I’m just thinking about this again.It seems most people interacting on this forum have still retained strong beliefs in God/Christianity.
I’m wondering if anyone else “woke up” in xCF and realised they didn’t believe in any god at all and were in fact now atheist and antitheist. I’m quite surprised there aren’t more people like that interacting on SC. Surely I’m not the only one?
I think, to answer your question, it’s already assumed within xCF that if anyone leaves xCF they will absolutely and invariably become “apostate”, “atheist”, “antichrist”, etc (insert your own a-word). So, for members who are sincere in their faith in God, there is a very real fear that they will lose their sincere faith if they leave the cult. When former members leave the faith altogether it confirms this bias and keeps current members in by fear.
To play angel’s advocate, I think it is good, even critical, for streetcar to be a forum where former members who have retained their faith can encourage each other and discuss scriptural and theological subjects (without strong debate, for the sake of the weak), especially as they pertain to the misuse and abuse of scripture by the xCF leaders.
For so long we were told that even other Christians outside xCF weren’t true Christians unless they joined ‘us’, so I think streetcar can hopefully be a great demonstration that God is, in fact, bigger than BCF.
I’ve read here elsewhere that people who visit streetcar can be very, very hurt and weak emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Part of what I try to do here is to help people regain control of their minds and to decide things for themselves. It would be hypocritical for me to force belief in God, but as a believer I have to have integrity and be a support for other believers, especially the weak and abused.
