## Metadata * Author: [[Ryan George]] * ASIN: B0CW2WQ3P7 * Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CW2WQ3P7 ## Highlights kindness that leads us to repentance. — location: [165](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=165) ^ref-60388 --- My mom called me a “monster” after a family gathering and reportedly has said several times that I retroactively deserve the abuse I endured as a teenager for telling my story thirty years later. — location: [216](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=216) ^ref-53364 --- I had wanted to stipulate that my dad had to confess his sins to his brothers, but one of my sisters and her husband asked me not to go that far. — location: [288](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=288) ^ref-33520 --- My youngest sister waited until we arrived home to tell us that a 112-minute podcast interview by one of my dad’s victims had dropped. — location: [299](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=299) ^ref-63375 --- My dad didn’t want to take a chance that any licensed counselor in Maryland would report his crimes. And he wanted an IFB voice to coerce my mom into staying with him and giving him sex. — location: [312](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=312) ^ref-27662 --- They married sixty-five days after my mom turned eighteen. He’d been preying on minors since before I was born. — location: [320](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=320) ^ref-39276 --- my dad suggested that all alien encounters were interactions with demons who could travel at the speed of light. — location: [484](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=484) ^ref-64185 --- Shiny Happy People documentary — location: [491](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=491) ^ref-50408 --- As more of us Westerners are connected online and comparing our experiences, we’re realizing some of our formative ecosystems were not normal within the culture at large. — location: [496](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=496) ^ref-40824 --- But that’s not what I mean by cult in this book. While those dynamics can be true of many faith systems, that label in the following pages refers to a religious sect that (1) worships in an unorthodox way, (2) holds an extreme stance on a tertiary belief, or (3) has an elevated susceptibility to authoritarianism. Your dictionary or Google search will have a different definition, but those realities have been both my observation and lived experience. — location: [505](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=505) ^ref-24712 --- My dad got the Sword of the Lord newspaper with the cult’s latest talking points—the — location: [524](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=524) ^ref-34741 --- We trained under Bill Gothard’s curriculum, which among other cultish tenets included indoctrination for victims of sexual assault by church leaders. (Gothard’s materials told victims to accept their abuse as a gift from God to show off his grace and mercy for the Lord’s anointed and to prove their own dedication to the Gospel.) — location: [526](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=526) ^ref-39678 --- Jesus actually said. To preserve a 1950s version of American asceticism, churches and schools were drowned in a metaphoric formaldehyde. — location: [679](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=679) ^ref-65270 --- In cultures of humility, people are applauded for admitting ignorance and asking questions. The most complex thinker earns the most respect.” — location: [787](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=787) ^ref-53407 --- The line between what Scripture actually says and what the “man of God” declares gets intentionally blurred. You can imagine the kind of men attracted to that kind of systemic confusion. — location: [882](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=882) ^ref-61760 --- For ambitious, narcissistic, and self-righteous men, the “man of God” mantle comes with the perks of a fiefdom. — location: [910](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=910) ^ref-20631 --- I remember when my dad told me that he couldn’t confess his sins to anyone in his church, or else he’d lose his spiritual authority. That was a huge red flag to me, — location: [923](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=923) ^ref-29998 --- someone committed not to confessing but instead to maintaining an air of superiority can’t be healthy. — location: [926](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=926) ^ref-9727 --- Why would Sovereignty dole out talents and proficiencies that would anchor someone at the bottom of the ladder? — location: [1098](kindle://book?action=open&asin=B0CW2WQ3P7&location=1098) ^ref-5329 ---