Steve, Steve, Steve! You Have Done it Again!

[Marian the Librarian]

Apparently "leave and cleave" only has a 0.5 mile radius.

This.

When you are comfortable with yourself and sure in your beliefs, you don't feel the need to control everyone around you.

And this.

:angry-screaming:

[pixydust]

I want to know what kind of debauchery Steve was into before he went cray-cray-fundie! The only thing that I can think to cause a man to not want his little granddaughters to have Easter candy (a chocolate bunny won't send a 3 year old to hell, Steve!), or his wife to have Pepsi, or his daughters to have any fun, is that he was into some crazy Dorian Gray type stuff!

[SamuraiKatz]

I want to know what kind of debauchery Steve was into before he went cray-cray-fundie! The only thing that I can think to cause a man to not want his little granddaughters to have Easter candy (a chocolate bunny won't send a 3 year old to hell, Steve!), or his wife to have Pepsi, or his daughters to have any fun, is that he was into some crazy Dorian Gray type stuff!

Amen sister!

[Cassia]

I don't believe for a second that Steve would be bothered to read FJ. He truly thinks he is above this sort of website and I don't think he would waste a precious minute of his precious time perusing what we heathens have to say about him.

I think it's a mere coincidence when the Maxwell's mention something on their blog that coincides with what we have been talking about... Well, not really a coincidence but that a Free Jingerite has gone to the blog, made a comment on the topic we have been discussing and then Steve responds to that... not to us.

Edit b/c I have trouble typing on my iPad.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I want to know what kind of debauchery Steve was into before he went cray-cray-fundie! The only thing that I can think to cause a man to not want his little granddaughters to have Easter candy (a chocolate bunny won't send a 3 year old to hell, Steve!), or his wife to have Pepsi, or his daughters to have any fun, is that he was into some crazy Dorian Gray type stuff!

We know he served in the Vietnam War and met Teri when they both (!!) were in college. He used to fly private planes and ride motorcycles too, he loved the wind in his hair. I've said it on other threads, but I suspect something happened to Steve to make him confront his own mortality, the death obsession started, and THEN he was taken in by a Ray Comfort tract (or someone preaching that style). It's where the whole "where will you go when you die?" line comes from, and as we know, everything the Maxwells do nowadays is 100% all about that question.

I'm reading about how he shelters his kids and it really did come on gradually, tighter and tighter. It started with let's not sin, but then turned into "we must use every moment 24/7 in moving toward our goals for Jesus" and from there, every tiny thing in life has to be weighed against "does this help me accomplish my goal?" or not. Hence, no F*N allowed.

It reminds of the concept of "bitul Torah" in fundie Jewish circles - the idea that any secular thing you do, at all, necessarily means that that moment in time you're not studying the Torah, so you shouldn't do it. You can find people advising others not to skip a religious class to go to a relative's wedding, even ("well, how close of a relative is it? Your cousin? No, go to night study session, don't waste time at the wedding").

So back to Steve-O, he thinks the kids won't go astray if they don't have "appetites" for non-religious things to begin with. If you never know of the existence of cake, you won't be tempted by it. But in order to avoid these "appetites" being installed, you have to pretty much keep a kid away from all other normal kids because they will talk about playing ball or other kinds of activities they do. Even the most extreme of the homeschooling set, they might do "harmless" activities that Steve thinks aren't productive and his kids won't be able to resist. So he started out requiring the kids to be in at least pairs if any other kid was around, but eventually just cut off all kid access. The younger kids never had friends. The older ones did but now (according to their testimonies in the book) "regret it."

He writes a big section about how in fact friends are not a necessary part of childhood. He says he gets flack for this even from family but he remains strong because, well, where will they go when they die? That's the important thing...

[darkplumaged]

I don't believe for a second that Steve would be bothered to read FJ. He truly thinks he is above this sort of website and I don't think he would waste a precious minute of his precious time perusing what we heathens have to say about him.

I think it's a mere coincidence when the Maxwell's mention something on their blog that coincides with what we have been talking about... Well, not really a coincidence but that a Free Jingerite has gone to the blog, made a comment on the topic we have been discussing and then Steve responds to that... not to us.

