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Girl At the End of the Word: My Escape
from Fundamentalism in Search of Faith with a Future. I knew the very second that my eyes previewed the
title of this book, I had to read it. But
I was almost scared to read it. How
close to home would it hit? Is fundamentalism something to be ‘escaped’ from?
My family had a hard time finding a church
when moved outside the Bible belt. We
ended up joining a fundamentalist church because of the people’s love for each
other and their sense of community, something I desperately longed for having
left behind precious friendships in Texas.
They embraced me even though my beliefs in the peripheral doctrines were
different.
After
joining, it felt like the pastor placed extra emphasis on these doctrines in
his sermons and initiated special Bible study series’ on doctrines where my
beliefs differed, seemingly on purpose, as if to show me the error of my ways. It wasn’t a cult, but my husband and I still
joke about having to learn the secret handshake and chant to enter into their
assembly. When we left, I felt a sense
of freedom, but I still miss many of the people I had grown to love, and I
value the impact some of them had in the lives of my children for the three
years we were there.
But Elizabeth
Esther’s experience was fundamentalism to the extreme. Fundamentalism in itself isn't a cult. A cult is about methods and behavior more than it is about beliefs. It is "the emotional seizing of people's trust, thoughts, and choices that identifies a cult." She shows how any group can cross the line
into cultish-ness and how difficult it may be to recognize while right in the
middle of it. She tells her story of
growing up in the spiritual zeal of the Assembly, living in fear of the
calculated spanking, surviving public high school under her parents' rigid rules of conduct, and eventually leaving the
Assembly and healing from the emotional trauma it caused in her life. But most beautiful of all was how she found
her way to the freedom and grace we have in Christ Jesus.
Her
memoir reads like a novel, and from the moment I read the first words, I was
hooked all the way to the end. The
ending was a little surprising, but this book completely touched my soul and
opened my eyes to pinpoint just exactly how much I hate it when Christians
misrepresent the Bible and use it for power.
For
more information, check out the following links:
I received a complimentary copy of this
book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.
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