Name: Sven Franke
Age : 20
Location: Ukraine

First off I’d like so say hats off to all of you fellow young people in the Family speaking out on this site. It’s been great reading the opinions and statements that so many of you have written concerning the recent tragic events. I am very proud to be associated with every single one of you and am also prouder than ever to be in a Family that has as much fighting spirit and resolve as I have witnessed over the past weeks.

Wash us away? Keep dreaming!

And to those sick minds so intent on twisting and distorting this situation to their own advantage in trying to destroy what so many of us love and sacrifice everything for on a daily basis I’ll jot down a thing or two as well. On the subject of child-abuse, I’ll have to say, along with many other young people that were born into the Family International, – I have neither suffered nor seen any abuse of any kind. I was born into and grew up in the Family and all I ever remember of my early childhood was heaps of love both from my parents and from my teachers.

Abuse? No sign of it whatsoever! It is still shocking to me that we have to deal with such outright lies and blanket statements as some of our former members are throwing at us. Even if I wasn’t around when these people state that they’ve been abused, and they’re supposedly not directing they’re offences at me, I sure as anything take offence. Just the suggestion that I am giving all my time, attention, and resources to an organization that indulges in, sanctifies, and encourages sexual abuse with minors is outrageously insulting! If I am dedicating my life to this organization and what it stands for to be able to reach the goals that I’ve committed myself to reaching, how sure do you think I should be of what I’m doing? In context, how sure would you want to be of something you sacrifice all your time and energy on? Wouldn’t you want to be 100% sure that the efforts you are putting into your project would be worth the time spent on it, not a waste of it, or even worse, accomplishing the exact opposite of what you planned to do? I sure would want to be that sure! And you know what? I am! If there was even the slightest evidence whatsoever that children are being abused in the Family and that we young people are truly being ‘brainwashed’ and any other ridiculous accusations of the sort for that matter, the being 100% sure factor would naturally disappear quite quickly.

My goal is to serve the Lord, to live the life of a true disciple of Jesus Christ, to share my faith with others by preaching the Gospel to all creatures and being a genuine help to those less privileged than I am. And I am 100% sure that the Family is the best place for me to accomplish this. I am sure that mistakes have been made in the past and people were hurt, but it seems simply moronic to judge the Family and what it stands for by these individual cases which are by far a minority and have already been condemned and apologized for by Family leadership on numerous occasions. So for goodness sake get over it already! Quit wasting your time trying to destroy the happy and fulfilled lives we live in our service for the Lord inside the Family. If this lifestyle isn’t for you, then get on with your life. Live and let live. Why not be happy for those of us in this world who has found true meaning to life, a reason for living.

As for mistakes, who of us hasn’t made some in his/her lifetime? Doesn’t make it right, sure. But no one’s perfect. I sure have made plenty of blunders for which I’m sorry for and have been on the receiving end of some as well, as I’m pretty sure everyone has. But don’t let it ruin you. Get over it and be stronger for it.

I met Ricky a while back when he was passing through Ukraine. He stayed with us for a few days and he always seemed very friendly and helpful. I remember him helping to fix all of our broken bicycles one day and having some sports time with us boys. Very far from the psycho killer he turned out to be. In my opinion it just shows how someone can change from being around the wrong kind of people too long and entertaining bitter and violent thoughts too often. I personally know a lot of former members who are still very favourable towards the Family. In fact, most of my relatives (including my parents) and some of my best friends aren’t in the Family today. But still they’ve accepted my decision to keep serving God full-time, and even respect me for it. So why don’t you try to as well?

This entry was posted on Monday, February 7th, 2005 and is filed under Speaking Out, By Age, Those who knew them, With Photo, Europe, 18 to 24, Archived. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.