in any costume you want, go to parties, trick or treating, or carnivals. Or go to Haunted Houses. Its fun. Some people like get scared. No one who celebrates the holiday is doing it because its "evil" or any of that crap. I loved dressing up in costumes. I love the Halloween carnival my elementary school had. It was so much fun. There were so many games and prizes. I love seeing what people pick for their costumes. Some people really go all out and its really cool. I love seeing kids dressed up in costumes. 

[fundiefan]

When kids are taught to fear something, or not like it, or that it's wrong - they'll react as Nathan supposedly did, in fear. 

When kids engage and experience, it's less likely. Sure, some kids would be scared - hell, look at the Santa / Easter Bunny pictures we've all seen (and have) of screaming kids because they're scared. It's because they're just plopped on the fuzzy giant's lap and have no freaking clue. 

As in all things, education and experience would bring different results. Just as a screaming toddler looks forward to visiting Santa a few years later, a child that is sheltered from other kids in costumes would learn that it's not to be feared but is all for fun. 

I don't doubt for a second that Nathan was told, repeatedly, that Halloween is evil/bad/ungodly/whatever and he freaked at the sight of it, having been given no actual frame of reference. And, that brings up the other point - knowing they'd convinced their children of the ungodliness of Halloween, why did they still tell their six year old to answer the door? 

[Caroline]

I polled my ninth graders recently about their favorite Halloween costumes when they were in elementary school - not a scary one among them.  There were lots of super heroes, princesses, etc.  My own personal favorite Halloween was the year I was an angel (long white flannel nightgown, halo and sparkly wings).  Is being an angel for Halloween evil too?  Jeesh - these people are boring and oh-so-controlling.  No wonder those daughters are still at home with their super safe parents.  

My aunt just turned 93 two days ago.  She still loves Halloween, and it was always her favorite holiday.  Some of that had to do with her Irish roots.  Steve and Co. wouldn't approve of her for many reasons, one of which is that she's been a Catholic all her life.   

Trick-or-treating has been cancelled in my town due to Covid, but people have been going out of their way to decorate more elaborately than normal.  Steve the scaredy cat would be too afraid to drive through my neighborhood.  I love what my neighbors have done and I have always enjoyed Halloween.  

11 hours ago, Botkinetti said:

If you’re never allowed to read for pleasure or discover genres or authors that make you think or laugh or spark your imagination I can see why Sarah’s books would appeal to you. I don’t think you would see the depressing sameness of them like we do. Instead it must be comfort reading that mirrors and reinforces your life.

I remember the first time my daughter cried about a character in a book.  She was about nine and so moved by what happened to the character that she cried about it and then told me about it.  The world opened up for her that day, and she completely understood the power of stories.  I never refused her a book of any kind, and she has a vast collection (like her parents!).  She has a degree in English now and is working on her own novel as her thesis to conclude her MFA in creative writing degree in May.   How sad that there are people like the Maxwells who are too afraid to read a variety of things and experience a variety of points of view.  They are wasting so much of their intellects.  Would God be impressed with that?  I think not.

[crawfishgirl]

7 hours ago, Howl said:

There used to be a regular mid-night showing for YEARS here in Austin. 

Hello @Howl, hope you are enjoying Austin.  I've only been there a handful of times, but my daughter was just accepted to UT, so she may be moving there next year.  She's deciding between it and A&M. 

[Cults-r-us]

5 hours ago, JordynDarby5 said:

Since fun isn't allowed in their house its not surprising. Halloween is just a fun holiday. You can dress up in any costume you want, go to parties, trick or treating, or carnivals. Or go to Haunted Houses. Its fun. Some people like get scared. No one who celebrates the holiday is doing it because its "evil" or any of that crap. I loved dressing up in costumes. I love the Halloween carnival my elementary school had. It was so much fun. There were so many games and prizes. I love seeing what people pick for their costumes. Some people really go all out and its really cool. I love seeing kids dressed up in costumes. 

Me, too!

[MamaJunebug]

One of the Junior JuneBugs was terrified of even the most benign, smiling, cartoonish Halloween decorations. 
 

That particular Junior struggles with depression (as do I) and anxiety and still recalls her horror, though she doesn’t know why she felt that way. (She also decorates her home and welcomes trick or treaters now.)
 

