The language used to describe different religions can become very partisan it becomes important to establish who is making the judgment. If the word cult is used, often the people behind using it have a mainstream religious agenda. Other main users are the gutter type press with headlines like "Daughter abducted by evil cult". If however you look at people/organizations who study religion from a detached and scientific viewpoint, they tend never to use the word.
Be Fair = Witnesses are NOT a cult!! What about Christians or democracy?
by Witness 007 69 Replies latest jw friends
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Inquisitor
Bush's brand of democracy is hardly liberal democracy. His brand of democracy is paternalistic, conceited and mocks the very idea of democracy. ("We save you from your dictator; oops did we bomb your *terrorist* infrastructure to smithereens? Don't worry. My buddy oil moghuls will help build your country for a small cost. Neo-Con Capitalism To The Rescue! Yay you get to vote! Freedom at last! I did such a fucking good job! Mission accomplished! Sorry, who's this Osama guy again?")
INQ
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R.Crusoe
Peppermint, substitute a replacement word for cult which defines the ethos of what JWs do to leavers and their lives!
Please don't try agape cuz I dont buy it!
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trevor
Many books have been written about cults and the way that those belonging to them are controlled and manipulated. Of course those under such control are always offended at the notion that they are involved with a cult. Steve Hassan, an ex-Moonie has written a number of books exposing the cult mind- control methods. He has devised a set of guidelines that any religion can be measured against to decide whether or not a particular sect can be deemed a cult. He divides the process of mind control into four basic categories.
(1) Behaviour Control (2) Information Control (3) Thought Control (4) Emotional Control.
Some of the methods used are briefly summarised below:(1) Behaviour Control
includes, among many things, dictating to the members how they dress and groom themselves. How much time is spent on recreation and how much time is committed to receiving indoctrination. They are expected to ask permission before making major decisions. Information is distorted to make it acceptable to them and rigid rules are laid down. Individualism is discouraged and obedience is demanded.(2) Information Control
includes discouraging the reading of non-cult literature and information that is critical towards the group. Keeping members too busy to have time to think clearly about what they are doing and insisting they have nothing to do with ex-members. Past sins are used to pressure and control members. The leaders decide how much information the group needs and expect members to report other’s misdemeanours.(3) Thought Control
includes the group accepting the stated beliefs as “truth.” They are trained to see themselves in a good-versus-evil situation where every issue is simply black or white. Key words are adopted and used as “buzz words.” No criticism of the leaders or their doctrine is permitted and all alternative religious groups are seen as bad.(4) Emotional Control
includes using any guilt they may feel about their thoughts, feelings, family or their past. Any problems individuals may be experiencing are to be seen as the fault of the one who has the problems. Fear is built up in the minds of the members by warning them of the dangers of the “outside” world and the enemies that surround them. Fear of losing the approval of the other members is a key factor in pressuring the members to continue. The members are indoctrinated to fear questioning the leaders or being made to leave the group as they are told they will have no future if they are outside the safety of the group. There is no legitimate reason for leaving and those that do must be shunned. Without the protection of the group they could be exposed to possession by demons.As you can see from the length of the last paragraph, fear is a prominent factor in keeping members of cults in line. These guidelines can be applied to any sect to determine whether or not that sect or religion is a cult.
Taken from the book Opening the Door to Jehovah's Witnesses. By Trevor Willis
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real one
007 i hope you got the reaction you wanted because to say jw is not a cult is like saying the wolf didnt really want to eat the three little pigs. it is so obvious they are a cult.if it walks like a duck,quacks like a duck....its a duck....jw are a mind controlling dangerous cult. burgertime you mentioned baptist...i dont know any baptist that counsel someone for wearing a brown belt with black shoes to church...have you read the ridiculious thread about the most stupid thing you have been counseled for? i think thats what it says
these people stumble you by the way they expect you to dress! they are a cult and the other commenters here have given you enough proof to see it. if you dont see it the ask God to open your eyes and ears and your heart and help you to listen
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Peppermint
"Peppermint, substitute a replacement word for cult which defines the ethos of what JWs do to leavers and their lives!
