"Are Jehovah's Witnesses a sect or a cult?"

Cognitive_Dissident

the following is taken directly from the Reasoning Book, page 202, under the heading Jehovah's Witnesses.

parentheses are mine

Are Jehovah's Witnesses a sect or a cult?"

Some define sect to mean a group that has broken away from an established religion. Other apply the term to a group that follows a particular human leader or teacher(yeah, jdubs don't do that at all). The term is usually used in a derogatory way. Jehovah's Witnesses are not an offshoot of some church(really? just 'cuz they say it doesn't make it so) but include persons from all walks of life and from many religious backgrounds. They do not look to any human(right, except the group of old, senile f*@#ers in Brooklyn), but rather to Jesus Christ, as their leader.(who, in light of recent publications and articles, doesn't carry as much weight as he used to.)
A cult is a religion that is said to be unorthodox or that emphasizes devotion according to prescribed ritual(and five meetings a week and at least ten hours of service a month under threat of underhanded or overt consequences doesn't fit this definition somehow?). Many cults follow a living human leader, and often their adherents live in groups apart from the rest of society. The standard for what is orthodox, however, should be God's word, and Jehovah's Witnesses strictly adhere to the Bible. Their worship is a way of life, not a ritual devotion(yes, absolutely. Those politically climbing elders and c.o.'s who mete out bullshit punishments in judicial committees are really practicing what they preach.) They neither follow a human(this is true, the follow humans, not a human.), nor isolate themselves from the rest of society. They live and work in the midst of other people(just because witnesses don't live on a compound in nevada and wear white robes, they isolate themselves through arrogance and the belief that everyone else is simply the walking dead. Which is worse?).

It's amazing to me that I was so completely blinded to the obvious hypocrisy of this supposed "answer" to the question of whether witnesses were a cult or not.

CD

skyman

YOu have two threads running about the same question.

Yes they are Cult

jwfacts

From the Sceptics dictionary,

If one person believes something they are insane,

If a few people believe it they are a cult,

If lots of people believe it they are a religion.

From my dictionary, even religion is someone elses sect.

moggy lover

The WTS leadership has often made a virtue of this oft-proclaimed statement: "We are'nt a cult because we are the followers of no one man"

Yeah, right. What they fail to bring out is the fact that they are followers of a group of men who ACT AS ONE MAN!

Yep. They're a sect of Judaism, and a cult of Christianity.

Cheers

DannyHaszard

Faith based belief systems fall mostly into 3 categories:

1."mainstream" mostly benevolent in my observation i.e. you go to services once a week socialize

2.the "sects" sort of on the fringes

3. the CULTS destructive, high demand,high control often apocalyptic

How are cults destructive? they destroy A). identity B). sanity C). bank account

The above is my opinion.What does the Bible (Jesus) say?Jesus tells us how to determine the malevolence/benevolence

Matthew 7:15-16 "be on the watch for the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inside they are ravenous wolves"by their FRUITS you will know them"

The fruitage of the Watchtower it is rotten to the core!-Danny Haszard Bangor Maine

greendawn

They are indeed a destructive sect because they lie intentionally and methodically to their members even with very big brazen lies such as their grandiose claim that they were uniquely chosen by God as his sole channel. But above all is the emotional intimidation with their severe menacing God figure and the very dictatorial hierarchy that give the game away.

Honesty

Cult.

Managed and controlled by demons.

Deadly to its followers.

Unable and/or unwilling to face reality.

Pathological liars and scripture twisters.

Makes wonderful promises but has never delivered on any.

Please file a lawsuit against me for libel and slander Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

Bob Evans

Walland, TN.

DaveNwisconsin

They are a cult, Now say it with me, cult

Cognitive_Dissident

Hmm, yeah, first of all, sorry about posting the same thing twice. I went back to edit it to put my comments in red and inadvertently started a new thread.

Greendawn, I totally agree with you.
But above all is the emotional intimidation with their severe menacing God figure and the very dictatorial hierarchy that give the game away.

The psychological destruction that the witnesses inflict is their most telling aspect, in my opinion.

CD
Edited to add: also, I just wanted to make clear that I personally wasn't asking if they were a sect or a cult, but that that was the heading under which those paragraphs in the reasoning book were taken.

Darth Yhwh

Cult.

I love topics that are no brainers and allow me to build my post count.

"Are Jehovah's Witnesses a sect or a cult?"

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