CBMW Cannot Be Criticized in Counter-Cult Apologetics Forums -- Late April 2008 Correspondence

 Noting the change in the discussion.  It was understood that anything I experienced did not happen.  I understood that I would be challenged for remembering things differently.  I really did not know how to respond.

Open Letter to XXXX in Response to Press Release, April 2008

 

Conclusion of Peer Review on March 13, 2008

The last communication I had before the organization urged me to delete the online video of the presentation a few days after it went live online.  My contact at the organization seems to be describing what I would call Ware's informal logical fallacy of Equivocation in the articulation of his doctrine.  But by all means, read up on Equivocation and decide for yourself what it means.  Ware divides authority from power in his Trinitarian view, and while he claims that the Father and the Son have equal power, the Father has what is denies is greater authority but has eminent authority.  As a result, Jesus can only carry prayer to the Father, and He cannot hear prayer Himself.  To me, that is a distinction that claims to have no difference, but what good is power without full authority to use it.

Read more about Equivocation here:

• Fallacy in Logic
• The Fallacy Files
• Thought Co
• Wikipedia

I was then denied any opportunity to present any additional information regarding this topic to defend my stance.  I was told that everyone was too busy investigating the Emergent Church to spend time on it.

Requests for Additional Peer Review on March 11, 2008

 In response to a critic who was a Board Member of the organization, I requested additional peer review as soon it was possible after the conference concluded.  That person required me to contact several persons to claim that I'd misrepresented them which was, in fact, a critical opinion of their teachings. This was not required of me.  

PPT Slides Sent and Reviewed Six Months Prior to Presentation (August 24, 2007)

I shared two phone conversations with my contact on Friday, August 24, 2007.  First was to arrange a phone conversation with Dr. Jerry Buckner to discuss whether it was proper to discuss the Quiverfull/Theonomy embracing of slavery and reliance upon Confederate Presbyterian texts as a guide to modern day conduct.  Thereafter, my contact reviewed every slide with me.  I made an offer to drop the names of the SBC professors and the seminaries while continuing to include the contact.  I would only keep them in the bibliography.

The first email indicates that we did speak.  Scroll down to the second email.  At the bottom, the powerpoint document can be viewed, and I posted that original draft written and reviewed -- slide by slide --  with my contact on August 24, 2008.

View the final version HERE and compare it against the draft which can be accessed HERE.  I've made both available on Slideshare.

Original Proposal for the Development and Practice of Patriarchy (August 10, 2007)

 Submitted to the Christian counter-cult apologetics organization on August 10, 2007

Screenshot of Wayne Grudem's "But What should women do in the church?" CBMW Article

The following article once appeared in HTML format on the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood website (CBMW.org).  I first came across this in 2007 and saved a pdf copy.   Long before The Wartburg Watch drew attention to it, CBMW took the HTML offline.

Since the organization suffers so many "web glitches" now concerning search engine linked HTML material, I thought that I would help readers find this one by loading screenshots of it.  I don't think that they can blame the problem with this Grudem article on Bob Allen who recently reported on another "non-loading" article by Mark David Walton that rightfully took heavy criticism.

For the reader's convenience, I left the first two pages full size, and following them, find Grudem's article in one image.  (I did not include page 2 of this issue of CBMW News because it featured another unrelated article by another author.)

Some of My Saga: My Attempt to Find Counsel After the Cult

A Good and Godly Man?
My Attempt to Find Counsel After the Cult.
Cindy Kunsman

23Aug13

I would very much like to revise this document.  I wrote the bulk of one section of it in 1999, largely expanded it in 2008, changed some of it when I posted it on line in 2009, etc.  The material is deeply emotional, and I find that this emotional material is harder for me to communicate -- and I also make more grammar and typing errors.  

What is Multigenerational Faithfulness? Code for Conformity

An Introduction and Review of Multigenerational Faithfulness

(Associated with patriarchy within Christian homeschooling)

  

(From a series of posts at Under Much Grace in 2008)

When I decided that to examine the loaded language term of “multigenerational faithfulness,” describing how Vision Forum and her affiliates refer to the term, I anticipated covering the concepts in just a few blog posts. Really... The ambiguous and nebulous term itself actually lacks substance in and of itself, so I did not anticipate that the term was indeed as loaded as it proved to be when I looked at exactly what they taught. I realized that the term was misleading, but I did not fully realize just how they used it to encapsulate so much of their core doctrine. Upon reviewing the downloadable sermons and written material available, I was quite surprised to realize just how much the term “multigenerational faithfulness” represents for Vision Forum and their affiliate teachers and supporters.

Even considering small sections of specific teachings became far more complicated that I anticipated, because of the subtlety of it all. That’s why the system works as well as it does. 

Unhealed Wounds from Childhood that Produce Drama and Religious Addiction in Adulthood

Originally appeared at UnderMuchGrace.com 
 posted  27Feb12;  Reposted 25Aug12.

Updated with restored graphics 04Mar19

Lewis at Commandments of Men has written a post that's inspired me to write a bit more about imbalance found within spiritually abusive evangelical Christianity.

Looking for Worth and Peace from External Sources: The External Locus of Control and "Victims of Circumstance"

Three blog posts from a series on dysfunctional relationships at UnderMuchGrace.com.

(Click on titles to link to the original posts.)

The material here was specifically developed to address the functional problems and emotional developmental needs of the young women who endured abject abuse and torture at Hephzibah House, a private boarding home for troubled girls run by an Independent Fundamentalist Church, so it appears here as a particular focus. (Learn more about Hephzibah House HERE.)

