Who's Cult is it Anyway...???

by Bells 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Bells

  Hi!

  Firstly - I am not, and never have been a Witness. My bf's family are all Witnesses and I have been looking into the religion lately to try to get a better understanding of where they're coming from. (Btw, my bf is not a Witness - he was thankfully never baptised and he just walked away from it about 13 years ago). I've spent many hours reading the various information that's out there today, including older Awake and WT mags as well as the many forums. From what I can see, this is one very mind-controlling organisation!

  I have been advised by some of the lovely people on this board to read Hassan's "Combatting Cult Mind Control" - which I have ordered and am waiting on (it should be in the mail) in order to get a better understanding of cults and the people in them, though even with my very limited knowledge in regards to cults, it seems so very obvious to be that that's exactly what the Witnesses are! My bf and I have been together for 12 years now, and I've always known that they had a fair few 'rules', though it's only recently that I've become aware of how much control is involved within the organisation.

  Anyway - my point is - what's the point!? I mean, the WT have printed a hell of a lot of lies, false preditions as well as racist and sexist material - I'm pretty sure we can safely assume that this is NOT God's organisation. So what's it all for? Who 'profits' from recruiting more people and growing the organisation. I believe that the Witnesses themselves are often reasonably honest, kind-hearted people, I see them as victims more than anything. So what's the point in running this cult and who is really behind it? Do the Elders get anything out of it? Or is it the GB who are the real bastards? And if so, what do they get out of it? Is there money involved (I'm assuming there has to be - but how does it work when they teach against materialism and financial success?). Or do you think that the GB really do believe that they are 'annointed' and in direct communication with God and do they really just get off that much on their own spiritual superiority...???

  If anyone has a better understanding on the working's of this organisation, I'd love to hear. It's the final piece of the puzzle for me - I understanding clearly that this is a very controlling cult - though I can't can't really seem to understand who is driving it - and why...

  Thanks!

  Bells
• 

  palmtree67

  I waffle between thinking the GB know perfectly well that they are running a mind-control group, and thinking they really believe they are the only ones chosen by God.

  Is there any way to really know for sure?

  Good luck to you, Bells!

  Palm
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  diamondiiz

  Good questions that many have asked without any answers. Ray Franz - exGB member - wrote that they believed their own crap for most part. This information may have been valid up to 1980 but 30 years have past and the world became a much smaller place when it comes to information. The GB is still very secretive group so what they really believe no one really know.

  What's it for? And where does the money go? It's hard to say. Do the lawyers get a nice egg nest offshore or a cut of the pie??? Do accountants get a share??? Hard to say. Do GB have something offshore??? No one knows and at this time no one is talking. But the top end people have access to ALL of the information and the way things are written in some of the articles one can assume that they are willfully deceiving the rank and file. Lawyers are doing their job defending wrongs which means they must agree to defend the crooked ways of their faith which should be somehow an ethical problem for them if they were really believing all the God's Organization BS. It's a business and it's run like a business but who gets paid won't be known until there is a whistle blower or the governments shut them down and exposes their dealings.

  Russell and Rutherford lived and traveled all around the world while being looked up to as prophets. Since those two, Knorr and the GB that followed him were never in the same spotlight. We hear of them staying in nice places when they travel and eating in nice restaurants but how frequently???? Is prestige what they desire? Unfortunately you won't get the answer to your questions at this time other than assumptions at best.
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  man oh man

  I'd say it belongs to the people at the top. They get lifetime benefits. They get worship from those below them. They are on rotation according to how long they live. Some may wish to change the situation but can't for fear of losing what they have. the organisation seems to have a life of its own. Its only true enemy that being time will eventually destroy it. I hope i live long enough to WITNESS that.
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  InterestedOne
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  InterestedOne

  I asked the same question you did here a while ago, and others have asked it before me. Below are a few threads:
  
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/203322/1/What-is-the-WTs-Motivation-Who-Benefits
  
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/203018/1/Who-Owns-Kingdom-Halls-Land
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/206155/1/Is-that-podium-thing-unique-to-JWs-Do-they-build-them
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  erbie

  I have thought long and hard on this subject and the conclusion that I have come up with is that people believe what they want to believe to the point that if you really want to believe something badly enough then you will.

  In short, I think that the GB want to believe in their own teachings so much that they really do believe it or they have conditioned their own minds to unquestioningly accept it as truth.

