turnbullac wrote:OK what is JPUSA? is it like Jesus Camp?

MTAR wrote:

beelzebubbles wrote:some spirit of masturbation.

i'd see this band

Johnny 13 wrote:I lived at JPUSA for a year, and I don't think it's a cult by any means.

Are these the Jesus People who had the skateboard ramp in the 80s and 90s? I met several Jesus people who worked security at a couple of Shellac shows. They were all very nice people, and talked freely about their lives, but the way the community ran freaked me out.

It has been a few years now, but my recollection was that these kids had jobs, and turned their pay over to the church, who then doled out to them what they needed. Maybe that is more commune than cult, but it gave me an apprehensive feeling in my gut to hear them talk about the way they live.

Not for me, but neither are a lot of things.

Jeff Macleod wrote:

scott wrote:I love this story, because you guys made it out safely, so everything is alright. But it just reminds me of the time when I worked for a cult like this (just long enough to figure out what was really up, which took a few days since they ran out of a fancy office in a Chicago highrise) and the time I visitied JPUSA one Sunday.

Cults are fascinating as hell, I think, if you can just rub up against one for a couple minutes/hours rather than actually be *in* one. Out of all the stories I've heard from friends and acquaintances, and my own personal experience, I cannot think of one single time that a run-in with a cult resulted in anything other than a great story.

Glad you made it out in good shape.

I guess...Why am I so lonely then? Why do I feel a profound sense of sadness and longing for something I didn't even know existed - what a real family was like? People who care, you know?