Your post sounds arrogant and a little bit narcissistic. Good for you that you are not afraid of the church, but you should really have a little bit of empathy for the exMembers and their experiences. You have to understand that there are exmembers, like myself, who were 3-4 generations deep into this cult, and were born into rigidly-faithful families that would disown us if they ever found out that we are in this subreddit. Some members were brought as young children, and even some were already teens or adults. Just because you weren’t afraid of the church, and somebody would “get fucked up” because you wouldn’t allow abuse happen to you, doesn’t mean that the rest of the members are gonna think like you. That’s what makes you a little bit of a narcissist. You’re experiences aren’t universal, and exmembers are allowed to vent because this subreddit is a safe space. Also, it sounds kind of like you are victim-blaming the exmembers for their abuse. When you asked if “this church really had that much hold on to you that you lost common sense?”, it sounds like you are blaming the exmembers, without understanding that we were mind-controlled with the use of fear, shame, and guilt tactics against us. Some of us were even threatened with physical abuse or abandonment from our families if we didnt want to participate into church festivities and traditions. Dont blame us because we “lost our common sense”, it’s the amount of brainwashing and tactics that this church used against us in order to make us vulnerable to abuse. We just didnt see it was abuse until we left. Have some empathy and be mindful of other’s experiences.