  If you think about it, it's not rocket science, if you accept something and do not allow yourself to question it or look at it objectively then your mind has no choice but to believe it as truth or whatever the mind perceives truth to be.

  In any case, I think that the idea that people believe what they want to is the only exlanation for how humans can accept nonsense as truth.

  Worryingly, this leads me to question myself thus: Did the WT brainwash me or did I brainwash myself because of the desire to beleive in a wonderful new paradise earth.

  Come on guys, ignore the WT connection, who wouldn't want to live in a place like that. I know I would.
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  wannabefree

  I have come to accept that the "cult" is a publishing company that transformed into a religion, everything is done to protect the religion, the caretakers of the cult are the "Governing Body", it belongs to nobody, that is what makes it hard to recognize as a cult (especially to active members).

  *** w10 9/15 p. 23 par. 8 "Your Leader Is One, the Christ" ***
  The anointed and their other sheep companions recognize that by following the lead of the modern-day Governing Body, they are in fact following their Leader, Christ.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  Ray Franz - exGB member - wrote that they believed their own crap for most part.

  Why wouldn't they believe it? Most of us here did.

  Were you an elder? If so, didn't you believe that the decisions you made in the zillions of worthless Elders' Meetings and JCs were directed by Holy Spirit? Of course you did! You were one of the 5 or 6 "special" chosen ones for XYZ Congregation. You had been ENTRUSTED BY GOD to care for the other 50, 60 or 100 persons in the Cong -- His Sheep.

  The CO was a gift from Jehovah provided lovingly by the F&DS. You lavished the CO and COW in fine things and special treatment. (Besides, you were hoping to get tapped on the shoulder for an assembly talk or a department head position.) We had COs with stupid or oppressive ideas, but no one would tell them so. Bow to the CO. His ideas are better than ours -- his thoughts and decisions are MORE Spirit Directed than the Lesser Spirit Directed decisions of us Elders or Pioneers or Publishers. Furthermore, he (the CO) believes it, too! That's right, it's evident from the ble$$ing$ he receives despite his life of self-sacrificing service to the 20 or so congregations that he has been ENTRUSTED BY GOD to care for spiritually.

  And dear Mother-of-God, if the decision was conveyed in a letter from Brooklyn that was damn near the same as if it had been written by a finger on the wall of the Kingdom Hall. Mene mene....... It was from the Governing Body -- men chosen directly by GOD'S Holy Spirit -- though enver said directly perhaps, they're the replacements for the Apostles, as though chosen by Christ Jesus personally. And of course they believe it! YOU DID! It is evident from the ble$$ing$ they are receiving as the WT$ prospers and as the worldwide flock which they have been ENTRUSTED BY GOD to oversee....continues to grow in nation after nation. (And if it doesn't grow for a year or so, it's a sifting by God -- a separating the wheat from the chaff.)

  Who's cult is it?

  It is (was) YOURS! It gave you that Special Feeling of Divine Favor.

  It's the Elder's. It gives them that Special Feeling of Higher Privilege (that they cannot get from any other position they have in life).

  It's the COs/DOs. As a result of their self-sacrificing spirit, they lack nothing. They are provided comforable, middle-class housing and a nice, new vehicle and have all of their expenses paid by others. Just turn in a bill to the congregation. Bigger items, turn in a bill to the circuit. Something that's not to be expenses with Dedicated Funds, just take the offer of Bro & Sis FatCat to use their Mastercard for a purchase. OR, the Assembly Overseer will "put the word out" at the Elders' Meeting that the CO/COW have a special need and do what your heart motivates you to do for them.

  And that's just the Little People. When you get to the TOP, I don't believe there are any big personal bank accounts accumulating offshore. They don't need it. They have control of MILLIONS of $$$ of a$$et$. Penthouse apartments (free), maid service, private chef services, personal assistants, chauffers of a fleet of nice autos, free travel to any exotic destination in the world with better than modest accommodations, where they are revered like royalty and wined and dined at others' expense. It's like being a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. You don't have to OWN the company, just control the money. Write off all trips, meals, entertainment. Fly first class, dine first class, someone else pays. Wanna see Paris? Branch Office visit to encourage brothers for enduring through the trial on taxes on charitable giving until Jehovah blessed their efforts and WTS wins verdict. African safari? Tour of Branch Office and give talk, take side trip with safari. Free accomodations. Free meals. Free travel. Someone to carry luggage and keep itinerary.

  And at the same time, the gratification of doing God's Will.

  It's YOUR cult. YOU PAID FOR IT.

  DOC