Yes, they are a cult. They don't push too hard to recruit, but their members are exploited. I won't frequent a 12 tribe business.
Island Pond, Vt.Originally Posted by gravityman
And they beat their children. I don’t care how tasty their food…no thanks!
I hope you also refuse to support any business (including actors) who are scientologists. They are at least as bad (as a group/institution/cult) as Twelve Tribes.
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https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White
The 12 Tribes are being suggested as the people who ignited the Marshall fire(s) here n Colorado. It is like a gossip campaign. I have never been their guest, but I have carefully read many of your accounts of being their guests. Most of the reports have been respectful, even in awe, of the group and their services. If any of you are so moved, this may be a good time to speak up (or even down) for them. DENVER POST, ESTES PARK NEWS, etc. The origen of the fires has not yet been officially determined.
What?
If the authorities are still investigating this, why should someone with no knowledge of the facts say anything about it?
Well. to tell the truth, I was only remarking that I found it "remarkable" that these people were quickly listed as the possible derelicts who carelessly ignited the grass that eventually became the inferno that destroyed so many homes. At this time coal fires burning beneath the ground on which those homes stood are also suggested. IOW, there remains no conclusion to date about its origen, but the usual obvious answer to many is Others. That may be the final result found by those trained in fire investigating. Why it became so hugely destructive is not questioned. Dry, red warning day with hurricane force winds which, fortunately for most surrounding communities, did not shift.
News article on Marshall fire, which is still under investigation. Possible causes listed are coal mine fires, power lines, and human activity.
https://kdvr.com/news/local/marshall...s-power-lines/
I stayed there on my thru hike last year. They were absolutely chill and cool people. The food in their deli was not only the best I had on trail, but some of the best I've had in years (esp the butternut squash soup). It IS a cult. And the people all seem a little exhausted and dissociated. But everyone was extremely friendly nonetheless... Walmart is right across the street. Free washer/dryer on premises. Bus station is right around the corner that makes a stop to/from trail (although not as early in the morning as you might like). Optional donation for your stay.
There was a shuttle driver in Rutland named Flippake (look her up on guthook). I can totally vouch for her if you're interested in slackpacking. All the other shuttle drivers I contacted in that area were extremely unpleasant and/or unreliable.
I respect and am curious about anyones deeply held beliefs about God and enjoy talking to such people. I feel it has the possibility to further understand things, and help them also in the process during the exchange. This does not mean I agree with everything they do, but that's true for any group. And just because a group has members and even allows for what we would find offensive or immoral does not mean the person I am talking with agrees and I don't paint them all with the same brush.
I stayed at Rutland for 1 night during my thru and enjoyed my time there. I was a bit disappointed with their curfew as I was enjoying myself at a nearby bar, and I felt like a child having to go home at a certain time while everyone else gets to stay out late and play. But let's face it, AT thru hikers have many such things along the trail, such as arriving at a random hostel and being told before going in to go into the side room, talk off all trail cloths to be washed and put on the clothes we provide for the stay. And I more chalk that up to the trail reminding us that she is the teacher and we are the student.
I also visited another YD which is fairly close to where I live maybe 4 or 5 times. The do make a great lunch and seem to have that extra something that makes food tastes amazing (sometimes), and the YD (or religion for that matter) is not the only place I have experienced that. That 'something' I personally believe is love, which for me and my belief goes way beyond emotion, but is God and can do this. Again they are not perfect, and have flaws, but that does not prevent God from being able to dwell in them (and many many others).
With the above said I feel the best thing I can do is to visit them when I feel the need, as Love was never meant to be disconnected and isolated in a rule imposed society, but shared and allowed to grow and free people from those isolating communities.
With that said I also have noticed what i would call typical cult like 'brainwashing' which prevents them from seeing/realizing somethings, but allow them to ignore certain things to be able to accept what they do.
Child abuse in the Twelve Tribes is widely documented. Their doctrine says that “child training” should begin at 6 months of age and “should be painful”. Their teachings even have guidelines for the size and thickness of the implements that should be used which includes 2X4’s.
I don’t care what people believe but those who abuse children should be held accountable and are not worthy of my financial support.
https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/23/u...n-vermont.html
I for one had a run in with the twelve tribes when a former friend of 12 years got involved with them. Their members have to give up all their possessions include the present I gave to my friend. The tribe was friendly to me when I visit but told my friend to break it off with me when I left. Our friendship has always been plutonic, but we were close friends. For years she told me, she was caught in the middle because the tribe did not believe a man and woman should be as close friends unless they were married. Man have their role and woman has her role to obey, - their believe. Some of the things that did was strange, such as the tribe using their own mail server to assign email accounts to their members. I have an IT background. When the tribe controls the mail server their members are using, they can regulate what emails their members see and what emails they don't. It is a way they can isolate their members from their friends and possible family members.
The tribe had also their run in with the law including been fined several times for child labor laws among other things. There have also been several shady things that go on. For those that don't know, the tribe pulls tens of millions of dollars if not billions in revenue annually. I'm wondering where all that money goes? They don't pay any labor cost and their followers live very inexpensive with almost no possessions. hmmm.
Yellow Deli Boulder owner Twelve Tribes exploits cult followers for free labor, ex-members say (denverpost.com)
Re-supplied at the WM, had a good slice of pizza, rode the $2 bus and walked right on by...
Last thing I wanted in my mind at that point of the thru was to analyze how others live their lives. I suppose it's an individual choice if one chooses to expand their point of view and visit another groups commune. Personally, I was more concerned about the trail ahead over evaluating how a group conducts themselves according to the "social construct".
Simply stated: To each their own...I'm hiking. The over-used phrases of HYOH and YMMV do apply in this context. Cheers!!
I ran into a bunch of Twelve Tribers at Mount Adams in the Whites several years ago. Yes, Shemet and his daughter Mehenomet were very "chill and cool." So was the guy who whisked over and handed me a pamphlet. (These Tribers weren't from Yellow Deli, but a bakery in Plymouth, Mass.)
Religious pamphlets on the trail, and cults in general, aren't my thing. Neither is child abuse, which is fairly well-documented by ex-members, according to articles I've read. The Yellow Deli will get a cold shoulder from me when I hike through Vermont this summer. So will any hikers who knowingly "hike their own hike" by giving their business to a cult that promotes abuse of children.
He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire - Winston Churchill
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