I think on some level they know that they have issues. So they like to surround themselves with people that tell them how wonderful they are. They're like good mirrors.
Then, when you call them out on their bad behavior, you become the bad mirror, reflecting back to them their own brokenness. And they can't stand it and they lash out.
Eventually, I used her religion against her. I told the elders, excepting my father because I was tattling on him, the way my parents fought violently with each other and so they relieved my father of his position. My mother lost status in the congregation because her husband wasn't an elder anymore.
So many memories. She once tied me up for some reason or another. My father came home from work and was livid when he found me tied to one of the kitchen chairs. She used my own jumprope. I was about 7.
She had one of her rage attacks and I ran away after being screamed at for hours and hours. This enraged her even more, so she drove the car after me and yanked me into the car off the side of the road, ripping my clothes in the process. I was maybe 12. She couldn't stand not being in control.
I locked myself in my room once and pushed the furniture up against the door. This enraged both of my parents. So, they took the door off the hinges. I jumped out the window and tried to run away. I didn't even get out of the yard when my father knocked me down to the ground. I screamed for help and he stuffed grass down my throat so the neighbors couldn't hear. I was about 14.
My mother could no longer physically manhandle me, so my father took over. He was whacking me once when I was about 17. We were downstairs and I physically drug him upstairs trying to get away from him. He finally ended up slamming me against the kitchen counter repeatedly when I got away. I had a car by then and before I drove away, I told him if he ever touched me again I would call the police. The violence stopped then.
And, they wondered why I left as soon as I could at age 19.
But, boy, all sweetness and light at the meetings!