Category — * NLQ Carnival Grandstand *

by Vyckie

Wow ~ we just did 55 posts in a 4 days!  Plus ~ there was plenty of commenting and game playing on the forums ~ and the NLQ Chat Room was pretty busy for much of the time.

What a tremendous response to our NLQ Carnival Days ~ we really knocked ourselves out, didn’t we?  I want to thank everyone for their help and participation ~ together, you made the carnival a spectacular success.

We didn’t even come close to meeting our donation goal ~

Oh well, we’ll just have to come up with some other excuse to share Angel’s account of her time at the Campbell Compound in Tennessee.  Any ideas?

Time for a rest, huh?  We’ll be slowing down considerably here at NLQ for the next week or so to give everyone a chance to catch up and digest all the excellent NLQ Carnival Grandstand contributions.

I do have one more post I’m working on ~ and I hope to have it finished right away.  It’s my detailed perspective of the discussion on the Joy Behar Show.  Other than that, let’s all just relax, welcome new NLQ members, and take it easy.

We did it!  Thanks again for making it happen

Discuss!

Share this post!

by Journey

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

When I shut off my brain and became willing to do whatever Mark said, he was delighted. Absolutely delighted. And everything changed. Everything. The first thing he did was give me a list on how I was to clean the bathroom. I had daily chores and weekly chores from him, down to minute details.

I remember the first day I followed his list. I was humiliated. It was as if I was a child again and he was the parent. I told him that, too (in a humbled and submissive way, of course) and he smiled and said, “Exactly. Your parents did a terrible job of raising you when it comes to cleaning, and now God has given you to me so that I can raise you and help you become the way you should be.”

I worked through the humiliation, swallowed my feelings (something I would do daily from there on out) and soon obeying Mark’s whims and will became the norm. There wasn’t really much choice. I mean, every time I didn’t obey Mark, even in the slightest thing, I was in rebellion against God and in league with Satan.

Plus, if Mark wasn’t there to patiently and gently correct my rebellion, my own head would do it, so fearful I was at being the rebellious woman that the prophetic word from God had warned me about. No. I loved God and because of that, I *would* obey my husband and do it cheerfully.

[Read more →]

Share this post!

by dogemperor

My story of how I walked away from Joel’s Army–and joined the survivor community–started, quite ironically enough, with (of all things) Christian heavy metal…because, interestingly enough, it was my first major experience in how coercive groups operate by telling their members a thousand little lies to create a culture of fear.

To make a long story short, when I was eleven both the Sunday school I attended (at an Assemblies of God megachurch which I would eventually discover some 24 years later was one of the fifteen most influential churches in the United States of what was then known as “Joel’s Army” and which has since rebranded as “Elijah’s Army” and the “New Apostolic Reformation”–and which was at the center of a poorly-documented pre-Brownsville “Toronto Outpouring”-style Third Wave event in the 70s and 80s) and televangelists we’d watch in the household before and after church started condemning Christian rock–and they made the mistake of condemning the band Stryper in their missives as “satanic”.

For those who remember the 80s, yes, this is the same Stryper that literally named itself after Isaiah 53:5 (“By his stripes we are healed”), the same one that wrote of Jesus as “The Rock That Makes Me Roll”, the same one that held altar calls at their concerts and tossed out Bibles to the crowd. The very Stryper that was the very EPITOME of Christian metal at the time (and the best-known by far, because they actually got airplay on secular metal stations and MTV’s Headbangers Ball among other things–probably the very reason they were condemned, in retrospect).

Yeah. THAT Stryper.

[Read more →]

Share this post!

by Vyckie

Throughout my labor with Hazelle ~ yes, that long horrible, absolutely miserable 4th pregnancy and delivery ~ I kept thinking that, while I really did not want to have another c-section delivery, I wasn’t exactly excited about going through labor and delivery either.

I would often say to anyone who might be listening (usually my sister, Sandy), “There’s got to be another way …”

When my water broke, I was so exhausted from all the complications of that pregnancy combined with eight days of flu ~ all I wanted was to sleep. I really could not get it in my head that, if I didn’t want the baby to be delivered surgically (as her three older sisters had been), then I was going to have to be the one to push her out.

Oh … but I was so tired.  There had to be another way.

