tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post6644357235711790549..comments2023-10-21T03:54:12.029-04:00Comments on A Gift Universe: Are the Pearls responsible?Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-43036999383350252092011-11-16T23:45:55.651-05:002011-11-16T23:45:55.651-05:00It's horrible how people become consumed with ...It's horrible how people become consumed with fear and do these things. God doesn't want us to hit our babies with sticks. I feel like this is the sort of toxic Christianity that comes of using the Old Testament like a self-help manual and neglecting the Gospels.Meredithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02275790985990503744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-16565519037454081292011-11-11T08:45:21.172-05:002011-11-11T08:45:21.172-05:00Oh. My. GOSH. These people sound absolutely sick ...Oh. My. GOSH. These people sound absolutely sick and crazy. I'd like to think I turned out ok. When I misbehaved I got a light slap on the butt and somehow it cured me! And of course there is a great difference between beating and a light slap (with only a hand). I hope no one will buy this book or, God forbid, take any of it as advice! Yikes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-84762209446029328652011-11-11T07:44:05.720-05:002011-11-11T07:44:05.720-05:00I know, it's disgusting. At the same time, I ...I know, it's disgusting. At the same time, I understand pretty well how they believe it's okay. They honestly believe it's for their children's own good ... because they are taught by their religious leaders that it's the way to instill virtue and get their kids to heaven. Surely nothing's more important than heaven, right? So you can convince yourself that anything's okay. I've read accounts of mothers sobbing as they spanked their infants, hating to do it and yet believing that they were unloving and a bad mother if they didn't -- that their children would go to hell if they didn't have the devil beaten out of them. Horrifying, horrifying stuff -- and the parents are victims, too.<br /><br />I've experienced abuse in the name of religion, though never on this level (and NEVER from my parents), and it takes a lot of effort to untangle the twisted thinking that religious leaders use to convince their followers that abuse of various kinds is okay. The leaders do it to ensure total control of their followers. And the followers are swept along by the charisma and seeming rationality of their leader. But it's all a complex kind of insanity.<br /><br />Manipulating people's love for God to control them is about the nastiest thing I can think of for anyone to do. Jesus wasn't kidding when he said it would be better for them to be cast into the sea with a millstone around their necks.Sheilahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10853868724554947854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2464977109229359349.post-62201504165692130762011-11-10T21:11:55.735-05:002011-11-10T21:11:55.735-05:00Wow... I guess I shouldn't have eaten dinner r...Wow... I guess I shouldn't have eaten dinner right before reading this. I'm feeling nauseated. How in the world could people really believe that this is OK on any level???Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07335982303703120909noreply@blogger.com