Thursday, April 17, 2008

In the news

*Edit: After this previous rant, I felt led to pray for the women and children in this situation. I pray that God will show them His truth, His REAL truth, that they will see that salvation comes not from a "prophet" or a lifestyle, but from Jesus Christ alone. I pray that they will see that they can live a life of freedom in Christ, that these chains of oppression will be broken by Him and they can truly experience a fruitful, joyous life through our Savior.

Have any of you been keeping up with the FDLS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) compound raid in Texas? They have taken 416 children and some of their mothers to a shelter while they work on possible prosecutions for men marrying young girls and practicing polygamy.

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I have many feelings about this situation. On the one hand, I'm sad and sympathetic for the children that have been separated from their mothers and the only homes they've ever known. On the other hand, I'm angry that people have even been allowed to live in these large, polygamy-oriented compounds in the first place if it's already against the law. Only now the government steps in and NOW they have to deal with the possible placement of 416 children into foster care--a foster care system that is already struggling at best.
The most angering aspect of this to me....the complete absence of the men in the situation. Any interviews or footage I've seen has only involved the completely brainwashed, "sweet-talking" women of the compound. The husbands and fathers are conspicuously missing, not present to defend their families or supposedly "righteous" lifestyle.
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Why? Because these disgusting men know in their hearts that the lifestyle that they are living is wrong! They're scared of prosecution for their behavior and they know that it is morally wrong as well. They know it's wrong to marry 14 year old girls and to take on many wives, raising up their daughters just to give them away to some older man, expecting them to produce as many babies as they can.
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You know how they make enough money to keep these huge families going? They force their young children to work on their farms, and in this particular compound, a dairy farm and concrete factory. The "wives" also apply as UNWED mothers for government aid. Essentially, we're paying for their lifestyle.
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They also have a habit of expelling adolescent boys from the group, on the premise of their "bad behavior", yet hardly any girls are kicked out, ensuring there's plenty of girls to go around for the men to have at least 3 wives. They have brainwashed the women and children that the rest of the world (the "outsiders") are evil and sinful and that their sinful behavior is righteous and the key to salvation. See this link: http://www.slate.com/id/2189181/
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I normally don't like to sound judgmental about people's lifestyles, but when s*xual sins are "justified" by crazy fundamentalist religious teachings, that's just too much for me. And how these men have kept getting away with this for so long is beyond me.
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We "outsiders" just have to just sin away or live like hypocrites, but that's a whole other rant :)
I'll save you from that one.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good thoughts and prayers...it is very sad.

The frustrating thing is...with the breakdown of the family and the definition of it in other discussions...if the Bible is not our premise for behavior, what keeps us from justifying behavior like this either?

Mysti said...

The sad thing is too, that Texas didn't do anything about this until a 16 year old girl called to say she had been abused by her 50 year old husband.

Well, then they HAD to do something then. Until that, they just turned a blind eye.

Anonymous said...

I pray in agreement with you for the freedom of these individuals through His blood for he whom the Son has set free, is free indeed, hallelujah! It is so sad how when the enemy can't get to us through unrighteous things he uses righteous things to separate us from God. Again, praying with you for their spiritual freedom. Be blessed!