Daisy Interview Transcript

Daisy

Questions:

1. How do you identify yourself, religiously?

Hm... I hate labels but I usually identify as Torah Observant. I am not closed off to the terms “Israelite”, “Hebrew” or “Hebrew Roots”... but every label has its crazies… and I don’t care to be associated with crazy people that are not my same flavor of crazy.

2. What is your relationship status?

Single and looking, haha.

3. What, if any, questions do you have before we commence the interview?

D: Will I be able to change my answers before Friday? Is this anonymous?

Me: Yes and yes. When we finish, I'll go through and proofread for spelling/grammar. Then, I'll send the whole thing to you for approval. You can change it then.

D: Cool.

Me: And I'll call you Daisy the whole time.

D: Okay, I'll call you Kat.

Me: I have a section for giving a small amount of background of the interviewees, age, education, that sort of thing. And if you want certain information included or left out, just let me know.

4. What is your general reaction to what you listened to?

I felt frustrated because each time one of the sisters misquoted the Bible or used faulty logic, I couldn't talk to anyone about it because I was the only person (In my group of family and friends) who was listening to it.

5. Do you believe women are unable to understand men, and therefore unable to judge their actions?

No-ish. I don't pretend to understand anyone well enough to judge their actions. But I do  speculate.

6. React to the statement, “women are a possession”.

“Say whaaat?” That's really what I thought right off the bat. I have not observed that idea to be a Biblical one.

7. How do sex slaves, like Bilhah and Zilpah, prevent “the lust of the world”?

I don't think that they do...

8. How do you define “love”?

The first thing I thought of was 1 John 4:10. I'll need to think about this more. [NIV: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”] Also 1 Corinthians 13.

9. Does love create crippling, unmanly weakness in men?

Does love create crippling, unmanly weakness in God?

10. React “the American woman is the enemy of a man”.

Gah- I need to shorten my thoughts on this one. I'll need to think this over.

Me: You can write long form, if you want. I’ve had two interviews answer entirely in paragraphs.

D: okay- I probably need to do that. I'll wait until tomorrow when I can write on the computer and not the phone. Will you send the rest of the questions now so I can ponder them?

Me:Sure thing. I didn't realize you were on your phone. Do you want the whole list, or just the ones you haven't answered yet?

D: Hmm.. All of them! Then I'll email them to myself and write them during work! It's been slow there lately.

D:Okay, I’m at work and what do you know? The workflow has picked up.

I guess, before I can have a reaction to that statement I would need a lot of clarification on just what is meant by “American woman” and “man”.

11. From this podcast, what is a “Biblical” marriage?

I got the impression that a their idea of a Biblical marriage (and I may be wrong) is a marriage in which the man maintains complete control over every aspect of the relationship. The marriage relationship chain of command is like this: ‘Pastor’ → Husband → Wife. The Husband must fully submit his mind, will and emotions to Pastor’s teaching. The wife must fully obey and submit to both as she would God. Any pull back or critical thinking skills are angrily dismissed as a rebellious, Western mindset.

12. From this podcast, what makes a man? What makes a woman?

Man is divided up into two separate groups: ‘Pastor’ and everyone else. Pastor tells everyone else what to believe and they follow (because, after all, that’s what sheep are supposed to do). Women are beings of a lower rank. Men can require unquestioned obedience. “Servant Leadership”  and self-sacrifice on the man’s part seems to be a foreign concept (perhaps a ‘Western’ one?). Women cannot question men because they are not men and cannot be expected to understand anything about them. This is only what I gather from listening to this one podcast. I have no doubt that I am missing and misunderstanding a lot of their beliefs. Goodness, I hope I don’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Let me know if any of this sounds rude.

13. What makes a good marriage?

What makes a good marriage? I don’t know, let’s ask Pastor.

14. (If married) how does your marriage work?

Not married… yet. Someday! :) Hopefully sooner, rather than later. I will only marry a man who loves me, and that includes my brains and reasoning skills, as feeble as they are.

15. How do you think this makes Israelites appear to non-Israelites? How does this make you feel about this religious sect?

This probably makes Israelites seem like a group of people who all follow the *crazy* ideas of one man… which if funny, because that’s what we’re supposed to do! Except, in this podcast, they’ve replaced Yeshua with ‘Pastor’. Yeshua and Pastor are two very different people. They probably have some similarities, but I share 50% of my DNA with a banana.

This podcast makes me feel like I would have to abandon my critical thinking skills in order to join this sect. I can see how the idea of Community would be appealing to people, especially when they are feeling isolated but I don’t think Straitway is the only way (or the correct way) to solve that longing to belong.

Any closing thoughts/comments?

I apologize if I am misunderstanding any of the beliefs held by Straitway members, but I was asked blunt questions and I gave answers to the best of my ability.

Reactions While Listening:

Okay, about 30 minutes in. There's a lot of ambiguous references... So I'm a little confused as to what exactly they are saying sometimes. From what she says, it seems like the main 'sister' is a very angry person.

They seem to esteem the "Eastern mindset" (which they use interchangeably with "Hebrew mindset"- not the same thing) and demonize any thinking that they deem as "Western Thinking".