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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEscape from Duggarville: How playing the good Christian housewife almost killed me
http://www.rawstory.com/2014/09/escape-duggarville-good-christian-wife/Vyckie Garrison was once a minor celebrity in the Quiverfull Movement, made famous by TVs Duggar family. As a devout, Bible-believing Christian and the mother of seven homeschooled children, Garrison spent 16 years, with her husband, publishing a newspaper for families on a similar path. Today, via a website called No Longer Quivering, she publishes resources for women leaving the movement. Recently she addressed American Atheists about her experience. This article is an abridged version of her remarks.
(THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED AT ALTERNET.)
Whenever I talk about my escape from the Quiverfull movement, Christians immediately dismiss my experience by saying, Your problem was not with Jesus or Christianity. Your problem was that you were following an extreme, legalistic cult. Let me tell you about my personal relationship with Jesus. It can be extremely frustrating. I was in a close, personal relationship with Jesus for over 25 years. But rather than telling you about the beginning of my relationship with this man, I am going to spare you the long story and skip straight to the break up.
The end of my life as a Bride of Christ came after a visit to Bright Horizons, which is the local domestic violence shelter in my hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska. I went there for help in filing a restraining order against my husband, whose emotional and mental abuse against me and my children had escalated to the point that I was in the midst of a complete mental and physical breakdown. He had taken 6 of our 7 children to a town three hours from our home and was preventing me from having any contact with them unless I agreed to his terms for our reconciliation.
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Later the article goes on to give The Biblical Model Godly Homes.
okaawhatever
(9,453 posts)AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Good for her for speaking out. This is abuse in my opinion.
diabeticman
(3,121 posts)BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)But at least she came to that conclusion and got out. My other takeaway was confirming my suspicion that there are a lot more people in this "movement" (i.e. cult) than we think. They have a whole publishing network making materials for homeschooling and home church. It's actually quite frightening. I worked for someone once and he seemed to be able to function in the real world but then one day he came out with this long and rather well thought-out argument about how the world was only 6000 years old and his kids were all homeschooled by his submissive wife. This is in metro Los Angeles. We were all speechless. I met his children and they were very socially stunted. We all ended up quitting because of his craziness.
DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)I hope others will look at her story and learn from it.
The Power and Control Wheel is an excellent tool for insight into what is really going on.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)I used to work with one of these people. I hear he is recently divorced- his wife must have gotten tired of being pregnant and controlled all the time.
madfloridian
(88,117 posts)Without the U.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nolongerquivering/vyckie-garrison-2/
So much info there.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Surprised so many get brainwashed
pansypoo53219
(20,906 posts)my aunt used to tell me all about those duck beard twits.
MaggieD
(7,393 posts)1monster
(11,012 posts)Christians can rely so heavily on the Old Testament. The Old Testament is a small part of the Hebrew (and by extension, the Jewish) history and religion. Other than the fact that the originators of Christianity were Hebrews, the two religions are not complementary and are often diametrically opposed... So many of the Quiverful rules and demands quoted in this article are OT and have nothing to do with Christianity.
Initech
(99,915 posts)Cultception?
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts).
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)I cannot and will not respect institutions which create and cultivate this mentality.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)When the very definition of perfect love is sacrificing your children and martyring yourself, there is no place for emotionally healthy concepts like boundaries, consent, equality, and mutuality. I could not say that my husbands patriarchal behavior was abusive so long as I was committed to a relationship with The Big Guy who exemplifies the abusive bully, and who commands his followers to imitate His very warped and twisted idea of love.
F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)Oof. Had a talk with someone about that the other day. They're glad they left the church. That's about all I'm going to say on that.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)has been dead for nearly 2000 years? The stunning illogic of that statement has always driven me a little batty. In my hyper=logical Aspie mind that's like saying you have a "personal relationship" with Julius Caesar or King Tut. Does not compute in any way.
Solly Mack
(90,740 posts)progressoid
(49,827 posts)Scary.