(they dont realize about me yet.) Questions: Bruce, Is the IFB Church Movement a Cult? I have never felt so happy and free. I am a former Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB), who now embraces Reformed Theology. Having sex out of wedlock, Rebekah Chatfield explained, was tantamount to being married in the eyes of God. Intelligent discussion, not embittered ranting. A couple was driving down a backroad returning from a church session and their child had become antsy and whining. One other thing, take your time about coming out to your husband, family and others until YOU are ready. document.write ("'><\/scr"+"ipt>"); And so we went, sun school, sun morning and evening, and Wednesday night, trying again and again to feel right doing this. She quickly reprimanded me and informed me that god would be severely displeased if we left and to just pray and read my bible more. It naturally followed from there that I started looking into other ways to raise a child that didn't involve fear, intimidation, hitting, or telling her God was going to come down and strike her dead or send her to hell. And the ability to. It was this idea that the control of the children is the church and parents responsibility. The two men convicted of the bombings, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, may have attended Michigan Militia meetings, according to media reports. It helped start the first Baptist church in Philadelphia the following year. What do you do for a living?, Having a journalist at the Sunday service made Chatfield uncomfortable, he said. The way biblegod treats his children (according to the fictional bible) is nothing short of abuse. . An 1970s-era handout from a Bill Gothard Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts seminar that shows the father as the hammer who hits the wife, the chisel, to shape the children in a Christian home. Hyles' Daughter Exposes the Cult - Way of Life var m3_u = (location.protocol=='https:'? All of the people interviewed in this story said that interracial relationships, or relationships with someone from a different religion, even other Christians, were either banned or discouraged. Independent Fundamental Baptist or Bible-Believing Baptist) are a particularly cranky fundamentalist branch of unaffiliated Baptists. }else{ //]]>-->, With only two incumbents running for four seats, the Lansing City Council is facing , MONDAY, May 1 Hes bringing down the Ax (Emanuel Ax), bringing out the Blow . At age 12, Heilers mother moved to Gaylord, where she attended Grace Baptist Church and school. It is easy to miss Chatfields out-of-the-way church on Burt Lake, though visitors are still enthusiastically welcomed, including a City Pulse staffer. Yahoo! if (document.context) document.write ("&context=" + escape(document.context)); The Anatomy of the IFB Church Movement Great extimony! You can't control them any more than they can control you. Most Americans don't understand that there are flavors of Baptist Christianity, everything from liberal to hardcore Fundamentalist. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. When I had the realization that the god of the bible was a myth, I suddenly felt so free. I was raised in a more mainstream xian environment but I know a few people who live the Quiverfull way and it is not pretty. control.If you don't take action nothing will change. You dont want people looking at her in 10 years, when shes 15, and singing her heart out in the choir and saying, Oh, thats that poor girl who was abused, she said a pastor had told her. I hope your husband will follow the logical path out of christinsanity with you. (2015, September 10). Child physical abuse also known as godly discipline is common within independent fundamental Baptist homes. document.write ('&cb=' + m3_r); "I don't care what he says, I will never believe that a young, innocent baby deserves hell.". We decided to not spank our child as we didnt want her to fear us as we did our parents. The aim is to help people escaping from Quiverfull/Patriarchal xianity, wherever they are at on their journey. That should make me an independent fundamental Baptist, but it doesn't. Unfortunately, the. When she was born she was perfect. BTW why do so many extimonies of women have the theme of an abusive Christian husband or boyfriend? Its hard to find the time to sit and type a huge intro when you have a very busy toddler needing your attention. The books present spanking as a benevolent act of love by a parent. My family members are some of the most miserable people on the planet. In all the churches referenced in this report, women are prohibited from wearing pants. And to this day that's true. The school was run by Lester Roloff, an independent fundamental Baptist preacher who broke from the Southern Baptist Convention in 1954 and founded a series of reform facilities, known as Roloff Homes, for what he called, "parent-hating, Satan-worshiping, dope-taking immoral boys and girls," according to a 2000 investigative report in Texas The IFB rejects any governmental authority over the operation of the church ( 2 Corinthians 6:14 ). var width = jQuery(window).width(); Former IFB Missionary. Bible contradictions, all sorts of stuff. Josh Duggar: Founder of reformers unanimous accused of sex abuse cover-up protecting sex offender from prosecution: Report. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. She met her future brother-in-law when he was a teacher, coach and the schools athletic director. Actually the only churches considered not to be in error are other Independent Baptist Churches, and even some of them are suspect. Say nothing until you are ready. We were not allowed to date at all. I do not miss them nor do I feel sorry for them. That doesnt include my culottes, my flannel nightgown, or the rest of my fundamentalist little girl dress code though. Birding, Bird photography, art, reading, keeping my small zoo of salamanders, reptiles, and plants; and cultivating a good heart. If you dont really fit in, youll be kind of kicked outside; or, even, people have left the church and the school because they just didnt agree with their rules and guidelines.. And while it was certainly better then the IFB churches I had attended growing up, something about it still didnt set right with me. Welcome to Ex-C, we are so glad you're here. largest independent fundamental baptist churches. The one law enforcement officer Josh had talked to was alleged to have been a family friend and later would end up in prison for 56 years on child pornography charges. If so, who or what? Julie Roys on Twitter: "A former Baptist missionary has been found From the time I was