Please don't try agape cuz I dont buy it!"
R. Crusoe - I made no judgment about Jehovah's Witnesses in my post but I agree with you, they ruin peoples lives - Thats why I'm here. I am just saying sometimes the terminology can get in the way of the argument. I choose not use a word that has been hijacked often for the wrong reasons. -
Witness 007
Realone is the greatest cult member of all second only to Fred Franz! Now is AMERICAN GOVERNMENT A CULT??? Many say NOOO!
Bush tells people the "terrorists" will bring Armagedon soon if we don't invade Afganastan and Iraq...can you spell Jihad! {Huge mistake}......of course his "followers" are willing to sacrifice themselves Jim Jones style to promote this myth. He preaches "freedom" while locking up non-believers in Cuba with no legal trial. {250,000 civillians dead Iraq} He convinces Americans to "sacrifice" some of their personal freedoms and privacy because of the "muslim apostates" who are after him. He pushes his way into other countries, like it or not as the U.S has for 50 years....establishing puppet governments to support his religion. His country is bankrupt but he keeps on preaching! AND AMERICANS THANK HIM FOR IT!!! Now Honest folks does this sound like a Bush Cult?
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Inquisitor
Back to the topic (now that I've made 10 enemies on JWD who are proud, nationalistic, hardcore-GOP, FOX-news-indoctrinated Americans)...
I essentially agree with what Witness007 is getting at.
It's not so much whether or not JWs are or are not a "cult" that's the issue (at least for me). It's how people label JWs "cult", but avoid doing so with other groups/organizations that obviously display cult-like characteristics.
There is no point in re-hashing the criteria for labelling JWs a cult. We already know what they are. That's why we criticize the Org so heavily. We already understand what is wrong with it. Mind-control, disfellowshippping etc.
Where we disagree is when the same label is irrationally removed where other groups are concerned. Then what happens is: people who contemplate if JWs are really a cult, desist from calling them that because of the DOUBLE STANDARDS in definition.
"Cult", to them, appears to be a label that we love to slap on people we love to hate. Why are JW practices cultlike, when these other groups are merely exercising their "religious freedoms", or "freedom of speech"??:
1) Churches and their allies* who teach and promote Creationism. They lobby school boards, build interactive Museums of the Living God and the Darwin Lie, indoctrinate kids (instead of exposing them to opposing viewpoints) fallacious comeback lines against Evolution Theory. Freedom of thought in these communities? Churches? Or cultlike mentality?
2) Churches, conservative think tanks and their allies who teach and advocate homophobia in society. Are there penalties for being gay in such groups? Sure, it may not be a JW DISFELLOWSHIPPING process. Just a little hush hush gay therapy will do. Perhaps a little electrode to your balls as they screen gay porn? Or some advice to get married to a virginal Christian girl ?(let's f***up the life of another repressed individual while we're at it) And don't forget the ink and paper spent on dubious journals to tell you that homosexuality is clinically abnormal. "Homosexuality was removed from the DSM bcos of LGBT lobbying, not empirical study!" cries the learned fool. Or was that the learned anti-gay "cult" member?
These two examples highlight how pockets of deliberate ignorance exist in our society. Ignorance that exact a high price from those to whom these issues matter most. To call it "ignorance" actually makes their behaviour excusable. They have seen the facts that dispute their claims, but are unable to act otherwise because of a "nobler" agenda: advancing the Christian God's moral code or preserving the politically conservative status quo.
If you are a Christian, please do not take it that I call all Christians cult members. Take the time to ask yourself if groups like what I've just described above exist. Then ask yourself, "Are these cults?" "Why not?" "How can their behaviour excuse them from such a label?"
INQ
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megaflower
What you say has some truth to it. However, the difference is the WTS is a DESTRUCTIVE CULT!!!!!!
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maxwell
I can type "JW are a CULT" just as easily as I can type "JW are the true religion of God". Asking God to open your eyes is a characteristic of a cult by many definitions.