Top signs that JWs are a CULT

by Black Man 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  Black Man

  I've been gathering info on cults and I know we've had several threads about the top warning signs that JWs are a cult. Can anyone point me to those links? Or post up any new observations about it in this thread. This would be a BIG HELP!! Thanks in advance.............
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  BrentR

  The info in this link pretty much describes JW's in nutshell.

  http://www.rickross.com/warningsigns.html

  By Rick Ross, Expert Consultant and Intervention Specialist

  Ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader.

  1. Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.

  2. No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

  3. No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.

  4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.

  5. There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.

  6. Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

  7. There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.

  8. Followers feel they can never be "good enough".

  9. The group/leader is always right.

  10. The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.
• 

  Gopher

  Here was a list posted on this board earlier this year, from http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

  Just substitute "leadership" or "Governing Body" for guru, and note that there are a few towards the end that do not necessarily apply (yet) to Jehovah's Witnesses.

  • 1. The Guru is always right.
  • 2. You are always wrong.
  • 3. No Exit.
  • 4. No Graduates.
  • 5. Cult-speak.
  • 6. Group-think, Suppression of Dissent, and Enforced Conformity in Thinking
  • 7. Irrationality.
  • 8. Suspension of disbelief.
  • 9. Denigration of competing sects, cults, religions...
  • 10. Personal attacks on critics.
  • 11. Insistence that the cult is THE ONLY WAY.
  • 12. The cult and its members are special.
  • 13. Induction of guilt, and the use of guilt to manipulate cult members.
  • 14. Unquestionable Dogma, Sacred Science, and Infallible Ideology.
  • 15. Indoctrination of members.
  • 16. Appeals to "holy" or "wise" authorities.
  • 17. Instant Community.
  • 18. Instant Intimacy.
  • 19. Surrender To The Cult.
  • 20. Giggly wonderfulness and starry-eyed faith.
  • 21. Personal testimonies of earlier converts.
  • 22. The cult is self-absorbed.
  • 23. Dual Purposes, Hidden Agendas, and Ulterior Motives.
  • 24. Aggressive Recruiting.
  • 25. Deceptive Recruiting.
  • 26. No Humor.
  • 27. You Can't Tell The Truth.
  • 28. Cloning -- You become a clone of the cult leader or other elder cult members.
  • 29. You must change your beliefs to conform to the group's beliefs.
  • 30. The End Justifies The Means.
  • 31. Dishonesty, Deceit, Denial, Falsification, and Rewriting History.
  • 32. Different Levels of Truth.
  • 33. Newcomers can't think right.
  • 34. The Cult Implants Phobias.
  • 35. The Cult is Money-Grubbing.
  • 36. Confession Sessions.
  • 37. A System of Punishments and Rewards.
  • 38. An Impossible Superhuman Model of Perfection.
  • 39. Mentoring.
  • 40. Intrusiveness.
  • 41. Disturbed Guru, Mentally Ill Leader.
  • 42. Disturbed Members, Mentally Ill Followers.
  • 43. Create a sense of powerlessness, covert fear, guilt, and dependency.
  • 44. Dispensed existence
  • 45. Ideology Over Experience, Observation, and Logic
  • 46. Keep them unaware that there is an agenda to change them
  • 47. Thought-Stopping Language. Thought-terminating clichés and slogans.
  • 48. Mystical Manipulation
  • 49. The guru or the group demands ultra-loyalty and total committment.
  • 50. Demands for Total Faith and Total Trust
  • 51. Members Get No Respect. They Get Abused.
  • 52. Inconsistency. Contradictory Messages
  • 53. Hierarchical, Authoritarian Power Structure, and Social Castes
  • 54. Front groups, masquerading recruiters, hidden promoters, and disguised propagandists
  • 55. Belief equals truth
  • 56. Use of double-binds
  • 57. The cult leader is not held accountable for his actions.
  • 58. Everybody else needs the guru to boss him around, but nobody bosses the guru around.
  • 59. The guru criticizes everybody else, but nobody criticizes the guru.
  • 60. Dispensed truth and social definition of reality
  • 61. The Guru Is Extra-Special.
  • 62. Flexible, shifting morality
  • 63. Separatism
  • 64. Inability to tolerate criticism
  • 65. A Charismatic Leader
  • 66. Calls to Obliterate Self
  • 67. Don't Trust Your Own Mind.
  • 68. Don't Feel Your Own Feelings.
  • 69. The cult takes over the individual's decision-making process.
  • 70. You Owe The Group.
  • 71. We Have The Panacea.
  • 72. Progressive Indoctrination and Progressive Commitments
  • 73. Magical, Mystical, Unexplainable Workings
  • 74. Trance-Inducing Practices
  • 75. New Identity -- Redefinition of Self -- Revision of Personal History
  • 76. Membership Rivalry
  • 77. True Believers
  • 78. Scapegoating and Excommunication
  • 79. Promised Powers or Knowledge
  • 80. It's a con. You don't get the promised goodies.
  • 81. Hypocrisy
  • 82. Denial of the truth. Reversal of reality. Rationalization and Denial.
  • 83. Seeing Through Tinted Lenses
  • 84. You can't make it without the cult.
  • 85. Enemy-making and Devaluing the Outsider
  • 86. The cult wants to own you.
  • 87. Channelling or other occult, unchallengeable, sources of information.
  • 88. They Make You Dependent On The Group.
  • 89. Demands For Compliance With The Group
  • 90. Newcomers Need Fixing.
  • 91. Use of the Cognitive Dissonance Technique.
  • 92. Grandiose existence. Bombastic, Grandiose Claims.
  • 93. Black And White Thinking
  • 94. The use of heavy-duty mind control and rapid conversion techniques.
  • 95. Threats of bodily harm or death to someone who leaves the cult.
  • 96. Threats of bodily harm or death to someone who criticizes the cult.
  • 97. Appropriation of all of the members' worldly wealth.
  • 98. Making cult members work long hours for free.
  • 99. Total immersion and total isolation.
  • 100. Mass suicide.
  • Bibliography
• 

