by lookingnow22 11 Replies latest jw friends
I've always agreed with the idea that if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...
The organization of Jehovah's Witnesses comports exactly with each and every element in the definition of a cult. Every one. So to me then, JWs are purely and simply a cult. No escaping it.
The WTBS fits the definition for a cult in many ways. However, there is a difference
in the severity in which they utilize their techniques.
For example, although JW's seek to control a person's behaviour and access to
information, the member still continues to live in their own home (usually). Cults will often
use sleep deprivation and total immersion techniques (such as not even leaving
a person alone to go to the bathroom). Cults will also try to physically isolate a
person on a retreat in order to indoctrinate them, whereas JW's seek to emotionally
isolate them while still living in society. Also, cults usually have an individual,
charismatic leader. JW's have had this in the past, but are now governed by
a corporate structure.
I have read Steven Hassan's book, and I was struck by how closely their tactics
resembled those of the Moonies. Another book listed JW's, Seventh Day Adventists,
Mormons, and Christian Scientists as "The four major cults".
However, I still stick with the traditional sociologists definition of JW's being a sect -
but on the borderline of culthood.