[Read more →]

Share this post!

by km

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Most everyone has heard by now about the Blackwater corporation (recently renamed Xe due to bad PR) and the staggering criminal enterprise that it has perpetuated in the name of the U.S. War on Terror.  Even such farcical news establishments as Fox have been unable to ignore the veritable shitstorm that has erupted in the wake of the Bush administration over Xe’s unholy alliance with the United States government.  One thing that has not been widely reported, however, is Xe’s Dominionist allegiance, up to and including the fact that its former CEO—and now chairman—Erik Prince, is the biological heir apparent to the U.S. Dominionist community.  

The son of Edgar Prince, whose family fortune funded such early Dominionist organizations as the Moral Majority and Focus on the Family, Erik Prince grew up hobnobbing the wealthy and powerful of members of the Dominionist Christian Right.  Always his father’s son, Prince left his White House internship with the George H.W. Bush administration because he felt that it was too secular—and too liberal.  Influenced by the politics of RJ Rushdoony, Prince felt that it was wrong for White House officials to have any contact with LGBT and feminist groups, including run of the mill lobbying meetings and focus groups. 

[Read more →]

Share this post!

by hillary

When Jesus Weeps—The Parable of She

“Break her will,” they said

and broken, She

weeps silently.

But sometimes She forgets

how to weep at all . . .

The Girl-Soul sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes. Such a long road, her way, filled with pebbles and holes and scary places. I need to stop soon, whispered heart. Shoulders burned with tension. The lumpy bag of rocks She carried banged against her legs; purple bruises crept up skin. But I can’t give up now; I’m almost there!

Anticipating a grateful smile from the Giant and Grandfather, She pressed up the ancient path. Why they needed heavy rocks, She did not know, yet vowed to bring the best She could, and labored night and day, without rest, food, or water, to gather them.

But at last! The Girl-Soul mounted final peak. As the Giant came forth, a smile crossed her weary, grimy face.

[Read more →]

Share this post!

by Angel

1 - Only southern gospel music was acceptable for God.

2 - God teaches people different things at different places at different times. Therefore if someone wasn’t like us, we weren’t to judge them, just to pray that they would be more like us!

3 - God teaches girls all they need to know in making them fit mothers. So college is not needed.

4 - As a dutiful daughter, obedience meant doing what dad told us-even if we weren’t sure it was right.

5 - Even when dad is wrong, he’s right.

6 – Giving up and letting someone else win was being the adult in the situation. The weird thing was that usually the person I was giving in to was at least twice my age.

7 - Anyone who didn’t think like we did was bound for hell, and we could pray for them, but we couldn’t hang out with them because they wanted to tempt us into sin.

8 - Every person was born into the perfect family for them. Therefore, I was to be with my family at all times, because they were the only human beings good enough for me.

9 - My virginity was my most prized possession. I was taught this by the man who raped me of it in so many ways.

10 - Unconditional love meant for the person, not for their actions. Therefore, if you loved a person and they did something wrong, you tortured THEM for the action, and hated them to show that they behaved poorly.

Discuss this post on the NLQ Grandstand forums!

Invite others to the NLQ Carnival Days using the buttons below to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites:

Share this post!

by Arietty

In the last months of my marriage I was gradually coming out of the fear laden fog that had been my life in fundamentalism. Now that I had internet access I would find myself reading more and more things written from a non-Christian perspective. I had joined a few forums based around interests I had but spent more and more time reading the off-topic threads. I was often blown away by how much grace some of these people showed in flame wars or contentious discussions, how much humility they had towards their own beliefs. Wasn’t grace “our” word? It was at first disturbing to learn so much from people who did not follow Christ but after a time I grew used to it and found myself more and more willing to look for wisdom and kindness in places other than my own backyard.

There were several people on the forum who called themselves Taoists. After I got over being fearful of this word I got interested in their discussions about a book called the Tao Te Ching. There was one translation and commentary in particular that they got a lot out of and I was intrigued because it was so utterly different than anything I was used to. One day my husband announced that we were all going camping with a bunch of other homeschoolers at someone’s country property (another great building-my-own-house for 10 years family). Well I knew what that would entail, me setting up all the tents, cooking all the food, washing all the dishes and all the while looking out for 6 children while my husband stood around with the men and talked about how wonderful he was. Maybe I would even get to hear his testimony again as he dragged this increasingly bloated tale out every time he was around anyone new. I was at this point so deeply burned out that I could not imagine going through a whole three days of this and I point blank refused to go. My husband was forced to go on his own with 5 of the children (I am sure all their needs were met by other moms there as happened any time he went somewhere solo with them). I and the baby had THREE WHOLE DAYS at home in peace.

