Non-Believer Former Members of the Worldwide Church of God

Thank you for creating this Blog. It’s comforting to read stories from other people who experienced such an insane time in their lives. My mom joined the WCG in Seattle, WA in 1965 after following Herbert Armstrong by radio and reading the Plain Truth magazine when I was 8 years old. My dad left me and my 3 siblings when I was 10. My mom and dad had other problems unrelated to the church, but the church was the final huge straw. At such a young age my most defining recollection was how my life totally changed. Before dad left, mom had decided to observe the no pagan holiday rule. The only holidays we could celebrate were Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. Holidays, especially Christmas was a big deal to dad. These were times to spend with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Birthdays were out too. The church felt that somehow that celebrating a birthday was turning that birthday girl or boy into an idol. And we all know that the Bible says ‘Thou shalt not have any Gods before me’ - ridiculous! I remember the shame and embarrassment of having to leave my classroom and go to the library when the adults brought treats for the holidays or birthday parties we had at school.

Then there was the whole Sabbath thing. From Friday night sundown until Saturday night sundown you were to live in a state of worship. For a kid this meant that during this period, no TV, no playing with friends, and as one grew older, no Friday night parties, dances, attendance of football or basketball games. No Friday night sleepovers at girlfriends homes. No birthday parties. The only things we were allowed to do was read from the Bible, read Bible stories produced by the church or play Scrabble using only Bible words. I remember distinctly, sitting in my living room or backyard on a beautiful Saturday summer day, listening to the neighborhood kids playing, knowing that I was not allowed to join them. This was after already having sat through a 2 1/2 hour church service. I felt trapped and very isolated. I grew up in the same house until I moved out on my own. That meant that I went to school with basically the same group of children. I never felt like a part of my class, indeed I felt like a total outsider. Kids can be very cruel as we know. I was teased unmercifully for being so different. My weird customs, my dress, these were all of great amusement to my peers. I used to hide behind the school building at recess and lunch to avoid the taunts.

Adults in the church during those years did not seem at all concerned about how the choices they made were affecting their children. In fact, children were not allowed to question, let alone, object. And was there hell to pay if you did object! The church knew what was right and we all were to follow like little sheep. In my teenage years I remember a sermon where the minister was admonishing the parents to examine their children’s attitudes, because after all, ‘the devil and his demons are looking for a way in’. This sermon made a great impression on our mother. One Saturday afternoon I was once again sitting in our living room. I don’t know what I was thinking about but perhaps I was feeling a bit grumpy about being cooped up at home while I knew other kids my age were out enjoying their weekend. All of the sudden Mom was on the attack. “What are you thinking about?” She wanted to know “You better watch your attitude. You know that the devil wants to get in there!” WHAT!! Talk about craziness! I couldn’t even have my own thoughts for God’s sake! Then there were the sexist, patriarchal rules imposed on the women of the congregation. I grew up in the 1970’s. Mini skirts were worn by most of the girls I went to school with. I was one of the tallest girls in my class and skinny. Here I came to school in dresses where the hemline was at the top of the knee. Oh boy, did I get teased about that! No makeup was allowed either. The men were all concerned about us looking like sluts. I remember a debate I had with my mom on the subject. I maintained that a woman could be just as sexy and provocative in a dress with long sleeves, a high neckline and a floor length hemline as a woman in a short skirt. My mom couldn’t come up with an intelligent response, so she played the ‘I’m the adult, you’re the child and you will do what I say’ card.

In my opinion the worst crime committed by the church was their obsession about the “End of the World” and Armageddon. They even chose a year that the end would come - 1975. This just happened to be the year I graduated from high school. It wasn’t bad enough that they were fear mongers, describing in great detail events in the book of Revelation about the end of the world and what would happen to non-believers. I was raised to believe that I would have no future in this world. I would never be married, have children and to consider a career, well, forget it.

Somehow through it all I maintain some ability to think critically. I never was able to buy into the lie that the WCG perpetrated. I escaped the church when I was 18. Still, I know the church left an indelible mark on me and affected many of the actions I took and choices I made, good and bad in my adult life. Like many of the stories I read on this Blog I went through a rebellious stage and indulged in a lot of self-destructive behavior. I have battled depression. My relationship with my mom is strained. She still attends the UCG. She has never been able to admit what destruction their doctrine caused. Despite it all I still believe in God. However, I do not believe in organized religion. I have seen too much hypocrisy, and dysfunction in those institutions to turn over my power to any institution of that kind.

Today, my life is good. I live in a sunny climate with my loving husband of 23 years.

Shannon

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Personal Story. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments must be approved by the moderator before they will appear.