Tonight the kids had their orientation for a "Life Lessons Class" that BM signed them up for. It seemed simple enough...it's supposed to be a class geared towards teens on how to handle challenges of becoming an adult.
Um...yeah...so we thought.
As we sat around the dinner table and asked how it went, and what it's all about we came to find out it's something much different. It's not only run by a church (not a church the kids go to...they have not been raised with a specific religion), but a program run by the SS friend's dad. We know this family is a religious family, and we are ok with religion. However, neither the love of my life or I believe that kids should be pressured into a specific religion, but ok...mom can have her say too and signed them up for this.
The problem is that not only are they learning life lessons like don't kill, steal, or be mean to people, but they have to wear military type uniforms and have about 28 commandments about following God, and accepting to be "born again". The "commandments" range from being a good person to accepting God into your life and at the end "recruiting others".
Does this sound a little "cultish" to anyone else?
This is where the 2 houses stuff gets really sticky. If it's something that dad is totally against...how does he stop it? One of the kids, SD12, is kind of ok with it, but SS14 is not. They say they don't have a choice, but I find it hard to believe (even though BM is a nut job) that she would be ok with this kind of forced religion.
We told the kids to really look through their manuals and think about if this is something they are spiritually interested in and committed to, and if not they need to discuss with their mother. I told them that they should offer to do some other kind of life lesson thing, and read/learn about multiple religions so that they can get the full spectrum of ideas. This is where my own beliefs may or may not rub off on these kids. If they are really truly interested in doing this for themselves, we will support them, but if not...we will do everything to try to take them out of it.
The whole thing turns my stomach, and I hope that the kids make the right decisions for themselves. I also hope that if they don't want to do it they will not be forced to, and if forced...that the love of my life will take proper action to do whatever he can to pull them out of it.
Praise JESUS that this shit doesn't last like all the other stuff that is never really committed to at "the other house".
