| When I was in
Worldwide
Church of God,
everyone around me was having babies, and I wasn't. Busybodies
were always
making remarks about "when are you going to start a family?"
etc. The comments got real old after awhile. I didn't find out until
after several years of being married and having a miscarriage that I had
endometriosis and it was a wonder that I got pregnant at all. I had been
anointed for female problems many times over the years but I realize
that I was never healed. I did have laser surgery and was on medication
for 6 months and that fixed me up, because after that I was able to get
pregnant
Peer pressure in the church can
be very intimidating. The baby got to be a couple days past
the due date, and the doctor was talking about inducing labor. But from
all my natural childbirth readings, I felt that the doctor
was "interfering too soon." We didn't really know all about
inducement and since my husband was facing a possible layoff around the
due date, he was concerned about finances, so we decided to
wait it out. People at church told me "the baby knows when it's
ready to be born." One night about two long weeks later, I finally went
into labor, and when we got to the hospital they couldn't find a
heartbeat! I think I went into shock then. I remember taking pain
medication, because I felt it didn't matter anymore what I did. The baby was stillborn--a perfect little baby
girl.
We went on to have three more kids,
all healthy, thank God. I still feel guilty for allowing
others' opinions to sway my thinking as to what to do. My medical life and
history is my business and not the ministers, or the other church
members. For our other 3 babies, though, we had induced labors right at,
or just before, the due date. On the last baby it was good we ended up
going a week early. The cord was wrapped around his neck. Thank God for
medical science.
What about the abuse that is
passed on in the church? Because of the cult-like atmosphere and abuses
in the highest places, it's only natural that it got passed down to the
members. Like when the
women (and men, too) with kids, would say remarks or make jokes about
our childless state.
Another incident happened in
Living Church of
God (LCG), but I feel it would
have happened to me no matter which cult we were in. Not only is
natural childbirth considered "the only way" in these cults, but so is
"exclusive" breastfeeding. Unfortunately, due to female
problems (which were never healed), I was unable to totally breastfeed. I
was very depressed about this as I had really looked forward to this
part of babyhood. So I nursed as much as I was able (and as much as the baby would
allow), but the baby would need a bottle too. I had various degrees of
success with each baby. But in LCG where we had baby #2, I was always
subjected to remarks from women (part of a large family) who were able
to breastfeed, about how disgusting formula was, etc. They never said
anything to me, but always would make snide remarks to each other while
I was in there. Needless to say, I had no friends at that church that I
could share birthing stories with, or baby stories. The couple of times I
did try to talk, they would always try to "one-up" anything I
said. I finally quit nursing (and bottling) in the mothers room, and
would bottle feed the baby in church. I used the mothers room only for diaper
changes. Baby #3 was also born while there. But knowing the abusive
comments I would have to endure again, I took baby out to the car to
nurse, or bottled her in church. One of the reasons I left LCG was
because of this entire thing. I was very upset about it. Hardly a
Christ-like atmosphere there! I was determined to not let my kids
associate with their kids, because ridicule and hatred is usually
passed on down!
We were in
Philadelphia
Church of God for baby #4 and a couple of women in particular
were very nice about the baby. No one asked how I was feeding him. One
fixed up a mothers' area in a corner in church, and later a separate
Mothers Room. The other one was very good with helping out with the
kids. (That's about the only good thing I have to say about PCG).
I've read many stories about
the old "healing vs. doctors" and many of them are really sad.
Christ never condemned doctors or medicine. This teaching can kill--literally!
I'm working on healing.
By Audrey
2003
Read the following:
Not a Sin to Take Your Child to the
Doctor
How Did Worldwide Church of God Instruct Ministers to Deal With "Health and Medical Problems"?
(These policies were taught to the ministers
to "avoid prosecution." Show the deceitful answers they were to give.)
Articles
For Those Who Were Emotionally and Spiritually Abused
Back to
Stories & Testimonies by Former Members of WCG and Offshoots
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