by darth frosty 24 Replies latest watchtower bible
One of the most jaw-droppingly blatant examples of the sort of trickery the WT does so well:
Were there any attempts to brainwash you? Did the Witnesses employ mind-control techniques on you? "No" would doubtless be your frank response. (w94 15/2)
They talk about mind control and then simply feed the desired answer to the reader. Did we brainwash you? Say no. You've got to have some cajones to pull that off.
Funky Derek, you're SO right! That's what made me think, "okay, they're not a cult" when I was in was the fact that, "hey, they're talking about it and actually confronting the rumor-they must not be," just because they'r confronting it doesn't mean they're not!!!
http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02977841.htm
I stumbled across the above article completely by accident, while searching Google for a music group called 'Bob to the Rescue', which triggered the keywords Bob Pardon, and the rescue of cult members. It intrigued me of course, even if my finding it was serendipity, and I read the whole thing despite it being a bit lengthy (4 pages). If it hasn't been posted here already, I think a lot of you would find it interesting... it mentions Rick Ross and Steve Hassan, with quotes from each (though whether the article writer was talking to them directly or just paraphrasing their material on the subject wasn't quite clear).
The article also quite clearly states that JWs are a cult:
"According to the AFF’s Carol Giambavo, there are between 2000 and 6000 cults in the United States. There are religious cults and therapy cults, marketing cults and UFO cults, yoga cults and political cults. The groups range in size from army-size outfits like the Moonies and Jehovah’s Witnesses to mini-cults like the one that held Elizabeth Smart and the one in which Kerry became ensnared. If there are any Al Qaeda cells in the US, then they are part of a large, destructive cult. Some marriages have an internal dynamic similar to that of cults, as do many street gangs. Locally, according to Bob Pardon, the groups the Twelve Tribes and the International Church of Christ fit the standard definition very well."
Pardon me if it was posted before, the date at the end of the article is July 2003.
http://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/top/features/documents/02977841.htm
I stumbled across the above article completely by accident, while searching Google for a music group called 'Bob to the Rescue', which triggered the keywords Bob Pardon, and the rescue of cult members. It intrigued me of course, even if my finding it was serendipity, and I read the whole thing despite it being a bit lengthy (4 pages). If it hasn't been posted here already, I think a lot of you would find it interesting... it mentions Rick Ross and Steve Hassan, with quotes from each (though whether the article writer was talking to them directly or just paraphrasing their material on the subject wasn't quite clear).
The article also quite clearly states that JWs are a cult:
"According to the AFF’s Carol Giambavo, there are between 2000 and 6000 cults in the United States. There are religious cults and therapy cults, marketing cults and UFO cults, yoga cults and political cults. The groups range in size from army-size outfits like the Moonies and Jehovah’s Witnesses to mini-cults like the one that held Elizabeth Smart and the one in which Kerry became ensnared. If there are any Al Qaeda cells in the US, then they are part of a large, destructive cult. Some marriages have an internal dynamic similar to that of cults, as do many street gangs. Locally, according to Bob Pardon, the groups the Twelve Tribes and the International Church of Christ fit the standard definition very well."
Pardon me if it was posted before, the date at the end of the article is July 2003.
Sorry bout the double post above...I tried to edit out the second one, but kept getting an error message; something about 'the administrator has been notified of this problem'.
