I interviewed a follower of the @GodsNotReal_ Facebook page named Jessica*, who spent 45 years as a member of a fundamentalist Christian cult and still has family members who participate in the church. Here is our conversation.
*Jessica is not her real name. Name changed to protect her identity from her religious family as she does not wish to stir trouble with loved ones by doing this interview.
@GodsNotReal_: What is the name of the religion [that you were part of] and what are their core beliefs?
Jessica: Independent Fundamental Baptist. They are only one step from Amish! The beliefs they have are too many to list. The women are shit and it's a male dominated religion! The women are not allowed to wear pants or shorts or any shirt that shows any chest. The top of her shirt cannot be any lower than 1 inch from her neck! If you dress revealing then you are making a man sin and it's your fault! The women are not allowed to work outside of the home while they have children that are not in school. Everything outside of the church is worldly and they keep you there 7 days a week with things to make sure you don't find out how much you are brainwashed! To get a better look into this religion check out "Preacher Boys" on Facebook and also there is a documentary called Let us Prey. They are also a little glimpse of what it is. I could talk for days on this! The biggest thing they use is scare tactics like other religions to keep you in it. The first hook is that you will die and go to a lake of fire hell! They present that to little children to make them cry and submit to this bullshit! Then after that you are made to go knocking on people's doors every Saturday to tell people that they are going to hell if they don't come to your church. But in a nice way by starting with "are you a 100% sure you are on your way to heaven? If not I can show you 100% for certain you can know for sure!" Like I said I could talk for days because I was trapped for 45 years in that bullshit!
@GodsNotReal_: Did you believe the dogma about Jesus and heaven while you were trapped in that cult?
Jessica: Yup that fake god sent his only begotten son to die on a cruel cross for my sins so I could go to heaven [lol]. First of all, I wouldn't kill my only child to help someone that was doing bad! And it's one of the biggest cults ever!! They hate that word!
@GodsNotReal_: So what was the journey out of there like? Describe the beginning of the end.
Jessica: That's 45 years. I was born on a Friday and I was in church on Sunday! In the middle is a whole bunch I am sure we will get into. My journey out has been very lonely and hard! My husband is still a Christian and all of my kids. They are not happy with me.
@GodsNotReal_: But what was the first thing you can remember where you started to want to get out or doubt what they were telling you?
Jessica: I never knew anything different from what I was told 'til I was 26 and got my first job. My female co-workers all fell in love with me when I started working there because I did have a wonderful personality because I always knew I was different and I was told that many times! So my co-workers asked me to go out to a bar and have a drink after work. Well, I told them I couldn't go to a bar. They asked why and I told them I go to a very strict church. Then they said "well let's go to a restaurant and have a bite to eat" and I said I would need to ask my husband and go home and make dinner for him and my kids first. Then they sat me down and told me things I had never heard [lol].
Through the years I learned more and more about how things weren't adding up but I had no way out. So I just went with it. We changed churches to a southern Baptist which has way fewer rules and I got in even deeper! I was a Gospel singer and traveled to almost every church in a 300 mile radius of my house and they were all denominations! I learned a lot then.
@GodsNotReal_: So how did your family react when you left the church?
Jessica: Horrified, but it wasn't just because I left the church. They could have dealt with that. It's that I don't believe in their fake god anymore! It has devastated them! Their whole world was upside down that I could think this after all these years! Like someone died--it was bad!
@GodsNotReal_: How did this affect your marriage and your relationship with the rest of your family?
Jessica: My marriage obviously took the biggest hit, but we have been married 29 years. He has been hard-core church since birth too but after the initial shock, and--we will call them "disagreements"--we just don't talk about it anymore. He only had one rule for me that was I could not try to convince our 2 children we have at home of my belief. He was still going to raise them to love God. I told him at 18 they can make their own decisions just like our other children have.
I told him since he had a rule I was going to have one too. I told him he doesn't need to preach to me and tell me I am going to hell or that I need God in my life anymore. So far it works. He still isn't happy about it but it's my choice.
@GodsNotReal_: Describe the best you can how badly women are treated in IFB and give as many examples as you are willing to share.
Jessica: Women in the IFB are trained from toddlers that they are to serve men. As teenagers, they are taught to keep their self pure, modest, and serve men. When a man lusts after you it's your fault because you wore something he liked to look at. The most horrible thing in the IFB is that this male dominated system is a breeding ground for sexual assault. There are thousands of stories about grown men in this cult sleeping with teenage girls because of this brainwashing! Also, to give you a good example (I hate to even call it good because it's horrible!)... I have a friend who at the time had a 4-year-old daughter. She was visiting out of state distant family. Her 4 year old was molested by a 16 year old male! When she found out she was devastated! They teach you to never go outside the church so she went to her pastor and his wife for guidance on if she should go to the police. Her pastor's wife looked her in the eye during this meeting and said "we have noticed that her skirts have been getting a little shorter recently. Maybe if she hadn't been dressed like that it wouldn't have happened!" Are you fucking serious! She said she started crying and was shocked. I, on the other hand, would have been locked up for throat punching a bitch! But then again I would never have made it to that meeting because I would have killed a 16 year old for what he did to my child! Like I said before I could talk all day about the horrible things that goes on in this cult. I was stuck in for 45 years!
I have never had anyone interested in my story because everyone I know is in it or around it because they isolate you to keep you brainwashed! I had over 3000 friends on Facebook. Today I think it's around 800 lol. About a year ago I shared [a @GodsNotReal_] post and said my true feelings on here and you would not believe the mayhem that shook for weeks after that!
Like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/godsnotreal
Follow me on Twitter: https://x.com/GodsNotReal_
Comments
Post a Comment