Do some Churches control their members?

Question

Of so, why and how do they?
If you felt like your church is controlling you, would you stay?
Is control necessary ?

Answer 1

Yes some religions or churches try to control their members but it only works if the people let themselves be controlled. I attended the LDS church for 10 yrs. until I couldn't take it anymore. Here's a specific incident. I was 14 and getting ready to start high school. The seminary teacher called me at home to see if I was going to go to seminary. I told him no (which at that time was hard for me because I was very shy and insecure). He kept trying to talk me into it by telling me that I couldn't go on a mission if I didn't take seminary. I told him I didn't want to go on a mission and he got mad. My Mother finally got on the phone and told him that I said no and that was it. He never bothered me again and it was shortly after that that I stopped going to church. That was just one of the many reasons I stopped. The purpose of "church" is to worship our Creator. It doesn't matter where or when we worship or what we choose to call our Creator. Worship=love and control has no part in it.

Answer 2

Interesting question. The question is very different if you ask do all instead of do some. Yes and no. Literally, some, churches do control their membership. Some are cults. Some are so liberal that there is no control at all in the group. The result of no control is a real mess. There has to be order in worship. The order does not have to be very strict, but it has to be there. People have to have a sense of right and wrong. That is a form of control. We see that in business, society, and in church. I am free to note rules and decide whether or not I will follow them. I choose to follow the rules in the church I attend. They are quite reasonable and allow for a pleasant worship service. I am quite comfortable in church partly because of the rules.
Methods of control is a whole other topic. I don't have the time or knowledge to go into great depth. In short, cults use standard brain-washing techniques. I don't plan to teach those to anyone on the Internet. Other techniques include peer pressure, guilt trips, lies, secrecy, and isolation. If you are isolated from friends, family or society that is a problem. If you have to keep secrets, that too is a problem. If you are lied to or encouraged to lie to others, again a problem. If your diet is controlled in such a way that you are malnourished or forbidden sleep, that is a problem. Pain and torture as discipline measures are a problem. There are exceptions. Some middle eastern groups incorporate martial arts discipline in their training. The "torture" and pain associated with that is different from that which is genuine torture. The military uses aggressive techniques to control its members. They too are excluded with only a few renegade exceptions.
Some do control.
I do stay where control is appropriate.
Some control is necessary, but only some.

Answer 3

As an atheist I think I can see churches with a somewhat
objective perception. It seems to me that Islam asserts the
greatest control over their people. All those rules. But I think
many people find comfort in rules. The second most controlling
churches are Catholic and the Christian Orthodox. They used to
be as controlling as Islamic but Western civilization had the
Renaissance. This phase of history opened people's minds to
question church dogma and prompted the intelligent and
skeptical to question the established view. Science came into being while society as a whole became less superstitious(i.e.,
no more witch burnings). The Reformation, which brought about
Protestantism was a religious way of lessening control. The
Islamic World needs a Renaissance.
Now it seems there is, even within Protestantism, a move back towards more control. I'm thinking of Christian Fundamentalists.
I see least control asserted by the Eastern religions, that of
Hinduism and Buddhism.

Answer 4

I've visited some churches where the people were controlled by the pastor and what he said. I did not stay or go back. Sometimes people in these churches are controlled by fear and manipulation. For example, I visited a church where the pastor told the women that they will go to Hell for not wearing a dress everyday at home and in public. The pastor is controlling the women in that church by making them fear the wrath of God. The truth is that a person will go to hell for not believing that Jesus is Lord, but he or she will not go to hell based on what he or she wears. Of course, many women and men believe that women should only wear dresses. That is between them and God. But when a church demands something of you that God does not ask of you, I believe they are trying to control and manipulate you. I serve God, not man or church. Control is necessary in many situations. A church cannot allow someone who does not believe as they do to come in and disrupt everything. The church needs authority to say what is allowable and what is not. Abuse of that authority is wrong. I do not know why some churches abuse their authority and try to control their members.

Answer 5

Lots of churches control their members... Very common. I had a friend that went to a very controlling church and the next thing I knew we were not friends anymore because my husband and I didn't go to the "right " church. They were told that we were evil and that the friendship was over, so it was. they were told how much money to give, what jobs to take (like teaching Sunday school and singing in the choir)How to raise their kids, what kind of music to listen to and what books to read (as well as what music NOT to listen to and what books and newspapers NOT to read) It was crazy. They do it with guilt. You'll go to hell forever if you don't "follow the word". The problem is that the "word" they got told wasn't the word of a loving God but the word of a controlling human being. They are still there as far as I know. sad. People who are looking for "it" will sometimes get very desperate and stop thinking for themselves. They become cattle because it's soooo much easier than working on their own relationship with God.

Answer 6

Yes some churches do enslave their members, with man made doctrines and traditions...mixing man's tradition with God's law because there is no Truth within them.

If I were a part of a church and the doctrine did not line up with God's Word, AND the church rejects Truth as written, I would leave.
Man thinks he controls yet it's quite the opposite....Is it necessary, No!

Answer 7

Yes. It is a form of control. They give you this sad story of someone sacrificing them self for you. Then you began to fathom what a great deed that was, for someone to do that and not know you personally. Then they tell you hundreds of stories to increase the guilt, of the perfect good works. Then somewhere in the middle convince you that the pastor/bishop/reverend/priest/ etc. has been sent to tell his followers the messages. Then the convince you the place you are in is "God's house" (usually bricked with pretty colorful windows) and that you need to give unselfishly to the Lord, through tithes, offerings, volunteered time to keep it open and afloat. With the promises of your cup running over, with not enough room to receive it. Sounds like a investment to me. I give a medium size amount, then it flips and yields a huge return. Not to mention they stigmatize the women, what we mean, and our roles... Usually the sermon makes you think someone knows what you did last night, and the guilt eats you alive, so you try to pay for forgiveness, when really the "speaker" is throwing some general stuff out there, they may just happened to hit someones situation. Of course they are in control. Haven't you ever seen adults bickering over the "titles" in church? Who should be called what? From the deacons, nurses, bible school teacher, bus driver, treasurer, secretary, and so on? Pathetic!

Answer 8

Christianity is based on free will. Any Church who controls their members I would consider a cult. Run as fast as you can.

Answer 9

if it is a Church they will not control you if you are being controlled then you are in a cult...

now with that said who is being told what to do and what are they being told to do ?
if it is a leader and they are being told your a leader and to stay in that place of leader you have to stop smoking then that is the right of the pastor or head of the Church

as long is it is not illegal or unmoral then why not do what they say ?

the Church is free to who ever wants to come and go as they please. we can advise people of what to do but never never tell them you must...you have to. if you don't god will not love you
that is wrong !

Answer 10

Of course some cults do "control" their members.

>Of so, why and how do they?

If so, then by different methods ... past and present. Some control by "fear", others control by making a person feel they've found friends (who are not true friends, though).

Self-control is needed, and allowing God to control us.

The KEY there is in our ALLOWING God (and others) to control us. We must, of our own free will, be allowing it.