  hopie

  ALONG WITH MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, I LIST THE TOP SIGNS OF A CULT IN MY BOOK.

  "GOING UNDERCOVER TO RESCUE MY DAUGHTER, FROM THE CULT OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES'

  http://www.amazon.com/Going-Undercover-Rescue-My-Daughter/dp/0941813053

  Hopie
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  flipper

  BLACK MAN- Right now I am over halfway done reading Steve Hassan's book, " Combatting Cult Mind Control". One interesting point in it is under the subheading " No Way Out". I quote, " Unlike non-cult organizations that recognize a person's inherent right to choose to move on , mind control groups make it very clear that there is no legitimate way to leave. They are not allowed the time or mental tools to prove to themselves there is something better . They are locked in a psychological prison. " A very good read , if you get a chance to read it
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  blondie

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/112308/1.ashx

  http://www.jwinfo.8m.com/cult_comparison.htm

  http://www.goodcathinfo.com/ccarchdefncult.htm

  http://www.freeminds.org/psych/ins_outs.htm

  http://www.xjw.com/whatcult.html
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  WTWizard

  I remember when I was going in, I thought that many of those same signs were the sign of The True Religion. They pointed out so gleefully that there can only be one truth (which is true). They also pointed out that they were the ones that had it (a lie). Self sacrifice is highlighted at the boasting sessions and when the hounder-hounder shows up.

  Then, when I got baptized, all they wanted was for me to spend ever more time in field circus. I was putting in 20 hours and up a month, due to my study conductor that was ultra-insistent that I do everything to the max. But they kept hounding me to commit to pioneering. I knew that for me to do that was not sustainable, and that if I did it one month, they would expect it all the time. But still they kept hounding me. I can still remember that month that they shoved a pioneer application form in my face (and in everyone else's). They got more than half of them back, and those who successfully completed it were hounded to continue pioneering.

  And what absurd things they call "privileges". It is a "privilege" to clean the toilets in the Kingdumb Hell, pass the stupid mics, handle the littera-trash, waste more time in field circus, and get all the accountability without the authority to change what's wrong. To me, all that was self-defeating. They were struggling because of leadership-caused problems, not just because of a few trolls acting to bust things up. Reforming a congregation would have been impossible since the other hounders would fight to keep things as was, and the hounder-hounder and higher ups would have sabotaged any efforts on my part to fix the problems. No way I am going to accept such "privileges" that are only going to waste my time and energy.
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  grewupJWnoselfesteem78-95

  "if you leave us you will die!!!!"
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  OBVES

  What you are giving about cults is a total misunderstanding ! The world doesn't determine which religion is true or a cult. You must go by what God Yahweh set up in the Bible.Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult the way it is shown in Acts 28.22. It was a different cult - the true christianity.

  Jehovah's Witnesses have one of the best understanding of the Bible ! Show me another cult which is better. By the way the word cult is a curious word that can be interpreted in at least two ways.

  There is a cult in Poland for instance which is the cult of the Virgin Mary and has a positive connotation for most Polish people and they would be glad to hear from you they have a cult of Virgin Mary .

  The proper word is "sect ". And that word is used in Acts 28.22.

  If you use the word " cult " it will not express the word "sect ".

  Catholic religion arose from a sect . Protestant religions will be as sects now to the Catholic Church.
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  chickpea

  7 ELEMENTS OF A CULTIC GROUP

  1) A centralized form of leadership that rules with unquestioned authority

  2) A body of convictions, beliefs, and practices set forth boldly as "the truth"

  3) A compelling presentation of the group vision to prospects that is inviting and challenging

  4) A series of manipulative socializing sessions to instill psychological dependence on the group

  5) A definable process of group dynamics used to unethically control and manipulate members

  6) A history of abuses of authority by group leaders freely using deception and fear tactics

  7) A history of psychological and spiritual abuses of group members that destroy lives

  http://www.spiritwatch.org/cultdef.htm