People Who Were Born Into Cults Shared The “Red Flag” Moments They Decided To Leave, And Wow

4.

“My first hint that something was wrong was the amount of control exerted in our day-to-day lives. No beards, no long hair for men, no tattoos or piercings, no shirts with ‘edgy’ artwork like band shirts or shirts with skulls, no entertainment they don’t approve of, etc. Other members are trained to report you to the elders if you’re not following their guidelines, such as if you have a position of respect in the congregation, but someone sees that you have a rated-R movie, they’ll report you to the elders, and you could lose your position and good standing, which will change the way the congregation treats you.”

“What really tipped it over the edge for me, though, was their doctrine that all non-members deserve to die at Armageddon by God’s hand, simply for not being members. Armageddon is supposed to be urgently imminent, and over 99.9% of the world will die just because they’re not members. That didn’t sit right with me. I had been working in retail for some time, and the people I worked with were every bit as intelligent, compassionate, and loving as any person I knew.

Eventually, these issues became too great for me to bear, and I committed the ultimate sin, researching information that criticizes the religion. We were taught to be terrified of anything that remotely criticizes the religion and its leaders. I finally pushed against that fear and did the research. Woke up instantly. Realized why they taught us to fear ‘apostate’ information so much, it’s because they know it’s all true and they don’t want us to see it.”

—excusetheblood