Criticism
Some of its critics consider it a cult because of its connection with, and usage of theology from within the Word of faith movement, though its teachings now are broadened with other, more classical, theology. (See the article about Ulf Ekman).
In an article published in Cultic Studies Journal in 1992, forty-three former students of Livets Ord Bible School were interviewed. Nearly 50 percent of the forty-three students had experienced psychosis-like symptoms, and 25 percent had attempted suicide. Also common were anxiety, feelings of guilt, and emotional disorders.
There has also been criticism, published in the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter, against donations given to Israelis which have promoted settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories. Ekman countered the statement, saying that the donations never have been to occupied territories, but to settlements on Israeli ground, for example in the Negev desert. The movement advocates Christian Zionism.
The teaching methods and parts of the curriculum of schools run by Livets Ord have been under review by the Swedish National Agency for Education on several occasions, but the schools have only been criticized on minor details.
Read more about this topic: Livets Ord
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“However intense my experience, I am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but a spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is no more I than it is you. When the play, it may be the tragedy, of life is over, the spectator goes his way. It was a kind of fiction, a work of the imagination only, so far as he was concerned.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A friend of mine spoke of books that are dedicated like this: “To my wife, by whose helpful criticism ...” and so on. He said the dedication should really read: “To my wife. If it had not been for her continual criticism and persistent nagging doubt as to my ability, this book would have appeared in Harper’s instead of The Hardware Age.””
—Brenda Ueland (1891–1985)
“Like speaks to like only; labor to labor, philosophy to philosophy, criticism to criticism, poetry to poetry. Literature speaks how much still to the past, how little to the future, how much to the East, how little to the West.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)