My new definition of cult. (page 2)

LongHairGal

DREARYWEATHER:

Technically I joined the JW religion as well. I was a young working adult. A Big however though:.. I joined based on what they SAID they were! So, I understand where MAGNUM is coming from.

I was told everybody was ‘equal’ (that’s a laugh) and was told they had ‘no clergy class’ (they have what amounts to a plain clothes clergy who claim ecclesiastical privilege in courts of law)..In fact, I didn’t think the JWs were a religion per se... I was raised Catholic and it sounded nice that it was supposedly classless and clergyless. But, I was young and ignorant about the bible. I was led to believe the JWs cracked some code in the bible. Since I was interested in end-time prophecy I was impressed by all this.

Of course, in time it was all revealed that what I was led to believe wasn’t true. Luckily for me, I never caved in to all the pressure to quit my decent full-time job to do housecleaning and pioneer! ..Years later this proved to be wise as I am now Retired.

I generally was viewed as ‘not-spiritual’ (they do love their labels)..because I wouldn’t let these people control my life and stick their noses where it didn’t belong..I had few friends and stayed on the fringes of the congregation until the 1995 teaching on Generation sucker-punched me. I began my ‘Fade’ sometime after that..My only regret was that I didn’t get Out sooner.

Drearyweather

I blame the shit out of JWdom, and I hate it. It took the prime of my life and has destroyed what would be my "golden years".

Hi Magnum & others,

Sorry that you had to go through all of that. My post was not to minimize the pain and suffering of what others have gone through, and I sincerely apologize if it has come across that way.

I may not fully understand the pain that some members have gone through, and I hope the best for all.

pistolpete

Magnum

From the time I was a small child, they showed me graphic depictions of people being destroyed in violent ways in a supposed upcoming end of the world.

Magnum, you just described my jw family. That was our daily dose that we received every day. All my brothers and sisters are now struggling financially just like you. I'm the one that has to help them and I actually don't mind. Why I didn't follow their course? I think it may have to do with the fact that I grew up with the internet.

But no one chooses to be a JW.

There are either born into the religion and trust their parents when they tell them it is the TRUTH! or They aren't told the whole truth when they start a bible study with some person looking for answers.

If JWs went to the door and told the householder;

We rather die than take a blood transfusion. We don't celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, Easter, Mother and Father's day, We shun our family if they ever leave the organization, We have to go door to door to be in good standing in the congregation. We have to attend all meetings if we are faithful, ONLY WE are going to be saved, everyone else will be destroyed. College is bad and so are beards. We can only marry a jehovah witness. We listen to every word that 8 old men in NY tell us--even if it doesn't make sense.

NO ONE WOULD JOIN IF JWs WERE HONEST FROM THE BEGINNING.

Magnum

Drearyweather, I really appreciate your kind, humble words. Damn, I feel bad now for making you feel bad. Sorry. No problems at all. Wish you the best, too. I'm just really mad at JWdom, and sometimes I might get too forceful with my words. I'm really not a hard person. I'm reasonable and caring. It might seem otherwise at times; I realize that.

Again, thanks for your last post.

Magnum

pistolpete:

Why I didn't follow their course? I think it may have to do with the fact that I grew up with the internet.

Yeah, I hear you and that certainly seems reasonable. I think that would have been a gamechanger for me. It wasn't until my early twenties (early 1980s) that I really started questioning/challenging JWdom (the organization as a whole) and JWism (the religion or the doctrinal part of JWdom). I had no internet and couldn't at the time even conceive of such. It's really amazing how much technology has changed since then. I only had a physical World Book Encyclopedia set at my house. I lived in a rural area, and the closest library was about 25 minutes away. I did go there a few times and look up stuff, but it was such a slow process. I had to look in a physical card catalog for various published info, go find the referenced item on shelves, and them thumb through pages to find the info. I was limited to copies of books and other publications at that particular library.

I don't remember when I really started using the internet... maybe late 90's? I remember hearing warnings about apostate info and other anti-JW info maybe even as early as mid-90's. At any rate, I was scared at first to look up JW-related stuff. I think it was around 2005 or maybe a little later that I began to gradually peek at anti-JW stuff, and gradually the scales came off my eyes.

I believe that if I had had the internet when I was first challenging and before I got baptized, I would have felt that it was OK to explore what others had to say because I wasn't yet committed. And... with all the information that the internet would have made available to me, I would never have gotten baptized and would have been spared a life of misery.

JWdom loves the darkness just as criminals do. They love it because they can do things under cover and not be exposed. JWdom loved the dark days before the light of the internet. The internet brought a great light that shone brightly on JWdom and pointed out its wrongs, its deception, its weakness, its lunacy, its hypocrisy, etc. If JWdom were the truth-loving, superhuman-backed entity it claims to be, it would love the light and exposure.

I'm glad you had the internet and didn't lose your life. If only I had been born two decades later.....

Anna Marina

Pistolpete said

NO ONE WOULD JOIN IF JWs WERE HONEST FROM THE BEGINNING

But the problem is that some know it is a lie and others are fooled. I know people who have brought people in who did not realise it was a con. Then, even the person they brought in, throws them out.

So if an innocent person is conning you it points to the fact that understanding is the issue. Watchtower clouds understanding.

A person taking the study MAY NOT UNDERSTAND IT IS A CON. The person who is having the Bible study cannot imagine it is a con.

When a person joins they think they are being helped to understand the Bible not abdicate their powers of reason to a group of people who will exploit them.

HowTheBibleWasCreated

I actually agree with Lloyd Evans when he says all organized religions are cults but there is a large scale between your community church and Scientology or between the Sikh Temple and the Mormon temple. Anytime someone has an idea that they they must be ruled by a deity a cult will form. It might be light or (For JWs) it might be heavy.

Anna Marina

So what is a 'deity'?

A football club? A religion that says there is no God? A religion that says you are God?

If a religion is disorganized is that ok? But if you are your own God and you are disorganized... how do you do your weekly shop?

GrreatTeacher

Magnum, I'm about a decade younger than you. I had enough doubts to go to community college, and though they still had a card catalogue, I was able to find several books on JWs, some of which were personal stories, and some of which placed JWs within the greater spectrum of Christian sects, specifically the Adventist arm.

The point being that basically the one decision, to step foot onto a community college campus, can be the difference between making it out in time to plan for a financial future and not.

That's why we are always encouraging people newly out or planning on leaving to go to college and educate themselves. Choose any course of study you like, plan a career, and most importantly learn critical thinking.

All of us are one decision away from having a different life outcome. There may have been that one super important decision in the past, but it may be in the future. One of the hardest things to do when you're young is to predict your life 20 or 40 years into the future. If you don't believe anything else on this site, believe that it gets here waaay more quickly than you think.

Vidiot

I prefer the term “authoritarian high-control group”.

A bit wordier, but break it down into its individual components, and I think even the most die-hard loyalist would find it difficult to refute the label.

My new definition of cult.

Share this