Just like the saying goes, I cannot control the circumstances affecting my life, but I can control my acceptance or reaction to the circumstances.
My daughter married her husband in his Episcopal Church. She had 4 children, one from a previous marriage. They started out as a traditional Christian family, baptised their first child in their Episcopal Church.
Then he decided for distance, to move from here to there, a one day’s journey for everyone.
With their second child and third child, were not baptised as a baby, but waited for youth to pass and baptised as teens with a minister of the barnyard, back yard church.
Their first child was put through a Purity Ball as a young lady. A Purity Ball was conceived by Randy Wilison, a Right Wing Evangelical, whereby the young lady pledges to her father her virginity until marriage. Creepy!
My daughter’s husband is a cult follower, appointing himself as the Priest of the family, choosing Bible passages demeaning women to subservient status. I received a letter from my daughter stating that she wanted nothing more to do with us because “we were bad grandparents” - a letter with her signature but not the author.
I’ve told her over the many years that when she bragged about her church, quoting scripture, I replied that her church was not a church but a cult. I did not agree with her interpretation of scripture.
My wife and I are Traditional Christians, so we are outside the cultists.
The experience is like a bad movie, or a TV channel that you remove from your favorites list. I have nothing to share with my daughter.
It’s a lost argument and difficult to accept home schooling, teaching that the earth is only 6,000 years old and dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark, the movie “Princess Bride” is too violent for my teenage granddaughter to watch, the TV News is too violent to watch when they visit, ordering us to another room to watch.
The cult culture infects all levels of living, I don’t need to telephone my distant daughter asking “how are you doing” because I already know. I paid my child support, picked them up when they fell down, gave them love…
I hold esteemed belts in Aikido & Karate, Aikido worked w/one incident - used attackers running force against him, ducked & used his momentum to flip him way into the air (looked like a deer in the headlights) his landing on his back, and the fight was over - stood my ground!
Roger’s neighbor allowed his dogs leash free chasing joggers down the road in front of his cottage, laughing. When I came out looking from Roger’s property, his little dog came barking at my legs, I took off my belt and swiped at the dog, whimpering the dog went home. The asshole owner shouted at me “you mother effer” charged at me, he ended up the looser.
I called the county Sheriff and filled the complaint with the Sheriff’s recommendation that I press charges. Bethany & Roger took sides, guess who?