Do the JW'S know what a cult really is?

by ButtLight 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  ButtLight

  Did you when you were in? I didnt! But again I was quite young.

  I know this stuff has been posted in the past.....but for the heck of it, I wanted to see what others believe cults consist of.....so I googled this

  http://www.americanreligion.org/cultwtch/whatis.html

  I had to chuckle when I read this part:

  The Christian approach to cults would include every group which has departed from orthodox Christianity (such as the Church of Christ, Scientist, the Latter Day Saints, and the Jehovah's Witnesses) as well as those groups which have never made any claim to be Christian. Individual writers disagree over the cultic nature of such groups as the Roman Catholic Church (included and then dropped by Van Baalen), or the Unitarian-Universalist Church. Little consideration has been given to non-Trinitarian Pentecostal groups.

  Then further down in the article, it gives 14 examples of cults..........Sound familiar?

  1. Members swear total allegiance to an all-powerful leader who they believe to be the Messiah.
  2. Rational thought is discouraged or forbidden.
  3. The cult's recruitment techniques are often deceptive.
  4. The cult weakens the follower psychologically by making him or her depend upon the group to solve his or her problems.
  5. The cults manipulate guilt to their advantage.
  6. The cult leader makes all the career and life decision of the members.
  7. Cults exist only for their own material survival and make false promises to work to improve society.
  8. Cult members often work fulltime for the group for little or no pay.
  9. Cult members are isolated from the outside world and any reality testing it could provide.
  10. Cults are antiwoman, antichild, and antifamily.
  11. Cults are apocalyptic and believe themselves to be the remnant who will survive the soon-approaching end of the world.
  12. Many cults follow an "ends justify the means" philosophy.
  13. Cults, particularly in regard to their finances, are shrouded in secrecy.
  14. There is frequently an aura of or potential for violence around cults.

  Do you see even ONE out of the 14 that doesnt apply???? I had to think about 14, for just a second, until the blood issue and pedo's popped into mind!
• 

  JH

  I'm sure that JW's would think that this was written just for them, because they imagine that they are persecuted and that Satan is behind this.

  When I was a good JW, I knew that this description portrayed us, but I defended the elders and their teachings anyways, thinking that it was out of love that we were boxed in.
• 

  LovesDubs

  Of course they know what a cult is but you know the JW mantra "LALALALALALALAAAAAAA I cant HEEEAAAARRRR YYYOOUU!!! Lalalalalallalaaaaaaaa! Thats not US you are talking about! LALALALLAAAAAA...."

  Go read some of their articles about what "propaganda" is...it's hysterical. They define propaganda by defining THEMSELVES so implicitly and then saying it ISNT them that it sets your teeth on edge that they think 6 million people are THAT stupid.
• 

  TinyDancer124

  My father sent me the link to that awhile ago. I was intrigued...as I had noticed how much of a cult JW is at that point. Even though I was no longer a practicing JW, I still defended them when people called them a cult. It sure opened my eyes. I tried sharing it with my sister (still a staunch JW) and she got very upset with me. Oh, well.
• 

  Crumpet

  I can't remember the mags having a cover article about cults ---does anyone else?
• 

  Crumpet

  I can't remember the mags having a cover article about cults ---does anyone else?
• 

  crazyblondeb

  I pointed this out to mom a while back. She just put her head back in the sand....Said, "don't email anything like this again"...

  
• 

  Jim_TX

  Waaaaay back when... when I was still married to the JW wifey... I found a list on the internet that identified a cult.

  There were about 25 items on that list. I showed it to the wife. She just about went ballistic.

  Remember the movie 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' - the part where those who were 'snatched' - when approached by a non-snatched one - would point and shreek?

  Yeah... that was her. She shreeked 'Apostate material!' or somesuch. I told her it was just something that I had heard, and was wondering if she would give it some thought.

  She finally calmed down enough - and said she would look into it.

  A few days later she proudly declared that she had 'researched' cults, and had determined that the JWs were NOT a cult.

  Of course... we all know that she just went to their own literature - which would be quick to point out that they weren't a cult. That's all she needed to know. End of 'research'.

  *shrug*

  I would say that for the most part... most other JWs woud respond very similarly.

  Regards,

  Jim TX

  P.S. Did I mention that she is my EX-wife?
• 

  dedpoet

  Hi Buttlight,

  You are right, there is nothing in that list that doesn't apply to the watchtower. They don't go in for physical violence so much, apart from child beating and molestation, but they certainly brutalize people mentally, with the shunning etc, which can be just as damaging and is certainly longer lasting.

  The usual jw defence against being labelled as a cult is that they do not have a single charisamatic leader, as groups like Peoples Temple and Heavens Gate did, but have a ruling body of up to 12 men. Personally, I think this makes their actions more reprehensible, as currently 10 of them are sharing in the same deception, but that's how they generally fool people into thinking they aren't a cult.

  Trev
• 

  Lady Lee

  Around the time I left in 85 the WTS did publish an article about cults.

  From that I concluded that because the witnesses didn't live in communes and didn't worship 1 ruler they weren't a cult.