Given that I live in Columbus, OH, and I go to this weird school, I've had lots of exposure to this semi-cult known as Xenos. They consider themselves to be a branch of Christianity, but they suck people in very easily, and some of their ideals aren't very christian (I don't think Jesus hated Jews). I've had multiple friends converted to this.. thing, and they haven't been the same since. They are extremely defensive about Xenos; almost to the point of fanaticism; or at least that's what I've seen. Anyway, I have a few questions:
1. Does it exist anywhere else? No one I've talked to knows.
2. What are the differences from regular Christianity? My friends in it get defensive, and my friend Abe, who's dad is in Xenos, just says that they are "fucking Jew-haters" (He's Jewish)
3. Anything else?
I'm just a little freaked out by this being so popular, and how the people in it love it so. They even say that "regular church didn't work", but they're heavily into Xenos
"So I was playing as Abe Lincoln and I made America communist. Then Ghandi attacked me."
-Christian Nguyen, discussing Civ Rev
Posts
Seem to be a local religious organization in Columbus, though I doubt you'll find much objective information on their website.
edit: I don't know much (anything) about evangelical groups, and this isn't meant to sound ominous, but they seem really well organized for a church that only has a weekly attendance of 4500 (so they claim).
http://www.xenos.org/
Other than that link all I got from the one line wiki entry was that they are based in and around Columbus, so calling them a semi-cult seems like an accurate term. It looks like on their website they have plenty of essays and teaching tools so if you want to see what they're teaching people, look into that. Since they're an evangelical Christian sect, I'm sure they're rather forthcoming about any sort of conservative leanings they might have.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
...they use RealPlayer.
Yeah I noticed that too. I guess it's to prevent intellectuals from investigating too deeply.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
We will cleanse!
With the flamer, purify the unholy.
We will purify!
With the chainsword, purge the corrupt.
We will purge!
With the missile, kill the impure.
We will kill!
The Emperor’s realm must be cleansed of the taint of the xenos and the heretic. We destroy the former by the sword, and we destroy the latter through faith and the sword.
- Dreadnought Gerlach to the warriors of the Donorian Crusade
No seriously this is the first I've heard of it. Bear in mind cults prey on people who have nothing. Your friends are defensive because they're told Xeno(s?) is all they have to live for. It's pretty effective with the right kind of minor torture( sleep deprivation and the like).
I mean seriously.
Cowards die in shame!
My dad is the fucking cfo of the church and he has "dedicated his life to the church".
Being a Jew, naturally, he FORCED me to go to Xenos. At one point the choice was X-Box versus going to church for 2 hours and another was I will spank you (I was young). Of course I went and was singled out for a couple reasons:
1. I was a Jew. Yeah, I was Jew at a xenophobic center for the Christian right.
2. I wouldn't participate. See number 1. (this includes not singing songs like: You are dead! and I love Jesus!)
3. I am insane. Pretty much. But I can pass for sane most places. In that church I couldn't. Everyone was the fucking same. You see those McDonald houses in the suburbs? The ones that all look alike? Yeah do that with people on antidepressants.
But now we get into the reasons why they are insane instead of me:
4. They are dedicated to a church, not a religion. This means all friends MUST be a Xenoid. All activities outside of Xenos must be related to Xenos.
5. Since all Xenoids know each other and are always around each other, they tend to gossip, play petty games and socialize only with those truly dedicated to the church.
6. Xenoids are only concerned with Xenos. This includes things like: money (that could have gone to my education), social status within Xenos (not surprisingly, based on money) and faith.
Xenos is a twisted religious "sect" (see cult) that only is concerned with, well, lets leave it to what they are NOT concerned with:
Christianity
EDIT: Compare the videos of two cults: Xenos's offshoot site. & Scientology.
FIGHT!!!
Fringe cults like this, especially one's that try to consider themselves a sect of an already established religion, tend to burn out and never go anywhere, with a few exceptions.
Isn't there a character name Xenos or something in it?
Serious, how the frell does this happen?
I have enough trouble understanding how the Big Ones get converts, how do obviously retarded idiotfests like this gain any traction with people?
Probably for the same reasons that people so readily adopt make-believe space languages into their everyday lexicon. They feel special being part of something. It's called Tribalism, dearies.
Man, didn't you grow up in rural NSW?
It wasn't so much converts to crazy spin-off cults or even converts from one religion to another, but just loads of churchies all together hugging themselves and complaining about brothels and adult book shops.
The conversion. This, I do not understand.
a bit rich coming from the state where one nation got 22% of the vote :P
The very fact that this group calls themselves 'outsiders' highlights the fact that they are preying on people who feel they are detached from mainstream society. Easy pickings, in other words. Perhaps converts from other religions weren't being sufficiently served socially by their local representative of their church and they sought out a church that gets more involved in their social lives (it sounds like Xenos is extremely invasive in this regard). Or perhaps they didn't fit with the other people already going to that church, convinced themselves it was a religious division rather than their own awkward social skills and then fell into a new church with less conventional social stratification.
I am aware this is old but i was forced to research them recently through an ex who was part of it and have attended services. they are a church that "supports gay" and the congregation is all recovering coke heads or alcoholics half the time. they all seem to believe that god can help teach you to not be whatever you are. I.E. jew, gay, coke head, druggy, stoner, etcetc
Love-bombing seems effective, if all else fails.
To be Unclean. That is the Mark of the Xenos.
To be Impure. That is the Mark of the Xenos.
To be Abhorred. That is the Mark of the Xenos.
To be Reviled. That is the Mark of the Xenos.
To be Hunted. That is the Mark of the Xenos.
To be Purged. That is the fate of the Xenos.
To be Cleansed. For that is the fate of all Xenos.
Extract from the Third Book of Indoctrinations
Their website is hilariously bad.
OH SHIT GUYS
IT HAS DRAWINGS
The be all, end all final proof that an invisible man does indeed live in the sky, having spoken everything into existence some 6,000 years ago. Yours for only 6.99.
EDIT: Oh, fucking derp. This was a necro.
Goddamn necromancers.
i miss the cat
I did a double-take when I saw her post. Then I realized it was from 2008.
Xenophobic people?
Zeno was pre-Socratic, so no. I think Marcus Aurelius is generally considered the founder of Stoicism but I may be wrong.
Edit: Apparently there was more than one Zeno, and the second one founded Stoicism. The first one is the guy that came up with all the paradoxes.
Would that be a...Zeno Clash?