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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This entire post shows the intricacies of religion and culture. It's never one thing. There really isn't one belief. It's all guided by culture and personality. When people say "Jesus Freak", I think most people understand what that means. I've known deeply religious people who weren't consumed in thought and deed by the aspect of being Christian.  Yet, there was a fundamental ( please pardon the pun) cult of personality fueled by groups when I was in high school and college that took relatively average kids and turned them into well, Jesus Freaks. For many of them, this lasted throughout their lives because they married young within this group as their whole existence revolved around witnessing. Call it devout, but it looked like a cult to me...and yes, they were quite predatory. If my daughter started this behavior outside the culture of religion that she was generally exposed to, it would mean that she's been pressured into it by a group. It's simply not the same thing as converting to another religion as an adult.

Please do not compare reading the Bible to taking drugs in an attempt to find something virtuous about one over the other. That's unfair. Of course I wouldn't want my kids taking drugs, but falling head first into a religious group is just as dangerous. Don't think it ends with being a teenager. Friends have explained that this level of predation occurs in the workplace, the military  (especially), and in adult cliques. I've seen it at work, too, and I'm no spring chicken, but it is really uncomfortable. I can remember one young teacher new to teaching desperately feeling her way around the faculty using the lingo until she could find someone of like thought..it was quite sad, although the odds are she was probably successful at some point...the point being,however, that she was entirely brainwashed. Not one aspect of the work day could be discussed without her religious input. There was always a Bible quote or a statement about praying. In the real world, however, the context of adult workplace issues often find themselves outside of this context.

As we continue to discuss the term "radicalism" in reference  to current affairs, please understand that when we read about American and European teens suddenly dropping everything and committing to a terrorist group, it's no different when your teen suddenly changes tack and is reading the Bible nonstop and associating with different people. It has nothing to do with the religion, actually, and everything to do with peer pressure,culture, and insecurity...it can be religion or drugs.

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You are very insulting to many and not nearly as enlightened as you think you are.[/quote]

I do not suggest that I am enlightened  in any way. However, I have been on the sidelines of this sort of behavior for more than a few decades. Any group can become predatory. I think I hit a little nerve with you...perhaps you call it "witnessing" - but it's predatory. Kids are the most vulnerable for this type of behavior, and just because you are not involved with anything illegal it does not mean that you are innocent of exploiting a teen's natural insecurities with all the tactics predatory groups use. It's called love bombing. ..just what kids want and need at the time they need it.Are you a youth minister with some mega church? I'll bet you are. [/quote]

No.  I am a Catholic. We don't prothletize but I still think your post is rude and insulting to many wonderful people of faith.[/quote]

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