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Sex Cult Nun
Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult | Faith Jones
30 posts | 19 read | 22 to read
Educated meets The Vow in this story of liberation and self-empowermentan inspiring and stranger-than-fiction memoir of growing up in and breaking free from the Children of God, an oppressive, extremist religious cult. Faith Jones was raised to be part a religious army preparing for the End Times. Growing up on an isolated farm in Macau, she prayed for hours every day and read letters of prophecy written by her grandfather, the founder of the Children of God. Tens of thousands of members strong, the cult followers looked to Faiths grandfather as their guiding light. As such, Faith was celebrated as special and then punished doubly to remind her that she was not. Over decades, the Children of God grew into an international organization that became notorious for its alarming sex practices and allegations of abuse and exploitation. But with indomitable grit, Faith survived, creating a world of her ownpilfering books and teaching herself high school curriculum. Finally, at age twenty-three, thirsting for knowledge and freedom, she broke away, leaving behind everything she knew to forge her own path in America. A complicated family story mixed with a hauntingly intimate coming-of-age narrative, Faith Jones extraordinary memoir reflects our societal norms of oppression and abuse while providing a unique lens to explore spiritual manipulation and our rights in our bodies. Honest, eye-opening, uplifting, and intensely affecting, Sex Cult Nun brings to life a hidden world thats hypnotically alien yet unexpectedly relatable.
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OrangeMooseReads
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Pickpick

Born and raised in The Children of God Faith‘s story is both infuriating and hopeful. She is the granddaughter of “the prophet” and founder of the cult. The focus of the cult is love and that idea is twisted and mutated is ways that will make you sick.
Faith fights against the status quo and gets an education and eventually breaks from the cult (not a spoiler, the book wouldn‘t be if she was still a member).
4⭐️ if you like strong women.

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OrangeMooseReads
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Started this today. It‘s interesting. ‘The Family‘ known as the Children of God was/is one hell of a cult 😯 If I remember correctly this is the same cult the River and Joaquin Phoenix grew up in.
Faith is the granddaughter of the founder of the cult.

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ElizaMarie
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Pickpick

So. Overall this was a great story. It gave a lot of insight into this cult and the breaking away from it. The title having “nun” in it makes no sense to me. If anything the title cheapens the book as it feels publishers were trying to do a bait and switch. #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 2y
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ElizaMarie
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I can‘t remember which one of my #LitsyLove peeps recommended this one but… I‘m a succor for all things cult.

#CrimeADay

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Stacked! I‘ve been looking for some cult books. 2y
ElizaMarie @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I love all things cults 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @ElizaMarie what are some others? 2y
ElizaMarie @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I am gonna go back on some of my favorite ones I have read and tag you on them :) They are so great! 2y
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britt_brooke
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Mehso-so

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sex Cult? Yes. Nun? Nope. The provocative title is just obnoxious marketing. Faith Jones, granddaughter of The Children of God founder David Berg, recounts her life in this sexuality exploitative, abusive cult. I was no fan of Educated, but I hate how this memoir‘s description uses that comparison. Again, garbage marketing. Educated is a massive success regardless of my skepticism. That aside, I sincerely hope writing this was therapeutic.

Leftcoastzen That sounds like a train wreck! 2y
britt_brooke @Leftcoastzen I hate that the marketing was so manipulative. It takes away from Jones‘s story, IMO. 2y
Kayla.Adriena I'd be interested to read your review of Educated 2y
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britt_brooke @Kayla.Adriena What did you think of Educated? I know I‘m in the minority not loving it. 2y
fredthemoose I felt the same way about Educated! Or similar to your feelings about the tagged book where the marketing was way off of the content. Drove me crazy—the book as written should have been called “Abused.” 2y
HeatherBookNerd I am an Educated fan. One of my favorite memoirs ever. 2y
Cinfhen I didn‘t like Educated either. It just felt inauthentic- something about the whole story felt off. And I hated the Glass Castle comparisons because I felt that memoir was golden. Definitely skipping this one. Im pretty sure @Megabooks had a similar feeling after reading it too. 2y
Cinfhen Ohhh, I just read your review. Funny that you disliked Glass Castle - for some reason I found her story completely believable. 2y
britt_brooke @Cinfhen I really hate any time a book‘s description mentions another (very successful) book for comparison. 2y
britt_brooke @Cinfhen It‘s been so long since I‘ve read The Glass Castle, I can‘t even remember why exactly it hit me wrong. But I also know I‘ll never reread it. 😂 2y
britt_brooke @HeatherBookNerd I know I‘m in the minority on that one. I‘m happy you liked it! 2y
Megabooks Retrospectively, I agree this is a so-so although I gave it a low pick initially. Just a hot mess in a lot of ways. And I‘m with you and @Cinfhen in not liking Educated. I mean I seriously hated that book! 2y
britt_brooke @Megabooks I hated it, too. It just hit me totally wrong. 2y
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everlocalwest
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Pickpick

