Why JWs are a CULT - ULTIMATE POST

by Black Man 16 Replies latest jw friends

  • Black Man
    Black Man

    Hey all - I wanted to make a post to consolidate all the GREAT info, posts, links about WHY JWs are a cult (the signs, symptoms, everything, etc).

    Would love to have the definitions and specific EXAMPLES of how JWs FIT those definitions/descriptions.

    Thanks in ADVANCE! Love you guys!!

  • Magnum
    Magnum

    They aren't allowed to read information critical of the org.

    They blindly follow the dictates of a small group of men. They used to follow individuals (Rutherford, F Franz). In the seventies, hundreds of thousands of JWs went to book studies and considered publications written by F Franz. He was their oracle, their guru. That was extremely cultish. Now, his material is forgotten, and the org is trying to hide it. New JWs don't even know who he was.

    They are kept busy in a routine that leaves them little time to question the org.

    Their meetings only allow for agreeing with and praising the org. Consider the Watchtower study. There are no questions allowed and all comments are supposed to be in agreement with the printed material.

    They are allowed to become weak in faith in their supposed creator, but not in faith in the org/GB.

  • Oubliette
    Oubliette
  • Oubliette
    Oubliette

    The term "cult" is problematic as it is highly connotative and emotionally charged.

    Here's Merriam-Webster's definition:

    cult

    noun, often attributive \ ˈ kəlt\

    : a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous

    We can all imagine that JWs would apply that to many OTHER groups but never themselves.

    I like Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Cult Mind Control. He developed this as a means to identify any high-control, destructively authoritarian group.

    Read the list as see if it applies to JWs. I think you'll find that the JW religion exhibits most of the behaviors on Hassan's list.

    If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.

    The corollary is: If it acts like a cult, it's a cult!

    -

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein
    How many of these points can one identify with the JW cult. ?
    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.
    Ten warning signs regarding people involved in/with a potentially unsafe group/leader.

    1. Extreme obsessiveness regarding the group/leader resulting in the exclusion of almost every practical consideration.
    2. Individual identity, the group, the leader and/or God as distinct and separate categories of existence become increasingly blurred. Instead, in the follower's mind these identities become substantially and increasingly fused--as that person's involvement with the group/leader continues and deepens.
    3. Whenever the group/leader is criticized or questioned it is characterized as "persecution".
    4. Uncharacteristically stilted and seemingly programmed conversation and mannerisms, cloning of the group/leader in personal behavior.
    5. Dependency upon the group/leader for problem solving, solutions, and definitions without meaningful reflective thought. A seeming inability to think independently or analyze situations without group/leader involvement.
    6. Hyperactivity centered on the group/leader agenda, which seems to supercede any personal goals or individual interests.
    7. A dramatic loss of spontaneity and sense of humor.
    8. Increasing isolation from family and old friends unless they demonstrate an interest in the group/leader.
    9. Anything the group/leader does can be justified no matter how harsh or harmful.
    10. Former followers are at best-considered negative or worse evil and under bad influences. They can not be trusted and personal contact is avoided.
  • KateWild
    KateWild

    I would say a cult has a measure of control over it's members. Just like Oub said with the BITE model

    Behaviour control

    Information control

    Thought control

    Emotion control

    Kate xx

  • Oubliette
    Oubliette

    Finkelstein, interesting list.

    What is your source?

  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    Cult Education Institute

    http://www.culteducation.com/

  • Oubliette
    Oubliette

    Thanks Finklestein!

  • Hairtrigger
    Hairtrigger

    Thanks people. Marked

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