when the missionaries came to your door? Being a young convert (under 18) I feel I was defrauded by the missionaries and the church. How many of us end up leaving the church?
I'll apologize in advance...I was one of the missionaries doing the defrauding, and looking for people just like you. I was young and stupid (in my defense)...
Fortunately I only found one person like you. The rest blew me off, to their great credit. And that one person left the church 2 years after I went home -- we're now friends on Facebook and laugh about how stupid we both were.
I wasn't young or naive by any means, however I most definitely had a longing for more family closeness. Very ironic, especially since my entire family was as never Mo as could possibly be, and I "investigated" all alone while making a few fake, phony "friends" along the way. I was never so lonely in my life as I was during that time. Again, very ironic.
As is often the case, and certainly in mine, I was vulnerable and depressed, and looking for some kind of "connection" in my life. My very brief involvement with TSCC (only a few months), actually had an extremely negative effect, especially on my marriage.
It sure didn't take long for the light bulb in my brain to come on. After not even five months, I was done, done, and done.
Wow... I know we all learn from our mistakes and that we all make them. To this day, and always, I am SO grateful to have left it all behind quickly and moved on with my life.
Thank you all for sharing, and especially for listening. :-)
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2017 07:48PM by cynful.
You hit it on the head! I was young, naive, and seeking a father-figure--enter in the TBM who introduced me to the Morg...yes, he could have been David Koresh or any other cult leader...(sigh). The Boner.
I was young and naive but I was raised in a very abusive home. The idea of being with my family for eternity sounded like a horrible, horrible prison sentence. Holding that up to me as the motivational carrot to be Good® completely backfired. I would sit in class, being told that my ultimate goal in life was to have that forever family and all I could think is, "I'd rather burn in hell for eternity than spend it with my family."
What I was longing for was security and stability, not having to walk on eggshells in my own home, not have to wonder when I would make some completely innocuous, harmless mistake and would be severely punished for it. I didn't want to live a life where my partner and I were constantly sniping and backbiting and undermining each other. I didn't want the constant power struggles.
As I became an adult, I figured out ways to remove toxic people from my life or at least go Very Low Contact and how to put people on Information Diets. Now when I walk into my home, the atmosphere is calming -- it's a relief and a refuge from the stresses and obstacles of everyday life. THAT's what I wanted, not to spend friggin' ETERNITY with my abusive asshole parents.