On the first day, when my husband would be driving and unable to call me I took the baby into the city and went to a, *gasp*, Esoteric book store. I was very very nervous. The whole store smelled of incense and there was newage music playing that the fundamentalist tape in my brain reminded me was demonic. It was very peaceful and there were all kinds of people of all ages sitting around quietly reading on cushioned benches. I found the book that I had read about, bought it (with cash of course) and left. As soon as I was out of there I threw out the bag that had the store name on it and stuffed the book into my diaper bag.

Once home I started reading. There was the poetry type stuff which was the actual Tao Te Ching and then there was the commentary. I could not for the life of me understand any of it. People had been reading this thing since before Christ but it was just a mystery to me. Here were the poems.. very charming if vague observational pieces. Here was the commentary elaborating on what the poems might be saying. But.. but.. WHERE were the instructions?? How did my forum friends become Taoists without a book of instructions to follow? Gradually an understanding came to me that life and beauty was not necessarily governed by rules that could carefully followed to insure the approval of God. That maybe viewing every choice in every moment of the day as the following of instructions was stultifying in the extreme. That maybe there was another way to have a relationship with God that was not all about the ticking of boxes.

I have not traveled very far down the road of a way to have a relationship with God that is not based on ticking boxes. Really I’ve only pottered about with the idea. Because I’m no longer driven by fear to pursue spiritual interests I am able to just let it languish, let the ideas come to me now and again. It is totally different from my frenzied pursuit of righteousness while a fundamentalist. Maybe in another ten years I will have something wise to say about it.. or maybe not.

Discuss this post on the NLQ Grandstand forums!

Invite others to the NLQ Carnival Days using the buttons below to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites:

Share this post!

What’s NLQ Carnival Days, you might ask? It’s arguably the most awesome idea for blog promotion that I’ve ever seen, and while every blog we blogroll is worthy in its own way, No Longer Quivering is one to which you ought to be paying attention, as the teabagger lunatics take over the Republican Party. Vyckie of NLQ started the blog to tell her story of her “escape” from the Quiverfull movement.

The problem with Quiverfull isn’t in its advocacy of large families, it’s in its view of women, and in questions about just how much “free will” is involved with women who become embroiled in its clutches. Kathryn Joyce wrote about Quiverfull, and about Vyckie, back in March, and what emerges is a picture of something akin to any other cult, which presents to troubled young people a sense of belonging, of meaning, of something important, as well as providing a rigid structure that so many troubled young people lack in the chaos of their own families. Cults prey on these kids, and Quiverfull appears to be no different as it lures young women into its web.

Jill Cozzi

Brilliant at Breakfast

Share this post!

by Erika

Attending a church for 3 months that was mostly made up of disgruntled ex-Amish and ex-Mennonites was 3 months too long. My parents were enamored with the “perfect family” persona that the church gave off.

When we arrived at the church, we were surprised that the church was segregated by gender. Women on one side with their little girls and nursing babies. Men on the other with the young boys.

We had always done things as a family and my parents weren’t keen on having our family separated in the church. They insisted on having us sit as a family. Because the church regulars sat in the segregated style, there wasn’t anywhere else for families to sit together except at the back of the church. We were told that if we wanted to sit as a family, it would need to be in the back on the hard fold out chairs. The padded pews were reserved for those that would segregate themselves from their families. It felt as though we were put in the back of the church on hard chairs as a punishment for not conforming.

It was interesting to note that the families that sat at the back also didn’t wear the “right” headcoverings and didn’t dress in the typical cape dresses of the Mennonite culture. We had heard from other families that when they came to the church, they were once at the back like we were. Over time, they adopted the dress and head covering style and eventually went to the segregated sides of the church. It was as if it was a conspiracy to make sure that all of us “family sitters” were put back there to see the way it was “supposed to be” from behind. Like sitting in the segregated sides of the church was something we had to work toward and attain.

It seemed like the loyalists at the church just brought their Mennonite and Amish bondage with them and just put a new name on it. They traded one set of shackles for another.

We may have only been there for 3 months, but it was 3 months too long.

Erika’s Stampin’ Mama Blog

Discuss this post on the NLQ Grandstand forums!

Invite others to the NLQ Carnival Days using the buttons below to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites:

Share this post!