I thought we’d have a little fun today by finishing the sentence “You know you are brainwashed when…”
- You feel guilty because you are hypothermic during ESOAL.
- You question your salvation after feeling intense desire to kiss a member of the opposite sex.
- You pay for the privilege of working full time.
- You admire leaders who put you in physically dangerous situations.
- You see nothing wrong with kicking someone out of the ministry for taking one sip of alcohol.
- You “confront” your roomate because they participate in alternate exercise.
- You regularly look down on other Christians who aren’t as “elite” as you.
Ok, have at it – how would you finish this sentence?
29 comments:
Ben said…
…you can accept “mandatory fasting” as anything other than an oxymoron.
January 19, 2010 8:50 AM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
… you can personally identify with every single qualifier listed here.
January 19, 2010 9:11 AM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
(Eric, so true. Thank you for saying what I’m sure everyone else was thinking :])
… you fear entering into a relationship with the opposite gender, entirely because of the fear of Brainwashing Symptom #2.
… you believe that your Christian friends who kiss outside of marriage are in wicked lustful sin.
… you question a fellow believer’s salvation because they said “crap”.
… you can’t comprehend how anybody can be a Christian without having gone to the Honor Academy.
… you look at injuries as badges of spiritual honor.
… you pull all of these sentences out of your own personal experiences.
January 19, 2010 11:29 AM
Recovering Alumni said…
…when outsiders are critical of HA, you think you are experiencing persecution
January 19, 2010 12:14 PM
agnostic101 said…
you feel like there is an elite group of interns that are more spiritual, more loved by tm staff, and just all around better than you.
January 19, 2010 5:14 PM
Anonymous said…
…..you were afraid to talk to members of the opposite sex or share your “vision” with them (after TM)
…..you can’t decipher God’s voice from “TM jargon”
…..when judging others is your first point of contact
…..when your life feels more like a closed box full of rules and standards instead of being filled with grace and freedom to be who God created you to be
To just name a few………..:-)
I like this excercise! It is freeing! ha
January 19, 2010 5:53 PM
h. said…
…when your entire life centers around the ridiculous idea that God NEEDS to you to accomplish His will, and things won’t get done unless you’re holy enough to see it happen.
January 19, 2010 6:44 PM
Ben said…
h. – i’d say that is the biggest lie of ‘the plan’ (not that that’s the only place the idea shows).
January 19, 2010 10:49 PM
Alum2000 said…
…when you feel guilty for watching TV/doing nothing for an hour because you’re not doing something “productive” towards fulfilling your “purpose” (definitely been there!)
January 20, 2010 6:33 AM
Recovering Alumni said…
Alum2000 – great one! I can’t believe I forgot that one.
January 20, 2010 9:47 AM
h. said…
alum2000–that is a great one. i really struggled with that one when i first moved home.
ben–that one’s been my struggle for the last several months now. realizing how untrue it is has been healing and heartbreaking at the same time.
January 20, 2010 10:22 AM
frogla said…
when you believe that the Holy Spirit is leading you to obey the law/s.
January 22, 2010 2:19 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
… you believe that somebody is “speaking death” whenever they acknowledge the possibility of getting financially dismissed.
(A friend of mine is possibly getting booted for money, so I commented on her FB status to encourage her, because whether or not the money comes in, the Lord is faithful to her).
She deleted the comment and simply said (paraphrased) “I know it’s God’s will for me to be here lol thanks for the prayer guys :D”.
Good Lord, it’s not the end of the world. I was f-dismissed, and it was one of the most freeing things that ever happened to me.
January 26, 2010 7:40 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Nunquam – when I first read that, I thought you meant f******ing dismissed. But maybe you meant financially dismissed?
January 27, 2010 12:10 AM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Oh no! I did mean financially; I just didn’t feel like typing it out again.
Ack, now that I look at it, it DOES look wrong. I didn’t think about that before 😛 Thanks for the clarity!
January 27, 2010 8:42 AM
Ex-Intern Aug 07 said…
Haha! Yeah I chose to leave a few weeks before I would have been “f-dismissed” (hehehe) anyway 😛
yeah that whole “speaking death” thing is another one of those mis-taught scriptures – and not just by Teen Mania either!
January 27, 2010 4:06 PM
Anonymous said…
To Nunquam Honorablus
Have you thought that maybe she loves the ministry and that she is feeling God called her there? She does not need to be set free, what she needs is to answer God’s calling for her life weather its at TM or working in a hospital in Africa.
Anyway my question to you is did you feel God called you at the HA? If he did why did you leave, and we all know here God does not make mistakes. Anyway why im asking this is because many times people become bitter towards an internship is when God in fact did not call that person to the internship, so when they get there they do not feel God and get confused and bitter. But for the one’s that God did Call (maybe your friend, I do not know) to the HA and other internships their time will bring Joy and happiness as they make an impact for the kingdom.
By the way I do not agree with everything the internship teaches (got dismissed due to finances, coming back in Aug) but I know for a fact that God called me there, so that settles it. I do know that the internship is led by men and men are not perfect, so the internship is far from perfect. But if God calls us to a ministry or whatever are we not faithful enough to answer?
I love reading post here even though I do not agree with most of them and some post are taken way out of context, but there are some good points here that show in some places that TM needs to change. Anyway food for thought.
January 27, 2010 7:27 PM
Anonymous said…
I did not read your full post. So you got dismissed financially, Im glade that God found a way to take you out of a ministry that would not build you up as he intended. God is faithful and when you may have felt you where called but as we can both see you probaly were not, so God found a way for you to leave that environment.
