Anyone see it? I saw similarities between the peoples temple and life as a witness. One was when the siren would go off and the announcement would be for everyone to Gather at the Pavillion. That was kind of like when we are suppose to have a special announcement. Another similaratiy was, the way they seperated completely from the rest of the world. They did it physicaly, witnesses do it spiritualy. The defectors who tried to leave with the congressman were like those who get disfellowshiped because they take up a different beleif system, they can't just leave they have to be shot with the spiritual weapons on the airport runway. Although they were quite a bit different in some ways I think there is a lot of similarities in the mind set. Any one else see any? seek2find
History channel Show Paradise lost
by seek2find 16 Replies latest jw friends
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AK - Jeff
There were clear simalies for sure. The Watchtower has killed far more people though.
Jeff
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Green Chille
The WTS serves Kool Aid ( doctrines) spiked with poison
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seek2find
The WTS serves Kool Aid ( doctrines) spiked with poison
Yes I agree, They talk a lot about the "God dishonoring doctrines of Christendom" and then turn around and dishonor him themselves. Too many examples to list here. I would have to write a book to list them all. seek2find
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zack
The biggest similarity is that the Peoples Temple gave their lives over to a MAN who claimed to
either speak for God or be God. Witnesses do the same. They turn their lives over to men (Russell, Rutherford, Knorr, Franz),
or a group of men who claim to speak for God. Once that happens all else becomes possible.
Zack-----
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Death to the Pixies
Hi geniuses, you are forgetting the Haszard inspired argumentation, which simply states:
Jonestown= many minorities
WT= many minorities
WT= Jonestown.
It is called logic people. Now excuse me, I am going to go "spiritually shoot my brother on a spiritual airport tarmac"....
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seek2find
Hi geniuses, you are forgetting the Haszard inspired argumentation, which simply states: Jonestown= many minorities WT= many minorities WT= Jonestown. It is called logic people. Now excuse me, I am going to go "spiritually shoot my brother on a spiritual airport tarmac"....
Huh? What are you saying????
Seek2find
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BlackPearl
"Hi geniuses, you are forgetting the Haszard inspired argumentation, which simply states: Jonestown= many minorities WT= many minorities WT= Jonestown. It is called logic people. Now excuse me, I am going to go "spiritually shoot my brother on a spiritual airport tarmac".... I think he needs an anger management course. BP
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james_woods
The similarity is not the minorities (which many, many non-cult religions have in greater integration than the WTS with its black and spanish kingdom halls...).
The similarity is obvious. It is the veneration of a christ-like messenger leader. It is the acceptance of total control over your life and family. It is the willingness to die over the mere word or whim of your messenger leader.
Anybody who was an active witness at the time Jonestown exploded onto the scene remembers the sick guilty feeling we had when we learned the news. The local body of elders even had a meeting to "get our story straight" on why we were "not a deadly cult" because of the pressure.
BTW, apologist, what do you have against pixies? - they always seemed to be rather benign to me. Not at all dangerous like those demonized smurfs!
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Apostate Kate
There are strong similarities between all the cults, those similarites are what makes them a cult. The only difference with the WT is they work so hard to appear nice and normal.
"To heighten our awareness, Them and Us identifies four basic cult behaviors that influence our thinking: 1) compliance with a group, 2) dependence on a leader, 3) avoiding dissent, and 4) devaluing the outsider. These forces operate in all aspects of society. The core process is devaluing the outsider, resulting in Them-versus-Us behavior." Dr. Diekman
After listening to that freaky elder on that mp3 yesterday... The ones still hanging on at this point have got to be feeling high anxiety.
Edited to add this link if anyone wants to read his bookThem and Us: Cult Thinking and the Terrorist Threat