Edit b/c I have trouble typing on my iPad.

I agree. FJ is way too godless for Steve to risk reading. Sometimes I WISH he read here, but I don't think he is.

I wonder how he is really dealing with the increasing influx of negative comments on the blog. I mean, obviously he's not publishing them, but how is he reacting emotionally? Perhaps he's angry, but on the other hand, the comments may be just what he expects from the unsaved masses.

[fundiefan]

I agree. Steve's opinion of himself is far too high for him to bend down to read FJ. He cannot soil his perfectly godly mind with sinners. His militant control of comments, both now and in the past, make it evident though that his armor is imaginary and he does have to deal with people telling him he is full of shit and a slimebucket so he does know what people think of him. He just chooses to pretend they are lost souls without god so he can get up in the morning and not have to acknowledge that other ways of life are valid and other people outside his control are capable of thought.

[Marian the Librarian]

Google the phrase "death obsession" - there are many, many links to depression and OCD. Not that Steve would admit for a minute that he might possibly be suffering from anything so worldly and inflicting it on the rest of his family, or deign to ask for help.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I think they would get more hits with some actual content-rich "a day in the life of" stuff. Or let him preach on the blog, that would get hits too.

As it is their stuff is just so bland. I wonder if their lack of frequent touring is also contributing, probably some amount of comments they got were from people in the churches they visited who visited the URL that they saw at the conference just to check it out.

Definitely I suspect the death obsession was first.

[Guest Anonymous]

I don't believe for a second that Steve would be bothered to read FJ. He truly thinks he is above this sort of website and I don't think he would waste a precious minute of his precious time perusing what we heathens have to say about him.

I think it's a mere coincidence when the Maxwell's mention something on their blog that coincides with what we have been talking about... Well, not really a coincidence but that a Free Jingerite has gone to the blog, made a comment on the topic we have been discussing and then Steve responds to that... not to us.

Edit b/c I have trouble typing on my iPad.

Except that there have been very many occasions where Steve has removed text from the blog, either original post text, or comments, directly following a mention on here.

[johnhugh]

Except that there have been very many occasions where Steve has removed text from the blog, either original post text, or comments, directly following a mention on here.

I agree, I have had a few of my comments on their blog pass Stevie's moderation, for about 24 hours, only to be either edited or deleted after being mentioned on here. The subjects posted on the blog in recent months seem to be in direct repsonce to topics on here too. It seems too much of a coincidence.

Stevie likes to come across, or thinks he comes across as the 13th disciple, and a confident, arrogant, egotistical control freak, but we also know he is paranoid and insecure.

[pixydust]

I agree, I have had a few of my comments on their blog pass Stevie's moderation, for about 24 hours, only to be either edited or deleted after being mentioned on here. The subjects posted on the blog in recent months seem to be in direct repsonce to topics on here too. It seems too much of a coincidence.

Stevie likes to come across, or thinks he comes across as the 13th disciple, and a confident, arrogant, egotistical control freak, but we also know he is paranoid and insecure.

My biggest fundie fantasy is that Sarah is the one who reads here, then says "Oh, we haven't mentioned such and such on the blog", but I do think that Steve is paranoid or so full of himself that he reads here (gotta know what the unwashed masses think about him!).

[Justme]

We know he served in the Vietnam War and met Teri when they both (!!) were in college. He used to fly private planes and ride motorcycles too, he loved the wind in his hair. I've said it on other threads, but I suspect something happened to Steve to make him confront his own mortality, the death obsession started, and THEN he was taken in by a Ray Comfort tract (or someone preaching that style). It's where the whole "where will you go when you die?" line comes from, and as we know, everything the Maxwells do nowadays is 100% all about that question.

I'm reading about how he shelters his kids and it really did come on gradually, tighter and tighter. It started with let's not sin, but then turned into "we must use every moment 24/7 in moving toward our goals for Jesus" and from there, every tiny thing in life has to be weighed against "does this help me accomplish my goal?" or not. Hence, no F*N allowed.

