I needed to respond to Cathy L. with the sincere hope that this message is an attempt at sarcasm or a complete unawareness of how spiritual abuse works. There are LOTS of nice people in the world. As I read your post, I could not help but chuckle, as it reminded me of local news reports. \r
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Reporter: “We talked with the suspect’s neighbor, Cathy L.”\r
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Cathy L.: “ Bob was a really nice guy, kept to himself, but seemed friendly. I would never have thought that he was capable of murdering his wife and keeping her body in the basement!”\r
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Reporter: “As you can see, a stunned community is reeling tonight. Back to you, Sandy”\r
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I am sure Nicole is humble and kind, and down to earth as Cathy described her. I am sure she spoke freely of the Lord. I am sure she spoke of her dependency on the Lord, and more than likely her dependency on the pastor. And I know you mean NO disrespect to the dozens of people on here who have posted about their broken families, ruined spiritual lives, and lost years to this place. Because Nicole is nice! \r
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Cathy - my parents are nice and they pretend that I am dead and have wiped the traces of my existence from their home. My “friends” from that place will literally turn and walk in the other direction when they see me. Guess what? I think they are nice people too! I know people who know them who also think they are nice! Being nice does not justify your pathetically inane argument that “while many of these issues may in fact be true, it is difficult for me to imagine how a church/leadership as horrible as it is made to seem here could produce someone like that. And if in fact it did, well then maybe ‘cults’ aren't such a bad thing.”\r
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In closing Cathy, I really hope you changed the name of Nicole in this story, as there are only two women named Nicole that attend Lakeview. If you aren’t, can you please clarify if this is the Nicole who, along with her husband has cut off all contact with his brother for not attending the church, as well as her brother, her own flesh and blood? Or do you mean the Nicole, who along with her entire family, cut off BOTH her sister and brother and their spouses and children? \r
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You very may well indeed, because they are both, as you eloquently put it… nice.
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