Hoping for more analysis of the Children of God but that was expecting too much of a former member. Jones is the granddaughter of the founder and thinking proximity would grant insight was a complete error - even the immediate family was kept isolated. This is a litany of traumas that Jones is still processing. To that end I give this a soft pick, but enter knowing all the triggers are there and this is only a part of the author's healing jouney.

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Sargar114
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My isolation reading continues:

This one was a tough read (think all the triggers you could associate with a book with this title in graphic detail) but ultimately a worthwhile one. At first I didn‘t like the immature style it was written in but then as I progressed realized that was the intent and had a greater appreciation for it. Even more so, I‘m amazing at the perseverance and vulnerability the author shows in sharing her story.

Sargar114 The pictures are the flowers my boys got for me from the story today 💜 2y
TheBookHippie Sweet flowers. 2y
21 likes2 comments
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ClairesReads
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Mehso-so

As expected, this memoir of growing up in the Children of God religious cult was full of dramatic and outrageous twists and turns which makes it an interesting story. I do think it could have done with a bit of an edit. While separately interesting, I'm not sure all the vignettes needed to be included to support the overarching narrative. The end was a little positive/preachy for my taste but that's a personal preference thing.

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Verity
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Mehso-so

Oh my gosh this is brutal. It‘s bleak. It‘s filled with child abuse, child sexual abuse, sexual abuse, neglect. But it‘s also not that well written and it doesn‘t actually really get you anywhere or give you a takeaway at the end. So it‘s definitely a mixed picture.

Chelsea.Poole I agree. 3y
Verity @Chelsea.Poole oh I‘m glad I‘m not the only one! It‘s just such a slog isn‘t it - on all fronts. 3y
Megabooks Very good points here. 3y
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Verity @Megabooks I keep thinking about it and how it is different to say Educated. And while that doesn‘t have the sexual abuse side, which makes it less bleak on that front, I do feel like she has grappled more with what her family did to her, how it affected her and how she moves forward & you can see that even when she is writing about her childhood. With this you feel for long periods that Jones still doesn‘t get that what happened to her was wrong 3y
Megabooks I think she knew it was wrong (now), but possibly she was too conflicted about forgiveness to write a book. I got the feeling she hadn‘t fully processed what happened to her yet as well. Not enough distance. 3y
Verity @Megabooks I agree. 3y
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Verity
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Praise be! Libby is delivering to my kindle again, so not only can I read this, but little sis can too (her kindle is on my account) and then we can talk about it together.

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Chelsea.Poole
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Mehso-so

I love memoirs and the perspective I gain from reading them. I don‘t like to rate someone‘s personal experience, but in this case it‘s more the format and structure of the book that didn‘t work for me. I listened to the audiobook which had a pleasant sounding narrator, even when describing horrific situations in the book. I‘m proud of Faith Jones for overcoming her impossible childhood but I don‘t think I can recommend this book.

Megabooks I thought it was a bit long but otherwise enjoyed it. 3y
Chelsea.Poole @Megabooks I think I was expecting something…different. The super-involved descriptions of her relationships with various teenagers went nowhere and the flow of the narrative was also off for me. Idk, on paper this is something I should have loved but it was too long, agreed ⬆️, and disjointed. 3y
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Samary
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Pickpick

ALL the trigger warnings, for kids and adults. This was a difficult, yet fascinating read. I‘m so happy the author found the strength to tell her story.
I find cults fascinating and will read tell-alls and escape memoirs as often as I can.

