tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886116420081918736.post3371661130661663619..comments2022-12-22T02:11:24.267-08:00Comments on The Cult of Praise: Ignorance and Authority in the People of PraiseRecoveringPOPerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753941449940282103noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886116420081918736.post-35948751657473028462020-10-09T09:58:53.284-07:002020-10-09T09:58:53.284-07:00anonymous pop-er said
i think it's very natura...<br />anonymous pop-er said<br /><i>i think it's very natural to want to entirely surrender oneself to the will of God. i think any Christian would agree that if God is calling you to a certain way of life, the right thing to do is to embrace that life as completely as possible</i><br /><br />Perfect example of lack of critical thinking and how a cult "gets" you. This comment implies that "the will of God"="The will of the leaders of the cult" - <b> Surrendering all of your money and decisions to a leader leads to abuses by those human beings you hand everything over to</b><br /><br />"Surrendering to God" IS NOT THE SAME AS "Surrendering your life to manipulation by another human." The first requires you to develop your own strength, morals, and discernment of what is right and good. The second makes you a slave, or a cult member. <br /><br />I understand that in these uncertain times it's tempting to want to stop having to make choices. And to figure out for ourselves what is right. But surrendering all choices, and all money, and everything in your life to another person encourages abuse, and is a misinterpretation of the Bible. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03281540960909349162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886116420081918736.post-43899635535436932942011-02-15T13:47:47.027-08:002011-02-15T13:47:47.027-08:00as a life long member of POP, i'd like to offe...as a life long member of POP, i'd like to offer a response. to the themes you mentioned:<br /><br />1)the leaders of POP have always maintained that our way of life is not something that EVERYONE is called by God to do. for those who ARE called to it though, that way of life IS the will of God, otherwise God would not have called them to it. it's the same as a priest equating the priesthood with the will of God - he does so because, for him, they are one in the same.<br /><br />2)that being said, i think it's very natural to want to entirely surrender oneself to the will of God. i think any Christian would agree that if God is calling you to a certain way of life, the right thing to do is to embrace that life as completely as possible. while i obviously can't speak for this young woman, i don't think she was claiming anything more remarkable than that God is interested in ALL aspects of our lives. for a loving parent, there is no aspect of a child's life that is too mundane to be of interest: what time she brushed her teeth, what she daydreamed about during class, or what she had for lunch. i think the writer was simply saying that God cares about all these things too, not that he wants us all to brush our teeth at this time in this place in this way or we're all damned. if she WAS saying that, she would certainly be misrepresenting the POP. <br /><br />i'm interested to know whether you ever tried initiating a dialogue with this young woman to clarify her views?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3886116420081918736.post-50694120725735982412008-07-10T20:12:00.000-07:002008-07-10T20:12:00.000-07:00Thanks for starting this blog. Few people had hear...Thanks for starting this blog. Few people had heard of this group and when I read about it I realized it had all the trappings of a cult. Your blogger does not sound like someone who is probing their own individuality or questioning things around her - this is what a psychologically healthy person does. She is doing what all cult members or zealots do - repeat a lot of rhetoric and thoughts someone else has given to them. Personal growth pretty much comes to a halt - you respond as a child to authority and don't get the opportunity to test yourself against the world around you. I pity these people but they are also frustratingly naive - they are living but not growing emotionally. You might as well be a animal in a zoo. I am happy that you have decided to exercise some skepticism.Rev. Barkyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15016813186560811456noreply@blogger.com