by Think About It 184 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Would street gangs fall under the cult rubrique?
Come to think about it... absolutely! You try to leave a gang and you're bound to pay a price for it, BIGTIME!
People trying to leave a gang often pay for it with their lives. Outsiders trying to oppose them often get crushed.
Same with JW's...
V665
For those who don't think it's a cult, please either (1) try to leave the religion or (2) read this thread: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/200501/1/I-HATE-this-religion
When I read "Releasing the Bonds" and highlighted everything that I had seen or experienced growing up a JW on the BITE model.
I sat back and said, "Holy $h!t, they are a cult!"
I had the same sentiment Jadeen. I was reading Releasing the Bonds, and when I read and re-read the BITE model, I just had to stop. Pick up my jaw from the floor and realization settled in and I was in shock. It's one thing to hear comments that JWs are a cult, but its another to read it, understand it and accept it.
Undercover,
"But the continual indoctrination and programming of the WT ideals and beliefs robs the individual JW of their ability to think and reason...to use their own conscience.
I agree. Though many JWs do exercise conscience, they see and remain.
"The member becomes a controlled arm of the group, obeying and working at the behest of the leadership to keep the leadership in power...with nothing but empty promises in return."
What you wrote above can be said about many religions and governments, it's true. The common factor is people, and in every segment of society most people who seek an abundance of power or riches will in varying degrees overrippen and rot out. The JWs are not unique in that regard except for the fact that we were once members of that religion.
I once carried the "suicide" card, my daughter still does. I knew what I was doing so does my daughter. Will she die for it? I hope not but if she left the Witnesses and joined the military or Greenpeace or a myriad of difficult causes in the so called world that would put her at risk her choice would be the same, "join the cause and risk death or injury," or not join. She knew the risks of refusing blood before her baptism and went ahead with it. So did I. I am not a fatalist, I'm a realist. Life ends and as adults we choose how we want to live that life and until our children are grown we also choose how they should live theirs, for the good or the bad. Life is full of risks and choices. She loves her religion, I love her. We are both happy to allow the other their right of conscience and risk. I smoke.
The word Cult carries a very negative meaning. Sometimes I refer to the Watchtower religion as a Cult (only when I get mad); it’s undeniable that the same elements that define a cult are present in Jehovah’s Witness religion. However, I believe that the Jehovah’s Witness are in a class of their own when it comes to group mind control and cult like characteristics. So…I still have a hard time calling it a Cult just yet…
I’m going a little bit off topic, but I would like to add that I believe that the grip of the mind control varies from Witness to Witness. For example, it is easier for a JW convert to realize that this is just another religion than for a born-in. It is easier for a non-bethalite to read apostate material and sites than for a bethalite living in a WT’s compound.
Another thing that we should also think about is that, some people, even when they know this is not the “Truth”, they still like and stay in this religion because it gives them something to do, friends, social status, meaning, etc. To others, the idea of figuring out religion or the Bible on their own is a daunting task; they don’t trust them self and they find it easier to let someone else do the thinking for them and to then tell them how to do things to “pleases God”. To those type of people, this is a good to a less than perfect religion…but not a cult.
However, with the way that things are going lately (the language, the attitudes, the spirit) …they are becoming more cultish than before, and I can see that the application of the mind control techniques are on the raise.
As of today, I feel that the JW is a controlling spiritually abusive religion. But deep down inside, I feel that the JW religion is an Open Cult.
My take,
Onemore
After starting to read on this forum many of the discussions/debates about 'cult' methods etc...I realised it was and is a cult. Now I see it so clearly and it appals me that I didnt for all those years.
Loz x
The first night I looked at apostate material on the net, I knew it was a cult. I then shortly went on this forum.
Also reading Combatting Cult Mind Control helped to solidify that point.
I realised it was a cult when I started reading this forum, funny enough, last night I just finished reading "Combating Cult Mind Control".
That book just proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt.
You simply need to answer this question for yourself: Why would a group of people have Suicide Cards in their wallet?
That made me laugh so much . . .and out loud!
It's so true leavingwt, you hit the nail on the head with that simple question!
I can't believe I was one of those who had a 'Suicide Card' in my wallet, it just blows the mind to think of that now.
3Mozzies
The GB & bOrg worship seemed very cultish to me. Before leaving in 95', the continued elevation of the GB and de-emphasising of Jesus bothered me. Seeing how bad it is now is really alarming. You have any inkling of a difference in thought or opinion from the GB and you are kicked out as an apostate, all the while they are flip flopping doctrine and spinning new light.
To let the JW Governing Body have that must control of you & your families personal lives is the sign of a cult.
Think About It
