In watching the "48 HOURS" report on the suicides in California
of The Heaven's Gate people, they also had a segment on about a
religious community in New York, the Bruderhof. I believe it was
very inappropriate to run these two segments together. Societies
like The Bruderhof have existed for centuries and are a fundamental
part of the Christian community, and should not be associated with
cults such as Heaven's Gate or Branch
Davidians.
During the segment they had a young lady on who had fled The Bruderhof
because she had been disciplined for breaking its rules by kissing
boys.
When one is a member of a religious group, one must keep that group's
rules,
or leave.
I do not question this young women's right to LEAVE the group if she
does not like its rules. But I do condemn her for attacking that
group
because they would not permit her to behave in the manner that SHE
wished
to behave.
A religious group has the right not to associate with those who attack
the principles of their belief. Sometimes this is
difficult.
Sometimes it hurts those who chose to leave their way of life and enter
the secular community.
Unless the religious group is engaged in purely criminal activity they
have the right to follow their beliefs and associate or, not associate
with
who they please.
This young lady criticized her parents because they would not give her
unconditional love. In other words, they would not let her do
whatever
she wanted to do, and disregard the rules of their society.
There is no such thing as unconditional love. ALL love is
conditional. Even the Great Teacher Jesus put conditions on
love. Though He taught to love your enemies, and to do good unto
all men, he also taught that one must stop sinning and become right
with The Divine before they could enter into Eternal Life.
We ALL have rules and regulations we must keep. Every source of
religious teaching sets down guidelines by which their followers should
live. "Thou shalt not steal." "Thou shalt not lie." "Thou
shalt honor thy father and thy mother," are but examples of such
guidelines.
I believe the "48 HOURS" program slanted its presentation of The
Bruderhof to fit the 'do anything you want to' philosophy of much of
today's society, and this was wrong. Their report was very
unbalanced, very unfair, and showed very poor journalistic character,
which surprised me. Because this is not the common practice of
this program, or, its network.
We must be fair to those with ideas that are not in the
mainstream. Not all of them are kooks, not all of them have
ulterior motives, some of them just believe in rules that the weaker
members of society have chosen to abandon. And we must be fair to those
who stick to their principles, who
stand by what they believe. It is not fair, it is not just, it
simply
is not right to do otherwise.
"And you do not have his word remaining in you, because the very one whom he dispatched you did not believe."
-The Bible, John 5:38
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