Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult? (page 2)

carla

"...I recall they state that a cult has one leader, and that proves they aren't one, end of story..." - Yes, this is what my jw has consistently said. However a group of men can act as 'one' so their explanation doesn't really hold.

Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

If you are in a group where there is no graceful way to leave and you will be treated badly and/or shunned for leaving the group you are most likely in a cult.

To leave a mainstream church is no problem. Most people understand that people change, their spiritual needs change. You don't usually have the same teacher in school your whole life as that one teacher probably could not serve you well in all your years and all subjects. Why would your spiritual needs be any different? Most churches would be sad to see you go but members would still greet you fondly in the store or on the street. They might ask if you are enjoying your new worship service but it would be as a genuine question not a way to shame you back. If they asked such a personal question to begin with.

punkofnice

It's been a long while since I heard that question.

What do you think, having read all the comments?

truth_b_known

"...I recall they state that a cult has one leader, and that proves they aren't one, end of story..." - Yes, this is what my jw has consistently said. However a group of men can act as 'one' so their explanation doesn't really hold.

Jehovah's Witnesses have one leader. The leader has incorporated under the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society. However, most JWs know of his by his taken name. First name "Governing". Last name "Body".

"Pleased to meet you. Won't you guess my name?!?"

Simon

The trouble with some of these definitions of a cult is that half of corporate America would be classed as cults.

Seriously, they all have their own language, terms for their employees (which is never just "employees") and you better be singing the company song in the daily standup meeting or else there will be a question-mark against your name for the level of commitment you're showing.

Many groups of humans end up exhibiting the same behaviors. Those that commit themselves more to the "org" get ahead, those who don't are viewed with suspicion. Those that are elevated gain power and influence, and inevitably mis-use it.

This is every company, every government department, every religion and crime syndicate ever.

But sure, people want to shout "CULT!" as though it accomplishes something. What exactly does it do? Other than make mainstream people think that we're full of hyperbole, because those nice people in suits and dresses aren't like those Heavens Gate people or the Jonestown group at all ...

The word cult means something, and it can't be the end of the spectrum that has its members kill themselves and their children.

Calling JWs a cult smacks of desperation to label them as worse than they are.

Why not simply prosecute them for the harm they do, in a factual way, which will be far more convincing. They are a high-control group. They adversely affect family relationships. They coverup abuses that happen in their ranks to protect their image. Heck, they have people spend far too much of their free time promoting their religion than working to care for their families.

There's plenty to go at without jumping the shark and trying to make out they are the Massive Manson Family.

Bobcat

Bobcat. I have wondered about the background music.

It is used to 'set the tone' of various parts of their videos. For example, when they have a video interview, you will inevitably hear background music. There is no need for this. They could just conduct their question and answer interview with the person or couple. But the background music that plays is intended to control how you feel about what is being said. And with WT interviews, everything that is said has been washed and scrutinized. You won't hear anything that is extemporaneous such as you might hear on a news interview. All such interviews are little more than propaganda exercises.

It is ironic that in years gone by the WT used to denigrate soap operas for their background music, which, admittedly, had the same purpose, to move you to feel for the characters. This might leave you feeling that a man was justified for cheating on his 'bad' wife. Now the WT is employing the same tricks.

I remember one elder who was interviewed during a KM school part about his college past. The interview followed the party line about higher education. But he admitted to me privately that he enjoyed his time in college. But you couldn't tell that from just listening to the interview.

Another time they wanted to interview a pioneer sister in our congregation about some experience she had with a Bible study using a certain book. Turned out the sister never used that book in the way the interview was supposed to demonstrate. But the brother conducting the interview was under pressure for the interview to demonstrate his outline point. In the end the sister made some sort of compromise that included ambiguous wording that was satisfactory to the brother conducting the part and the brother overseeing the convention parts. The sister was left with a somewhat bruised conscience.

It's all a great propaganda machine. And aside from the GB, everybody else is simply a cog in that machine.

TonusOH

I think they are. Or at least they want to be, based on the way they try to isolate and control the membership. It's always been difficult to do that, because they do not physically isolate people. So you are exposed to others in 'the world' all the time. Even if you do not consider 'worldly people' to be friends or spend any free time with them, you're expected to behave in a manner that gives a good impression to people. And that will draw them to you and make them take a genuine interest in you.

It's probably more difficult now, since the internet is a part of our lives to such an extent that the WT itself has a presence there (I can remember all of the old warnings about the internet, early on). It's very easy to find information about the WT, including information that would otherwise be extremely difficult to come by. So while they want to isolate and control people, it's become more difficult to do so. They do seem to want to be seen as a mainstream group in some ways (perhaps to ward off the label of 'cult').

Disillusioned JW

I think the article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult gives a useful perspective of ideas of what cults are, including what sociologists consider to be the types of groups that are cults. None of the sociological books which I have found (nearly all of which are college textbooks) which have a discussion of the topic of cults ever listed the Jehovah's Witnesses as a cult. Since sociologists are scientists (and since I highly value science and what scientists say of science) and since cults are a part of what their branch of science study, I thus think their view and definition of what a cult is is very important - much more important than the definition of modern human popular culture (and of the Christian apologetic literature [such as the book called Kingdom of the Cults] which label groups they disagree with as cults).

From time to time I have had a hard time deciding if the WT/JW religious sect is a cult. I never (thus far) considered it a cult, but sometimes I have wondered if it is a cult. I currently believe it is nearly a cult, especially after the governing body of the JWs began teaching that the faithful and discreet slave is exclusively them. Before I was baptized as a JW (and thus before age 18) I read an article by the WT Society which said the JW religion is not a cult and which stated some reasons for that view. I thought about what it said and I thought about my knowledge of religious groups which to me were/are definitely cults. I was thinking about this during the time I was trying to decide if the JW religion really was the true religion and if I should get baptized into it. [Or, maybe I read the article after I became baptized; I am not sure when but it think it was probably before I became baptized.] I concluded that the JW religion is not a cult, but if I had concluded it was a cult I would not have got baptized as JW for I did not want to ever join a cult.

LoveUniHateExams

Is The Watchtower a cult?

Well, this religion matches quite a few points of what a cult is, from what I remember.

If it walks like a duck ...

dropoffyourkeylee

I view is as more of a spectrum, rather than a simple yes or no question. There have been quite a number of groups of people, some religious, some political, that have erupted into the news; Jonestown, Waco, Manson, etc. Invariably when studied, these groups have certain characteristics that they use to control members and maintain the groupthink. It is a bit alarming to read these characteristics and see elements of it in your own life. It might be in your church (JWs as well), it might be at work (corporate jobs particularly), it might even be your club or card-playing buddies. JWs are definitely somewhere on the spectrum, worse than most, but not the worst.

punkofnice

Whether it's a cult or not really doesn't answer the question: Is this a dangerous thing to belong to?

Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult?

Share this