Is the JW religion that unique ??? do others have the same problems ???

by run dont walk 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  run dont walk

  Is the JW religion that different from other religions, I am not talking about beliefs, but the set up and blueprint that they work from.

  I had a great discussion the other day with 2 hetterites (not sure how to spell it) both in their mid-twenties, they talked about how they had just left about one month ago and were going up to Fort McMurray to work, as they talked about their childhood, their beliefs, their upbringing, their rules, do's and don'ts, I swear they could of been JW's, I mean they went throught the exact things that alot of us on this board went through, it was amazing and frightening.

  Not knowing alot about other religions, are the problems we went through with the JW religion any different from someone who is Mormon, Muslim etc. etc. etc., do all religions although different beliefs by far, basically have the same blueprint in runnning their organization ??? and controlling people ???
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  Odrade

  I just had a conversation on-line last night with a girl who escaped (her word) from Assembly of God a couple of years ago. Her family and friends now basically shun her, turn their back on her in the supermarket and such. Family cut off her college funding and stuff, don't invite her to family gatherings. When she was in, she was isolated from other children, no extra-curricular activities, no friends "outside." Very strict standards of dress, grooming and entertainment. Intensive "bible study," really indoctrination.

  FWIW,

  Odrade
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  barry

  I was brought up and still am an Adventist which a very strict religion and similar in some doctrinal areas to the witnesses. My first wife was studying with the witnesses and when she came to my church she was terrified something I didnt understand at the time. Anyway when she studied with the minister at my church some of the doctrines i didnt agree with and I told the minister so. He tried to pressure me to go along with the traditional Adventist beleifs and eventually I left and we got married at the Baptist church and went to that church. The Adventist minister I had the dissagreements over was transferred to another church and nearly lost his job over the way he handled our situation. So the situation is with most churches the customer is allways right even if he is wrong but with the witnesses the customer or member is allways wrong. Barry
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  ClassAvenger

  Odrade, are you sure she was from an Assembly of God? I've got some friends there and they are not really indoctrinated, they are pretty open-minded and show no signs of indoctriniation... whatever those signs might be.
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  kgfreeperson

  "This was a lesson that John David Ashcroft absorbed as a Pentecostal minister's son reared in an Assemblies of God congregation in Springfield, Mo." (from an article in the San Francisco Chronicle) Also, see
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  kgfreeperson

  Oh, phoo. See if this works http://www.ag.org/top/beliefs/truths_condensed.cfm
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  Odrade

  Yes, that is what she said. In my experience, from seeing them in my town and meeting them in field service, Assembly of God is very fundamentalist/isolationist. Of course not every individual involved in it will necessarily conform to that... also, probably not every assembly/congregation will have the same degree of restriction. I do know that my experiences with talking to Assembly of God confirm what the online friend told me. YMMV.

  Here is an experience very similar to my friend's: http://www.spiritualabuse.org/experiences/other/helen.html

  Odrade
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  unique1

  I think any organized religion dwells on control to some degree. They have to make every church uniform and the only way to do that is to control the congregation members to some degree. Maybe all aren't as bad as others, but they all exibit some form of control on the believers.
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  NeonMadman

  I think any organized religion dwells on control to some degree. They have to make every church uniform and the only way to do that is to control the congregation members to some degree. Maybe all aren't as bad as others, but they all exibit some form of control on the believers.

  What I wondered as I read this was, how many churches have you really visited? It hasn't been my experience that most mainstream churches see any need to make their members conform to anything more than the most essential doctrines and practices. I disgree with the minister of the church I attend about a lot of things, but it's not a problem for him or for me.

  Now, I guess if I said that I didn't believe in salvation through Jesus Christ, I might not qualify for membership in a Baptist church. But why would I want to belong to it if I were that far from them in terms of belief? On the other hand, I know quite a few Baptists who do not believe in a literal hellfire, although that is the official teaching of their churches. Again, it in no way restricts their ability to be a fully participating part of the church.

  Of course, I could walk out the door tomorrow, deny everything, and not have to worry about being shunned - that makes a difference, too.
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  freedom96

  I too talked with a Baptist minister, and even he didn't believe in a hell where people are tortured forever.

  There are always going to be those religions that are extreme, but I just don't believe that is what God had in mind.

  Of the many mainstream religions, I believe the WTS holds the title for the most odd teachings, and the most destructive when dealing with ex members, as well as plain 'ole worldly people.