It reminds of the concept of "bitul Torah" in fundie Jewish circles - the idea that any secular thing you do, at all, necessarily means that that moment in time you're not studying the Torah, so you shouldn't do it. You can find people advising others not to skip a religious class to go to a relative's wedding, even ("well, how close of a relative is it? Your cousin? No, go to night study session, don't waste time at the wedding").

So back to Steve-O, he thinks the kids won't go astray if they don't have "appetites" for non-religious things to begin with. If you never know of the existence of cake, you won't be tempted by it. But in order to avoid these "appetites" being installed, you have to pretty much keep a kid away from all other normal kids because they will talk about playing ball or other kinds of activities they do. Even the most extreme of the homeschooling set, they might do "harmless" activities that Steve thinks aren't productive and his kids won't be able to resist. So he started out requiring the kids to be in at least pairs if any other kid was around, but eventually just cut off all kid access. The younger kids never had friends. The older ones did but now (according to their testimonies in the book) "regret it."

He writes a big section about how in fact friends are not a necessary part of childhood. He says he gets flack for this even from family but he remains strong because, well, where will they go when they die? That's the important thing...

Also Steve's Dad & Mom divorced. It sounds like (though I can't be 100% sure) his Dad walked out on the family and he blames his Mom for not being "submissive enough". He wasn't raised in a "Christian home" and was saved sometime during his Air Force stint or shortly after. About a year ago, there was a picture of him posted next to a plane while he was in Thailand (I think it was Thailand). Someone commented something to the effect it was good he was a Christian then or was Saved. He responded that he wasn't at that time but it would have saved him a lot of trouble/heartache if he was. (Just my speculation, but I wouldn't be suprised if there was a little Stevie running around Thailand.) He also was "snipped" after Sarah. Around 5 years later, it was reversed, hense, the "reversal kids". His Mom has Alzhemizers and is a home around 100 miles away, near Steve's sibling (his Mom's choice to be closer to the sib). It sounds like Steve only see's her a few times a year.

[BayLee_10]

If I were a psychiatrist I would be thinking that anyone who requires as much power as Steve does might just have a borderline personality disorder. I can't imagine what a psychiatrist would think was wrong with the little sheeple who agree with him and kiss his meglomaniac ass!

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I'm pretty sure Steve's dad ran out, yeah (quite possibly after straying). Steve has talked about how his dad "threw away his family" before.

It would be interesting if he had a kid somewhere else. That kid surely dodged a bullet, I'd say!!! :D

[divadivine]

I have this strange feeling Stevie might snap one day (when the speaking engagements completely dry up and the other business ventures are making no money) and take out the whole family in something similar to Jim Jones at Jonestown. He's just not stable. The rest of the family is so brainwashed, they'd never see that what was going on was wrong. If they died together they would be together in heaven. That's the type of thinking I see coming from the Maxwell clan.

[hoipolloi]

I bet he reads here. There have been too many edited or "timely" blog posts for it to be coincidence.

Hi Steve!

[kpmom]

He might read here. If he googles Steve and Teri Maxwell, FJ comes up 3rd or 4th. I can picture him wanting to know how people see him and googling himself.

[jeansonly]

My theory is that Steve got messed up from his parents divorce and Vietnam. Likely PTSD. He then met Teri who came (kind of guessing here, but kind of not from viewing her sister's FB page) from a nice stable Christian family. He was intrigued by their normal happy family and thought, "hey this Christianity thing works well for them". And for a while it worked for him too, or seemed to. But something was still not right and he thought if he just was a better Christian etc maybe it would work better. He then slowly but surely took it to a whole new level. And then eventually, to whackadoodle level.

Unless he was saved before he met Teri, in which case I'm totally wrong.

[twin2]

My turn on the ISB.

I think there are probably several factors that sent Steve-O down the road fundie extreme. I think there is resentment towards his parents. I also suspect there were things that may have gone on during his time in the military he may not be proud of.

I think he began his dive into the deep end of fundie-um at his engineer job. At one point he eludes to the fact that he either had a women as supervisor or a co-worker, in any case it was someone he was going to have to spend a lot of time with and work closely with. I'm suspect this was the tipping point. Maybe his manly self was resentful of being having a woman his equal or superior. Maybe he had impure thoughts or actions. Who knows, but this is when it all went downhill for the remaining Maxwells. The rest is gloom and doom.