I tell the long story because of the depression Junior and I have in common with Teri. Did Steve shrewdly (and cruelly) play on his wife’s illness to get her to go along with yet another excision of f*n from their children’s lives?  Who knows. 

[Bethy]

2 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

I tell the long story because of the depression Junior and I have in common with Teri. Did Steve shrewdly (and cruelly) play on his wife’s illness to get her to go along with yet another excision of f*n from their children’s lives?  Who knows. 

I don't think he honestly had to reach that far. For a lot of even fundie-lite families, Halloween is not allowed. 

[JordynDarby5]

8 hours ago, Caroline said:

I polled my ninth graders recently about their favorite Halloween costumes when they were in elementary school - not a scary one among them.  There were lots of super heroes, princesses, etc.  My own personal favorite Halloween was the year I was an angel (long white flannel nightgown, halo and sparkly wings).  Is being an angel for Halloween evil too?  Jeesh - these people are boring and oh-so-controlling.  No wonder those daughters are still at home with their super safe parents.  

My aunt just turned 93 two days ago.  She still loves Halloween, and it was always her favorite holiday.  Some of that had to do with her Irish roots.  Steve and Co. wouldn't approve of her for many reasons, one of which is that she's been a Catholic all her life.   

Trick-or-treating has been cancelled in my town due to Covid, but people have been going out of their way to decorate more elaborately than normal.  Steve the scaredy cat would be too afraid to drive through my neighborhood.  I love what my neighbors have done and I have always enjoyed Halloween.  

We used to go my grandma's neighbor every year on Halloween as a kid. They decorated their entire house for Halloween inside and out. It was just so much fun seeing a couple in their sixties still loving Halloween so much.  My two favorite costumes would be the bee costume I wore at five or six I looked so cute and my pink poodle skirt for my 50s costume. It was just so much fun. I never went for the gross or scary costumes but a lot of kids did look great in their scary costumes. 

Quote

I remember the first time my daughter cried about a character in a book.  She was about nine and so moved by what happened to the character that she cried about it and then told me about it.  The world opened up for her that day, and she completely understood the power of stories.  I never refused her a book of any kind, and she has a vast collection (like her parents!).  She has a degree in English now and is working on her own novel as her thesis to conclude her MFA in creative writing degree in May.  

I love all of that but specifically in the bolded part. Its a great way to describe reading and one I use the most. That's what it feels like opening up the world or different worlds like in the old Star Wars Legend books (before Disney bought Star Wars) reading a galaxy full of different planets and species. Or the world of Cinderella, Narnia, Sweet Valley, and Babysitters Club. Solving mysteries with Nancy Drew or getting spooked by Fear Street and creeped out by VC Andrews books. Or non-fiction books reading about ancient Egypt or Greece, or different wars. What life was like at the time. Reading about amazing people like Elizabeth I or French Resistance.

Quote

How sad that there are people like the Maxwells who are too afraid to read a variety of things and experience a variety of points of view.  They are wasting so much of their intellects.  Would God be impressed with that?  I think not.

I don't think so either. I can't believe that God wouldn't be for books and reading. For people being creative and crafting such wonderful stories. Why create men and women who create stories if He didn't want them to do that? Steve can't picture people reading different books and not staying Christian because he can't do it. He can't have different thoughts in his head so no one in his family does. Even though millions of people have managed to do both without any problem.  

[MamaJunebug]

36 minutes ago, JordynDarby5 said:

Steve can't picture people reading different books and not staying Christian because he can't do it. He can't have different thoughts in his head so no one in his family does.

Insightful!

Jesus once said to a persistent woman, “How great is your faith!”

That turns into a question to Steve: “How great is your faith?” 

[Melissa1977]

5 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

Did Steve shrewdly (and cruelly) play on his wife’s illness to get her to go along with yet another excision of f*n from their children’s lives?

Steve was against fun, but I think Teri was the leader of that idea. She just hated noise and forced her kids to keep quiet. She couldn't even stand children excitement in their birthdays. 

Both parents are awful and both are guilty. Teri is not less guilty than Steve, they are a team. Teri pretends she's submissive and not making decisions, but passive-agressive people have a lot of power in a relationship.

[NoseyNellie]

I have a REAL hard time believing that the plastic garb that was sold as costumes back in the early 80's was SO SCARY that a kid was traumatized authentically.  There was brainwashing or some creative writing going on with this post.  Today.. costumes are definitely more gruesome and realistic.  Scary characters have evolved and are not for the 13+ crowd any longer.  But back then I am going on the parents did not want to deal with it and filled heads with scary tales theory.  