Anyway many people are indeed called to this ministry and I believe God will reward them and for those who are not called and are still coming I hope God moves them where ever he intended them to go. Anyay i hope you find peace in your walk and I know God has wonderful plans for your life, I hope nothing but the best for you brother. God Bless
January 27, 2010 7:43 PM
Recovering Alumni said…
Anonymous – God may “call” someone to the internship just as he may “call” them away from it. Humans made up the “you must stay at the internship for a year” rule. Not God.
“many times people become bitter towards an internship is when God in fact did not call that person to the internship, so when they get there they do not feel God and get confused and bitter.”
I know that this is what the leadership at TM tells you. I find it is a cop-out and not a true reflection of God’s heart. Where can you find any Scriptural backing for this statement? You may consider that it’s actually a way to “blame the victim” and keep the leadership from accepting any responsibility for their actions.
January 27, 2010 8:35 PM
katydid said…
RA—I totally agree with your point –God may “call” someone to the internship just as he may “call” them away from it. Humans made up the ‘you must stay for a year’ rule. Not God. His plan is perfect, as well as His timing–and many times He places people at a certain place or situation for a season to learn something and then He moves them elsewhere…
I can attest to that.
And, I am so tired of HA ‘blaming the victim’ for what they (HA) are doing with the spiritual abuse they are inflicting.
Also to “anon” who is going back in Aug–you should check your spelling before you post–Dave Hasz wouldn’t be happy with your lack of excellence…
January 27, 2010 9:16 PM
katydid said…
oops…I’m sorry ‘anon’–that last sentence came across as very mean– I was trying to be witty (with HA always striving for excellence)–and my attempt at humor wasn’t loving–again I’m sorry.
May God bless your heart–I can see you are well-meaning in your post..even if I don’t agree with you.
January 27, 2010 9:38 PM
Nunquam Honorablus said…
Well! I was going to reply, but dear RA and Katydid covered it perfectly.
Thanks guys 🙂
January 27, 2010 10:11 PM
Alum2000 said…
“Anon” – Regarding what you said,
“many times people become bitter towards an internship is when God in fact did not call that person to the internship, so when they get there they do not feel God and get confused and bitter.”
I worked as an HA recruiter/mobilizer during my internship year and we were specifically told to tell people that if they didn’t know what God’s call on their life was, that His will was for them to be at the HA for the next year of their lives to figure out their purpose. It’s just crazy to me how quickly the leadership changes their tune when someone is dismissed. All of a sudden it’s the person’s fault for not following God’s “call”?? I know now that I am in no way able to judge whether or not someone is or is not called to something, however, when you’re 18, impressionable, don’t know what you’re going to do with your life, and people who represent a ministry you trust and respect are all telling you that you will be out of God’s will by not attending the HA, what do you expect?
January 27, 2010 10:55 PM
Shannon Kish said…
So, to understand this a little more, Anon please help me.
So, people who are not called (despite the HA’s ‘praying over every potential intern’) can actually be accepted into the internship? Either you are accepting that the HA does not pray over every potential intern before they are accepted, or you are suggesting that God did call them to the internship, they went, and then God called them out of the internship.
March 23, 2010 9:10 AM
gc1998 said…
the other issue i have with this statement:
“many times people become bitter towards an internship is when God in fact did not call that person to the internship, so when they get there they do not feel God and get confused and bitter.”
is…look at characters in the bible. David was called to be the king, but instead he spent several years hiding out in caves trying not go get killed. by your logic, it is his fault that he felt afraid and abandoned during that time…because he wasn’t fulfilling his calling.
joseph was going to be a leader, but instead he wound up in prison…feeling distant from God or bitter about being unjustly accused and imprisoned was his fault, then, was it?
the extrapolation of your theory is that…God is only near to us when we are in the right place, when we’ve made the right decisions. it is inconsistent with scripture and grace…Jesus makes all things beautiful, he works all things together for good.
we canNOT make a mistake so big he can’t do something with it. it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek Him or try to follow his leading, but the fear of messing up and the shame when things don’t go the way we planned…those are not things Jesus puts on us.
March 23, 2010 9:52 AM
carrie said…
…you defend TM until the very very end, even after multiple documented accounts of emotional, spiritual, psychological (and at times, physical) abuse have been made public.
…you assume responsibility for leadership’s massive mistakes, and call it a “blessing”. Even if you literally almost die in a car/scooter/crosswalk/ESOAL/jungle boat ride accident.
…you believe that you can modify your behavior enough to be a good christian.
Also, I can verify Alum2000’s response regarding what the told the mobilizers to do. I worked in that department with Alum2000 and heard that several times. The process for choosing the interns has less to do with “calling” and more to do with manipulating the prospective intern’s emotions by feeding them the “It’s God’s Will” line.
March 23, 2010 10:57 AM
Liz (Engskow) Davila said…
gc1998 – in both of your scenarios, David and Joseph were persecuted by godless regimes and God delivered them … so, is TM the godless regime in this scenario??
🙂
March 23, 2010 11:24 AM
gc1998 said…
no…ha. but…that actually just makes the wrongness of the above argument more intense. if someone winds up at the honor academy but isn’t necessarily “called” there…would Jesus be absent from him/her? would he not use the experience in the intern’s life anyway?
the argument is that it is the intern’s fault that he/she isn’t feeling God, because he/she made the wrong decision in going. my point was that God used people being outside of their “calling” for good, so it is possible that an intern could have the same experience…and blaming him/her for pain/confusion is…just…unwarranted and wrong.
March 23, 2010 1:20 PM
Liz (Engskow) Davila said…
gc1998, I agree. It also seems like fear of stepping “outside of the call” could also be used as a tool for manipulation.
March 23, 2010 2:14 PM