De-Conversion Story, Part 3: The Ifb Church

[SkepticalDaniel]

This shall be Part 3 of my de-conversion from Christianity. Unfortunately, for the sake of time, I'm going to have to make this one a bit shorter than the other two.

There is a sect of Christianity that I think is by far the most toxic of them all, and that is the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church. As mentioned before in Part 1 and 2 of my de-conversion, I was exposed to this group via the internet, and spoke briefly about what they believed, but in this section, I will try to elaborate a little bit more on what they actually believe. For those who are unfamiliar with the IFB church, here's some of their beliefs in a nutshell:

 

 

The King James Version is the only true Word of God; all other translations of the Bible are the work of the devil. Meant to be taken literally, the KJV is inspired, inerrant, infallible, and the supreme and final authority in all things. It is therefore literally true that, for instance, God created the world in six 24-hour days; Satan is real, the enemy of God, and the instigator of all false religions; the theory of evolution is unscriptural and therefore without merit; and hell is a real place where all who die without having accepted Christ as their Savior suffer consciously being roasted alive for eternity.

   → Each IFB church is wholly autonomous and free from any outside governance. Its pastor is divinely appointed and accountable to no earthly authority. He speaks for God, and God alone may judge him. To question the sovereignty of the pastor is to disturb God’s order and invite upon oneself separation from the church, and therefore from the very source of salvation and hope.

   → Men alone are suited to be the head of home and church.

   → For a woman to be pleasing to God she must always and in all things remain perfectly submissive, first to her father and then to her husband. The primary function of a woman is to have children, who then become her “mission field.”

   → It is sinful for a woman to dress in any way that might cause a man to “spiritually stumble” by having a lustful thought.

   → Human life begins at conception. Every abortion, without exception, is murder.

   → Homosexuals are evil perverts who despise God and should be kept away from society generally and children especially. There is no appreciable moral distinction between homosexuality and bestiality, incest, child molestation or rape.

   → Black people bear the “mark of Cain,” and so are cursed.

   → Christians are called to remain steadfastly separate from the world and its sinful practices and temptations, such as movies, dancing, and any music with an addictive rock beat.

   → Educating children at home or in IFB K-12 schools is necessary in order to protect them from the knowledge and ways of a fallen and corrupt world.

   IFBs also generally believe that the will of a child must be broken before it ever has a chance to develop: a fussing or crying baby is exerting its selfish will. That will needs to be eliminated, since wherever human will is God’s will cannot be.

   By way of justifying infant “training” and the continued “submission of the will” of children, IFB parents point to these lines in The Book of Proverbs:

      Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. (Pr 23:14)
      The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. (Pr 29:15)
      Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. (Pr 22:15)
      He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes [early on; speedily]. (Pr 13:24)
      Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. (Pr 19:18)
      The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil. (Pr 20:30)

SOURCE: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnshore/2013/11/the-foul-toxicity-of-the-8-million-strong-independent-fundamental-baptists-headed-by-bob-jones-university/

 

My first exposure to the IFB was from the website www.jesus-is-savior.com, run by David J. Stewart (I will try not to go too much into detail about the site anymore than I have to, as I've already spent copious amounts of time speaking about it in part 1 and 2). It was these tenants that caused me to really question what I believed in. But what really ignited doubt was a book from the late Jack Hyles called "How To Rear Children":

 

 

1. Let the child realize that you are simply representing God in the execution of the punishment. Explain to him that parents represent God before their children and that they are ministers to execute His judgment. Psalm 103:13 says, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." So God is like a father and He chooses fathers and mothers to represent Him in the punishing of little children. Let the child realize that if you as a parent do not punish him properly, you are being disobedient to God and committing the same sin the child is committing. Explain to him that you are a child of God and if you refuse to obey God in the execution of His judgment upon your children, God will pour out His wrath upon you. For you to be a good child of God requires that you be a good parent to the child. Let him understand this. He will get the idea that God is a holy and just God, One Who loves and yet One Who wants us to become out best. For this to be so He must punish us when we are deserving.

2. Sometimes spanking should leave stripes on the child. Proverbs 20:30 says, "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil; so do stripes the inward parts of the belly." Our natural man rebels a such punishment, but we are reminded in I Corinthians 2:14 that the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit. Hence, we have to trust the God Who knows more than we and obey Him.

 

I remembered crying when reading this, realizing that my very own Bible, the book that I'd loved and admired all my life, was advocating child abuse. Not spanking, mind you, but outright child abuse. Unfortunately, as I will discuss in later parts of the story, this is not the worst of it. Oh no, the worst was yet to come.

[hockeyfan70]

I'll see your Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Church and raise you an international Church Of Christ. That cult is fucked up.

[Guest]

A lot of damage has been done. Thanks for sharing.

[SkepticalDaniel]

A lot of damage has been done. Thanks for sharing.

Welcome. I'm going to expand more on the IFB church in the next part.

[James23]

That stuff is creepy! This is why I think we have to actively combat religion.

[SkepticalDaniel]

That stuff is creepy! This is why I think we have to actively combat religion.

 

Oh, it's awful! There's still times where I struggle with it.

[Abrooks2007]

Reading your posts reminds me of the Youtube video I watched on cults just last night.

 

That "IFB" sounds very close to the "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" that was headed by the child-raping perv, Warren Jeffs.  And the doctrine is simple: Eliminate all ability for self actualization and then brainwash the victim to adhere to the organization's will.