1.  Shame-based parenting

2.  Enmeshment

3.  How both types of parenting make an a adult who becomes a "Victim of Circumstance"

      1.  Shame-based Parenting Fills a Child's Heart with Shame Instead of Love: Disrespect for Children that Tilled the Soil for Abuse at Hephzibah House

If you recall, this latest discussion here concerning developmental problems and deficits in children came about after a supporter of Ron Williams, the proprietor of Hephzibah House (HH), published a blog post that challenges those HH Survivors who have come forward to tell of the abject abuse and terrible conditions they suffered while incarcerated there. There are many other Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) homes of this type where children suffer these same conditions right now, every day. Kathryn Joyce wrote an excellent, must-read article describing several of these homes where young men and women live in and under unthinkable conditions as punishment under the guise of rehabilitation through religion.

Understanding How Emotional Development in Childhood Affects Adults: Fostering Spiritual Abuse via the "Roots of Victimization"

Series Originally Appearing at UnderMuchGrace.com in January 2012

(Click on Subtitles to link to original posts.)

Though every person becomes vulnerable to spiritual abuse and mind control if the conditions favor it, many who fall into spiritually abusive systems struggle with problems left over from the wounds of childhood, and thus, they may find the material in this post also relevant and helpful. This synopsis addresses the implications for adults resulting from deficits in emotional development during childhood which often give spiritual abusers more leverage which they use against their followers. To fully address this aspect of this element of spiritual abuse experienced by some, one must understand the the nature of the dynamics and how they developed. Also called “family dysfunction,” this pattern of unhealthy behavior and relating to family members has been effectively institutionalized as God's ideal for families by the aberrant patriarchy movement within homeschooling (the primary focus of the blog, Overcoming Botkin Syndrome).

The material here was specifically developed to address the functional problems and emotional developmental needs of the young women who endured abject abuse and torture at Hephzibah House, a private boarding home for troubled girls run by an Independent Fundamentalist Church, so it appears here as a particular focus. (Learn more about Hephzibah House HERE.) 

Why Good People Make Dangerous Choices (Pondering Michael Pearl and Lydia Schatz)

Entire Blog Series that originally appeared on UnderMuchGrace.com.  

Click on subtitles to link to the original, single posts.

The Mission of Under Much Grace

Welcome to Under Much Grace!

Revised and updated, August 2010

INDEX to Links, Book List and Resources: Summarizing Lists of Lists

Where to Begin? It depends on what you’re looking for!

TAKE NOTE:

• Please also SCROLL DOWN to note the Tag List and Index in the Footer of the Webpage.

• Navigation through this material may be easier by exploring UnderMuchGrace.com first.

LINKS:

If you haven’t already seen the list of general links to other sites concerning spiritual abuse topics, try HERE.

If you are looking for information on a VERY SPECIFIC spiritually abusive group, I recommend the very extensive list on the Spiritwatch Ministries site.

Please also scroll down or link to the two separate lists here with a little more of a specific description about the links pertaining to both: (1) Spiritual Abuse (2) Patriarchy

How Do You Study The Bible After Someone Has Bludgeoned You With It?

Cognitive Dissonance and Bible Study Difficulties
After Spiritual Abuse

Posts originally appearing on Under Much Grace Blog in January 2010

Part I

I’ve been reluctant to share my personal experience, as I have concern that many readers will interpret what I did as a standard of sorts. For the Christian, the path to wholeness comes through knowing Jesus, and the primary way we know Him comes through reading His Word. Jesus is the Living Word. I want the reader to read, hear, and know well that I would have done anything to be able to read and study like I had before the crushing blow of realization of spiritual abuse knocked me flat. I had to develop an entirely new relationship with the Word and Bible Study (based upon purer motives), and this did not come easily or quickly for me.

My Response to the Danvers Statement Affirmations

A  few weeks ago, I posted Shirley Taylor’s response to the Danvers  Statement.  My responses are a bit different, and I find the Danvers  Statement of CBMW so frustrating and misleading, I’ve never written out my own  response.  Many people find my approach to this topic confusing, because  my focus differs from most people engaged in the ever ongoing debate. 

My Response to the Danvers Statement Rationales

Link here to a My Response to the Affirmations.



I also draw from Dr. Robert K McGreggor Wright’s response as noted in the Journal of Biblical Equality.

Responding to CBMW’s Danvers Statement Rationales:

• CBMW’s statements are noted in DARK BLUE.
• Dr. Wright’s commentary or references to his work are noted in PURPLE.

What the Danvers Statement Really Says (per Shirley Taylor of bWe Baptists for Women's Equality

I love how Shirley Taylor comes right out and speaks the truth about these lofty, vague, and ambiguous statements made by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood!  I had not heard of her or her organization before about a month ago when I agreed to speak at the Seneca Falls 2 Evangelical Women’s Rights Convention.  I'm blessed and honored to know her now.  I wish I had read this two years ago!

Will You Die for a Cause, or Will You Live for It? Ectopic Pregnancy and Ideas about Honoring Life

A Response to the Invited Speaker List for Vision Forum’s 2010 Baby Conference

Note:  In the summer of 2008, Vision Form started a campaign to advance their idea that pre-emptive surgery for a woman with a tubal pregnancy constitutes murder of the unborn as an elective abortion.  Individuals who were outspoken or quoted in that discussion have been included as invited speakers at VF’s July Baby Conference (which will also host the famed Duggars of the TLC/Discovery Channel).  I believe that VF will use this vehicle to further advance what I find to be their very dangerous and distorted position concerning tubal pregnancy.