To each his own.. one of my favorite instagrammers posts how they do not do Halloween.   The rest of their family does and they know the kids will hear stories and get jealous... So they host a bonfire night with like minded family friends that night and have a big old fun time for all involved.  Fun, Food and piles of candy they buy and have on hand.  No drama, no need to prove herself.. She tells her viewers.. You do you, I do us!  No judgment!  

[FloraKitty35]

@Bethy  Did your friend ever make her ex try clothes that fit him when they were newlyweds for him to prove he wasn't gaining weight?  

Edited October 29, 2020 by FloraKitty35

[Howl]

11 hours ago, crawfishgirl said:

Hello @Howl, hope you are enjoying Austin.  I've only been there a handful of times, but my daughter was just accepted to UT, so she may be moving there next year.  She's deciding between it and A&M. 

Congrats to your daughter! Austin and College Station are wildly different environments,  but both universities are excellent. College Station/Texas A & M is definitely more conservative.  Austin is certainly the more costly place to live, by a huge margin. 

Edited October 29, 2020 by Howl

[smittykins]

17 hours ago, JordynDarby5 said:

Since fun isn't allowed in their house its not surprising. Halloween is just a fun holiday. You can dress up in any costume you want, go to parties, trick or treating, or carnivals. Or go to Haunted Houses. Its fun. Some people like get scared. No one who celebrates the holiday is doing it because its "evil" or any of that crap. I loved dressing up in costumes. I love the Halloween carnival my elementary school had. It was so much fun. There were so many games and prizes. I love seeing what people pick for their costumes. Some people really go all out and its really cool. I love seeing kids dressed up in costumes. 

I was always envious of kids who had homemade costumes. Except for two years when I went as a “bedsheet ghost,” I always wore those cheap discount-department-store costumes with the thin plastic mask that you could barely see or breathe through, got wet inside from condensation, and the elastic always broke.

[MamaJunebug]

5 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

Steve was against fun, but I think Teri was the leader of that idea. She just hated noise and forced her kids to keep quiet. She couldn't even stand children excitement in their birthdays. 

Both parents are awful and both are guilty. Teri is not less guilty than Steve, they are a team. Teri pretends she's submissive and not making decisions, but passive-agressive people have a lot of power in a relationship.

Points well made!! I had not known about her dislike of noise. Will have to find a bootleg copy of a Moody book and get insights from it. Thanks! 

[SassyPants]

I will freely admit that had I married a Steve, and was forced to have, raise and educate kids I didn’t want to have, I most likely would have turned into a passive aggressive Teri.

[fundiefan]

30 minutes ago, smittykins said:

I was always envious of kids who had homemade costumes. Except for two years when I went as a “bedsheet ghost,” I always wore those cheap discount-department-store costumes with the thin plastic mask that you could barely see or breathe through, got wet inside from condensation, and the elastic always broke.

I always had homemade costumes and was jealous of the kids with store-bought costumes. I remember one year I was a witch and my aunt made my witch hat. I don't remember what she made it of but I hated it because it didn't stand up straight like the hat my friend got with her store bought costume. If I remember correctly, I was a whiney little b*tch about it. 

I see pictures of that Halloween now - and most other Halloweens and half my child life - and holy hell, my aunt did some great sewing while I was growing up. My ungrateful child attitude has hopefully been made up for with my adult awe. 

Kids always want what they can't have, I guess. 

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Today most kid events ban really scary costumes. When I was a kid in the 60s costumes weren't as sophisticated. If you bought one you got a jumpsuit and a mask. Lots of people were simple things like Ghosts of football/baseball players, many, many girls were witches. My friend's brother went as an old lady in 5th grade! That kind of thing. I can't imagine Steve liking even the 60s level of creativity, let alone today's.

[Hane]

In our old Catholic parish, one of the major Confirmation class projects was to host the church Halloween party for kids, featuring a haunted house. In my daughter’s year (1992 IIRC), she insisted on dressing as Belle (I made her the blue jumper/white blouse costume) because she wanted a non-scary costume for the littler kids, who would be easily frightened. (It was the last Halloween costume I made her; the next year I said, “You’re 15 now, and on your own!” I did make her costumes for her stage performances, though.) With her long dark brown hair and big brown eyes, she looked just like Belle!