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FelinesAndFelonies
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Cow & I decided we needed some lighter reading after getting about 200 pages into A Little Life. #catsy #catsoflitsy #littenskittens

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britt_brooke
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I was extremely spoiled by my swap match, @LouLouLane ! Thanks, friend!

#NashvilleLittens

JamieArc Ooh that‘s a great package! 3y
Megabooks Wow! Fantastic! 3y
britt_brooke @JamieArc Thanks! Felt like Christmas morning! 🥰 3y
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britt_brooke @Megabooks I told the group last night I‘d stacked the Nun book after your review. I was like: “Meg‘s my other super cult-y friend … I mean, we‘re not *in* a cult, but y‘all know what I mean.” 😂 #bookcult 3y
Megabooks Lololol!! 😂 3y
CallMeIshmael You had me at sex cult nun! What a name 3y
monalyisha I just saw this book in a bookstore last night. I ALMOST bought it for myself but I was supposed to be Christmas shopping & have done that one too many times this season. But WOW, is it up my alley! I‘ll probably just use an Audible credit on it asap, instead. 😉 3y
britt_brooke @monalyisha Yes!! I was going to go audio, but then received the hardcover 🤩 - hoping to crack it open soon! 3y
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

A fascinating, if longwinded, look inside the Children of God cult written by a granddaughter of the founder. In addition to sharing details of their worst sexual practices CW ⬇️, she also shares her life in and out of favor with the church. From being sent to re-education camps in Thailand and Japan to living sort of happily in Kazakhstan and Macau, she worked hard to escape the cult mentally and physically when she was a young adult.

Megabooks CW: child rape/molestation, adult rape, corporal punishment, and of course the cult-y mind control things 3y
Cinfhen Hmmm, not sure it‘s calling to me 3y
britt_brooke Thanks for tagging me! Def going to read this. 3y
Megabooks @Cinfhen you may or may not enjoy it, but it is definitely in @britt_brooke ‘s wheelhouse!! 3y
Chelsea.Poole I‘ve been curious about this one! 3y
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Megabooks
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Despite @rachelsbrittain ‘s so-so on this one, my love of all things cultish made me want to give this a try.

It‘s a look at the author‘s childhood in and leaving the Children of God cult. I watched a show on ID about three women who were in as kids and it was equal parts disturbing and fascinating.

I‘ll tag anyone interested in my review. #NewReleaseTuesday #audiobook

Pretty sky here in KY this afternoon!

britt_brooke I haven‘t read much about this cult. #stacked 3y
rachelsbrittain I hope you'll like it! It was definitely worth the read for me just didn't blow me away. I'll be interested to see what you think. 3y
Chelsea.Poole Definitely on my list! I‘ll look for your review 😊 3y
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Suet624 A cult that @britt_brooke hasn‘t read much about?! 3y
britt_brooke @Suet624 Right?! I‘ve only read 2 books that I can think of. Usually, I dig deeper! 😂😅 3y
BiblioLitten I recently watched Midsommar and was equally disturbed and fascinated too 3y
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rachelsbrittain
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Mehso-so

Despite the very provocative title, this book is really a memoir. As the granddaughter of Children of God founder David Berg, Faith was raised in the cult from birth, mostly on a farm in Macau. She certainly lived a very interesting life & if you're fascinated by cults (as I am) it will probably be an interesting read, but if you know anything about the Children of God you'll understand why the title references a "sex cult."

TWs in comment below.

rachelsbrittain Trigger warning for sexual abuse, sex with minors, rape, religious manipulation, and at least one instance of overt fat shaming 3y
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ReadingEnvy
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Mehso-so

This is the second book I've read by someone who grew up in Children of God aka The Family, forced into questionable practices because of decisions their parents made. Faith Jones' grandfather is actually the founder, Mo, of this one.

CW for sexual abuse, religious brainwashing, psychological harm, etc.↘️

ReadingEnvy For such a vibrant title, the book is a bit dry. Most of it is just sad, knowing how many years Faith and her family suppressed their own desires to try to follow all the crazy rules. If you've never had an inside view, there's nothing like a child who suffered through it for a chilling perspective. Another interesting component is a childhood lived almost entirely outside the United States.
3y
44 likes2 stack adds1 comment