May 28, 2008

So David was ‘evicted’ from the Big Brother house because he was “boring”. What some people do not understand is that it can take years to recover from the damage caused from the trauma of being locked away from society. A typical ex-member of the Exclusive Brethren has been surrounded by rules and restrictions since birth. The ability to hold a ‘normal’ conversation with someone not part of the cult is a skill that has to be learned.

Certainly David Tchappat has had 13 or more years to learn how to socially interact, but his chosen routes of employment are telling – a policeman and currently a fireman. Both roles allow physical communication and an associated authority. Try and pick two other jobs (necessarily attainable without a university education) that depend more on rules and regulations as much as these … ex-Exclusive Brethren are expert at maintaining existence around rules. For the first few years, an ex-member without some form of structure is the psychological equivalent of a body without a skeleton.

It is common to hear of someone recently released from the cult as being described as ‘unstable’ or ‘fragile’. This is because we are ‘fish out of water’ – it is a form of social acrophobia to suddenly find ourselves in an environment where the conversation or interaction could literally be on any topic under the sun! With no TV, restricted media of all all types and a controlled schedule that surrounds mandatory Exclusive Brethren events, an ex-member is a social dwarf until enough life has been lived to play ‘catch-up’.

Big Brother evictee David Tchappat wants to release a book about his experiences growing up in the Exclusive Brethren sect.

The 33-year-old fire-fighter has already penned the story of his experiences growing up in the reclusive group who shun TV, radio and the outside world and is now looking for a publisher.

“I want to call it ‘Losing my religion’… there’s a bit of interest in it… A Current Affair want me this week some time… so hopefully something can come of it,” Tchappat told LIVENEWS.com.au

Tchappat escaped the isolated community of his upbringing at 19 where he had to start his life from scratch.

Before entering the ‘real world’ 13 years ago he’d never seen a movie, kissed a girl, listened to radio or seen a movie.

The American sect, that has 15,000 members in Australia, has cast out the good looking housemate out, forbidding him to break bread with his own family.

While the Christian group’s members don’t vote in elections because it interferes with God’s right to ordain who rules the earth but they do controversially fund the Liberal Party.

Source: Live News – Big Brother’s David to write ‘cult’ book

We certainly hope David is successful in producing his book. He at least he has a story to tell and the more people that tell their story and experiences, the more glimpses we can see of life within such a mysterious and reclusive environment. The faster society will start to realize that from the cradle to the grave, some people are being denied the right to Live the lives they could.

In a world where material possessions often denote rank and position, the Exclusive Brethren as a tiny sub-culture perhaps seem to have everything they need. They have nice homes, modern vehicles, their businesses are well-funded and successful. With no vacations to plan or pay for, no electronic entertainment centers to escape within, an average Exclusive Brethren family is normally politely remote – as you would expect from a culture that only lives among us because they must.

From the moment that JN Darby made the momentous decision to exclude rather than include in the mid-1800′s, the increasingly Exclusive Brethren have been moving toward the place they now find themselves – a cult frightened by the self-inflicted removal from an unknown world outside, an inability to communicate coherently and easily, a warped world-view and … increasingly damaged children.

In 1970, just following the Aberdeen Incident and the resulting major division among the Exclusive Brethren, it has been estimated that their world-wide numbers were approximately 18,000. Today, almost 40 years later, there are an estimated 45,000. As they do not actively recruit people to join them, this growth has come naturally from within through carefully arranged marriages. The EB hierarchy move their ‘young people’ around geographically but eventually natural genetics will begin to display the unmistakable signs of a limited genetic pool.

The Exclusive Brethren doctrine of Separation can be assessed by the most fundamental of Christian litmus tests – by its fruits. Has it caused Good? Is it Healthy? Is it Attractive? Is it Kind? Does it help fulfill the Great Commission? Is it of benefit to the human family? Some would call it systematized abuse.

It is arithmetically probable that the genetic damage caused by the Exclusive Brethren insistence of being separate from society will soon become obvious. Meanwhile it is our task to highlight the symptoms and warn.

A good first step would be to remove public funding from their growing school system.