young, I remember we always had to wear skirts, keep our hair long (well the girls at least), were constantly reminded to dress and act modestly so we didnt tempt men into sin, and were taught to keep silent in the church. According to the Pew . Bill, I wrote them a letter in November telling them in no uncertain terms would I let them run my life anymore and I was done being scared of what they thought or would do. Repeating that experience (with a potentially different outcome) is not high on my list of things to do. Its a place where everyone knows your name. My family still doesnt really talk to me. Megyn Kelly interviews Michelle & Jim Bob Duggar youtube. Again after more reading, connecting with a counselor that has been showing me a different path, and finally acknowledging that I was happier without god and Christianity in my life, a few weeks back I stopped going to church and the past week and a half have declared myself an atheist. "A Course of Love" with Lucille Olson- 7 p.m. Zoom ID: 177 417 886. Apparently that type of physical contact was ok) before finding my now husband. United States District Court Northern District of Illinois (n.d.). I was born into a Christian family. I remember a man of 40 chuckling and asking me as a 12-year-old victim waiting for the court date of my abuser, Did you hold your dress for him while he did it?. By I missed the birth of my niece and several other big family events during this time, which hurt a lot. This teaching tells members, especially women, that as long as they stay under their umbrella, stay in their submissive and rightful role, nothing no sin, no harm, not even sexual assault can hurt them. Your extimony was well written. I looked at her and thought "there is no way this little person is evil. Private Only members can see who's in the group and what they post. They thought by raising their children in the church they were doing the most honorable thing. 2023 Baptist News Global. Testimonies of Former Christians ; An Ex-Independent Fundamental Baptist Testimony An Ex-Independent Fundamental Baptist Testimony. He is pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Churchin Tempe, Arizona. Fathers pray about matches, then discuss it among themselves. I must assume that their church experiences had been mostly positive their entire lives, and so it made sense to them to share this "blessing" with their children. It was all addressed in a way to somehow place her at the center and the cause, Emily said in a phone interview. I don't know your parents and siblings, of course, but their willingness to ostracize you seems to be a wholly religious thing. History [ edit] console.log("Calling zone: " + zoneId); ), "cult". Scan this QR code to download the app now. Lee Chatfield, in a 2014 interview with the Petoskey News-Review, defended the practice. bill. When she brought allegations to church officials, as well as law enforcement, she was encouraged not to discuss it publicly, she said. As I suggested above, what they do about this is up to them exclusively. I suppose they would call it "tough love" or some such. Who are the Independent Baptists, and what do they believe? New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches (also known as the New IFB) or officially the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement are an association of conservative, King James Only, independent Baptist churches. It means that the church is Baptist in doctrine and polity, fundamental in its stance on separation, and independent of denominational structures such as American Baptist or Southern Baptist. Some might have a council of deacons who work at the direction of the pastor. For me it was being impure cussing and having a beer. We hope you will! zoneId = '12'; The problem is I am being drug down from this happiness whenever I discuss this issue with my wife or other family members. An anonymous tip to police a few years after his parents knew about the abuse was too late as the statute of limitations had expired for what would have been considered crimes. Gothards curriculum was used by the Duggar family of the television show 19 Kids and Counting. In 2003, the couples eldest son admitted to touching two of his sisters. It was a blue ping-pong paddle that they used to spank kids. David Gibbs Jr, like Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, has been a regular speaker at IBLPs conferences. I was raised catholic, but I have some relatives who are independent baptist because southern baptists are just too liberal. Read More. Independent Baptist - Wikipedia If caught, then these predatory men may only face calls for repentance within a doctrinal atmosphere that sees young, abused women as a seductive temptress rather than groomed, manipulated, and exploited targets., (Kyle Kaminski contributed to this report.). if (!document.MAX_used) document.MAX_used = ','; According to the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life, there are. (517) 371-5600 And the issues may or may not relate to religion. In fact having a child is what started me really opening my eyes. or And catholics, well, we were all going to hell anyhow. I kept hearing in church over and over again that being a Christian was joyful; not being a Christian was well, not. I didnt know anything about anatomy. A 2017 study from the University of Michigan which had included more than 8,300 people of all ages determined that being spanked was linked to adulthood mental health issues. Chatfields church is only one of hundreds of IFB churches scattered across the U.S. Nearly every person interviewed for this report, both on the record and off the record, referred to IFB as a cult. Theologically, this conception of the temptress is biblically based on the story of mans fall in the Garden of Eden. I believe this kind of idea is also what led to my acceptance of the reality of "biblegod's" non-existence. Dating in an IFB church is not like it is in the secular world. First of all, I admire your courage in speaking out. Non christians committed suicide because they were joyless, had depression because they were selfish, and drank too much to ward off the feeling that they were missing God in their lives. [CDATA[ women) who were raised in such an environment: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nolongerquivering/, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/. His IFB church, Ann Arbor Baptist, focused on the importance of the Umbrella, he said. I am so glad for you, Earthmama! Jim Bob Duggar formerly served in the Arkansas House of Representatives and announced recently that he is running for Arkansas State Senate in the 7th District.