I was twenty and pregnant with my first child. I was in the hospital when it happened. I got out of the hospital and attended the circuit assembly. I was baptized at that assembly. Anyway, there were about the same number of people at the assembly as died in the massacre. I remember looking around at everyone trying to imagine them all laid out, swollen in the tropical heat. It was very strange.
How many of us remember the Jonestown massacre?
by james_woods 26 Replies latest jw experiences
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StAnn
I remember talking about this after the book study. The biggest concern everyone had was that it would interfere with the preaching work because there were actually some people in "the world" who were under the impression that JWs were a cult! Of course, they were wrong, but perception is important....I remember thinking at the time that, yes, JWs would drink the kool-aid.
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White Dove
I remember the pencil drawing of all of the dead bodies in the Awake! or WT mags. Why do they have to shock jock every magazine?
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dogisgod
Yes, I remember it. It was so crazy weird with them gunning down the people coming to check on them and then murdering their own kids...even squirting cool aid down babies throats. One of the things to remember is that it didn't happen suddenly. People had been following him for years letting his brain (which got more and more warped the more power he got) destroy their reasoning. They gave him literally everything, land, money, time, moved away from family and country. In the end they did not believe they could live without his will.
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Black Sheep
All major and minor cult related events have passed without any comment from any of my JW family.
As far as I am aware, they have passed without comment from the WT as well.
I would have thought that searching a WTCD for 'cult' should provide many examples of the dangers of following cults, but the last CD I checked (2001) was unfruitful in this department.
Cheers
Chris
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Witness 007
My mum was just studying at the time. Relatives told her the Jonestown group were Witnesses....it was big news in Australia. I was about 5 or 6 and don't remember anything.
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BluesBrother
It had little impact in the area in which I live , or the cong..Just one more tragedy in a world full of tragedies. I have seen many times the references to it here on JWD then I ever heard before..Ths whole Kool Aid symbolism was new to me,..The WT said this.
[Blame the people" it seems.They expect the Jonestown people to have reasoning questioning minds, but deny that to their own :]
* w79 5/15 pp. 5-6 Is Your Trust in God . . . Or in a Man? *
**There is no question that the Jonestown tragedy was a case of the blind leading the blind and both falling into a pit. (Matt. 15:14) The entire episode underscores the wisdom of Jesus’ command not to exalt men. No doubt many of those who followed Jones had at one time belonged to the various denominations of Christendom. But they were allured by this self-proclaimed messiah who had a vision of a socialist paradise. Well has this horrible episode been described as "an appalling demonstration of the way in which a charismatic leader can bend the minds of his followers with a devilish blend of professed altruism and psychological tyranny."
But still one wonders about the naïve people who were taken in by Jones. It is said that 80 percent of them were blacks, mostly in poorer circumstances. Some, both whites and blacks, who were altruistically motivated, joined because of the stress he put on racial equality and because of various humanitarian projects that he at first sponsored. Yet one wonders about their devotion to righteous principles. By tolerating and cooperating with all the unclean things Jones himself did and caused to be done, they certainly showed that their trust was not in God, nor were they concerned about following Jesus Christ.
How could they give such blind devotion and loyalty to a man who "flaunted his power over people and forced them to fulfill his consuming needs for financial, egotistical and sexual gratification"?