One thing that I have been wondering about for sometime was the disappearance of the frumpers on the Maxwell ladies. One day they were there, the next day they were gone. Never a mention on why. I have secretly hoped the Maxwell ladies collectively put their feet down and demanded to dress of this century or never clean a cupboard again.

[FloraDoraDolly]

My turn on the ISB.

I think there are probably several factors that sent Steve-O down the road fundie extreme. I think there is resentment towards his parents. I also suspect there were things that may have gone on during his time in the military he may not be proud of.

I think he began his dive into the deep end of fundie-um at his engineer job. At one point he eludes to the fact that he either had a women as supervisor or a co-worker, in any case it was someone he was going to have to spend a lot of time with and work closely with. I'm suspect this was the tipping point. Maybe his manly self was resentful of being having a woman his equal or superior. Maybe he had impure thoughts or actions. Who knows, but this is when it all went downhill for the remaining Maxwells. The rest is gloom and doom.

One thing that I have been wondering about for sometime was the disappearance of the frumpers on the Maxwell ladies. One day they were there, the next day they were gone. Never a mention on why. I have secretly hoped the Maxwell ladies collectively put their feet down and demanded to dress of this century or never clean a cupboard again.

I think Teri's depression fits in here somewhere as well. IIRC, there was also something that went wrong at church. For whatever reason, Steve went from ordinary fundie to total isolationist. Maybe he just couldn't deal with being the parent of adolescents? It's relatively easy to keep little kids away from unhealthy influences (however you choose to define them). But teenagers are a different story. I don't think Steve wants his kids to grow up and go out into the world. He literally believes their souls are at stake. And so he seeks to control absolutely everything.

[Justme]

My turn on the ISB.

I think there are probably several factors that sent Steve-O down the road fundie extreme. I think there is resentment towards his parents. I also suspect there were things that may have gone on during his time in the military he may not be proud of.

I think he began his dive into the deep end of fundie-um at his engineer job. At one point he eludes to the fact that he either had a women as supervisor or a co-worker, in any case it was someone he was going to have to spend a lot of time with and work closely with. I'm suspect this was the tipping point. Maybe his manly self was resentful of being having a woman his equal or superior. Maybe he had impure thoughts or actions. Who knows, but this is when it all went downhill for the remaining Maxwells. The rest is gloom and doom.

One thing that I have been wondering about for sometime was the disappearance of the frumpers on the Maxwell ladies. One day they were there, the next day they were gone. Never a mention on why. I have secretly hoped the Maxwell ladies collectively put their feet down and demanded to dress of this century or never clean a cupboard again.

Reversal Anna still wears frumpers. It wasn't long ago the frumpers disappeared from Teri & girls.

[justlurking]

I have this strange feeling Stevie might snap one day (when the speaking engagements completely dry up and the other business ventures are making no money) and take out the whole family in something similar to Jim Jones at Jonestown. He's just not stable. The rest of the family is so brainwashed, they'd never see that what was going on was wrong. If they died together they would be together in heaven. That's the type of thinking I see coming from the Maxwell clan.

I fear this too; however, I imagine it will be a little more violent with Steve taking an axe to the whole clan a la "The Shinning".

"Too much work and no play makes Stevie a very dull boy!"

[Guest Anonymous]

One thing that I have been wondering about for sometime was the disappearance of the frumpers on the Maxwell ladies. One day they were there, the next day they were gone. Never a mention on why. I have secretly hoped the Maxwell ladies collectively put their feet down and demanded to dress of this century or never clean a cupboard again.

Another FJer noticed that the frumpers disappeared shortly after the Maxwells visited the Duggars, a year or so ago.

[Aeryn406]

I wonder if anyone has ever said anything awkward to them in person? I know any sympathy or help offered to Teri or the girls would be immediately "confessed" to Steve - but what would Steve do if one of the revered men attending his father's lecture told him to his face (and in front of other attendees) that he was missing the point of being a good person and was killing his family's spirit.