Conversation Among Friends

Yeah, duh, this is way wrong.  It reminds me of a heresy that was condemned early on where people would walk around without shirts beating themselves with whips.  The pope at the time put a quick end to this.  js

This new article hints at a few problems. Like, for example, his unwillingness to meet with his parents or authorities without another "Jesus Christian" present, etc.

This is control, it is not Christanity.  I have experienced this type of control in the Church of Christ (Boston movement).  It is easy enough to do with a few selected scriptures.

JM, sorry for the reference to CoC - certainly this type of behavior is not unique to any particular group.  The Catholics do occasionally fall into this (see recent case of three nuns cloistered in Rome).  Notably, the local Bishop usually detects the smell of something wrong at some point and ends the group or eliminates their source of funding.

Religion can be such a deeply personal journey and one must be extremely careful with ~ 33,000 groups out there calling themselves christian.  How is one to decide?