Any experience of cults or strict churches ?

Obviously the parents love of their religion and maybe fear of it overrode their love of their children
Very sad but not unheard of
Children can be killed in the name of religion if they marry outside their own religion

The previous owners of a house we bought in the 80’s had 2 sons who joined the Moonies. The elder one, a Dr. left the cult and, despite changing the phone number, we had a couple of weird calls from the States trying to find out where he was. They were not pleasant. I just cut off any further calls. I wonder what they do to absconders if they are found ?

How could they do this ? This young lady went with her heart ❤️ good on her, although must have been hard , no doubt still hard at times, her parents don't know what they are missing ... I thought LOVE was preached in all denominations obviously not ... my son didn't speak to me for about 3 months ... I told his sister something not him at the time, sometimes not the right time ... I prayed hard about it ... I ate humble pie as they say, emailed him he came to see me ... hey presto healed ... this was quite a few years ago ... this really upset me ... 3 months was bad enough but forever ... how could her parents do this to her ... let's hope her parents realise what they are missing before it is too late

You don't actually say whether you enjoyed reading it. I would also recommend "Educated" by Tara Westover who went through a similar experience. She shows that there is a way out, but her description of her childhood does have some horrific moments. Not an easy book to read, but I did stick with it and much of it has remained with me.

No, I have no personal experience but I did know a couple some years ago. They lost a young son in a road accident and naturally were heartbroken; the woman turned to a strange, cult Iike church that had sprung up in their town. The 'church' convinced her that by following their regime her son would walk back, alive, into the family home. She was so convinced and believed every word donating hundreds of pounds to their 'cause'.

Her husband couldn't convince her otherwise and their marriage broke down because of it. It was dreadfully sad at the time and even her parents couldn't come to terms with it.

Your friend was obviously very intelligent and strong enough as an adult to make her own decisions. The loss was on the parents side. I always wonder at these people who live their lives to such a rigid way of thinking , there is no give and take to me that is not very Christian.

I hope they realized how much they had lost!!