And an appreciation for the little joys of life
At age 16, I became enamored with the loving group of hippies that was The Children of God. They welcomed me into their community and made me feel a part of something bigger than myself. I believed I had found my life’s vocation of serving God.
As the years passed…
I hurt those I love and wasted years. What next?
In my youth, I naïvely joined what looked to be an innocent Christian group, the Children of God. It soon devolved into one of the more notorious cults to come out of the 1970s. It took 31 long years for me to break free.
Leaving the Children of God came…
Is it even possible to have a respectful discussion on political topics with those on the other side?
What is causing the division in our society, the polarization of left and right, of Democrats and Republicans?
Evolution and Brain Chemicals
We humans evolved to be part of a group, starting with family, our loyalties grew to encompass our tribe. Groups can be defined by nationality, race, religious beliefs, political affiliations, sport teams…
How bad is the world, really?
US nears 300,000 deaths from Covid-19 after record day
Amid rising violent crime, city divided over additional outside police help
Teen booked with murder in double homicide
“Our country is divided,” US Representative worries over future
Toddler’s blunt force trauma death ruled a homicide
With news like that, it’s no…
Cadaver selling, medical studies, and drug trials
From the body snatchers of the early 19th century and the innovative William Burke, to the illicit cadaver trade of today’s “body brokers,” the corpses of the poor continue to be the mainstay used in autopsies for medical training. This has caused problems.
Resurrectionists
William Burke, and his partner in crime…
As the Nobel winning economist, Daniel Kahneman wrote, "A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth."
That was certainly true in my life!
The first step is kindness
Speaking of her experience during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s in China, author Jung Chang writes in her bestselling book, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, “I was not forced to join the Red Guards [Mao’s teenage revolutionaries]. …
There was a lot of humiliation involved
In the Children of God, having a regular job was considered a waste of time. True believers needed to dedicate all of their time to doing “the Lord’s work,” not working for money. The Bible says, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) “Mammon” means wealth or money. …
And why I used to accept them
In my 31 years in the now-notorious cult known as the Children of God, I believed all manner of nonsense. The cult’s beliefs were presented in the supremely important, regular missives of its founder, David Berg, aka Moses David. These were called Mo Letters, and they were, indeed, very strange.
…
Mary Mahoney
Endlessly curious, a voracious reader and student of psychology, neurology, and behavior, Mary Mahoney is the author of Abnormal Normal https://amzn.to/3ciFmHO.
