I’m writing in regards to the Dr. Phil show about The Family. I am a full-time member of the Family Int. I’m 24, have a wife and two kids and live in Romania. We are busy doing our part to help others and make each day count. It hurts terribly when I think of any child who has suffered abuse, I look at my own kids and I know I would protect them with my very life. Abuse is a horrible fact of life in the world we live in, regardless of being in or out of the Family.

I’m not here to say that individuals who say that it happened are lying, how would I have the right to do that? By the same token nobody has the right to say that I am brainwashed or programmed, or any of the terms used to describe me as a member of the Family. I was not abused plain and simple. In other places I know it happened, I personally was never witness to it, in the many countries and homes I grew up in. I can’t say anything but I’m sorry to you who suffered abuse in the Family and any other person in the world who suffers it on a daily basis. I am firmly convinced that the Family, as it is now, with the many guidelines as well as repercussions for stepping over them, is a completely safe environment to raise my children in, and chances for abuse are marginal compared to society at large. I trust the people I work and live with, which include my brother and his wife. If I thought for a moment that my family was at risk, I wouldn’t be here. I grew up in the Family,

I was never abused, not to say that some others weren’t, but just to put things into perspective, it wasn’t nearly as rampant as some would claim. I want to ask people looking in from an outside perspective to please realize that in every memory and to every story there are two sides, please don’t fall victim to the sensational media coverage and vilify an entire group of people who you can not possibly know the individual stories of. I know so many awesome people who’ve given their entire lives for helping others and to see all of them smeared as child molesting, perverted, dangerous people is really saddening. I guess that would have to include my own parents, who were the most loving and protecting parents anyone could have, kudos to you Mom and Dad.

I’m not surprised at peoples reactions, its natural for people to take what they see on the surface, take it as truth, and make their judgment on us collectively. Being in a controversial new religious movement doesn’t put us in a position to really garner a lot of support, nothing out of the ordinary usually does, but I just want people to know that most of us are decent people trying do a decent thing and wouldn’t dream of harming anyone. I look at the cases of abuse in the Catholic Church and wonder if all Catholics should have to suffer for the sins of some. Please feel free to check out more of my story and hundreds of other current young adults still in our movement at www.myconclusion.com

Sincerely,

Gabriel Yoder

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2005 and is filed under Archived, Letters to the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.