Actually everyone in chat was very nice as usual. Shanna I hope you do come back and read this. Here is some of the info I promised:
I found this list at http://www.csj.org/infoserv_cult101/checklis.htm Bolded comments are mine.
The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment. That would be the FDS.
The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. Can you say proselytize? Every Saturday..and all the encouragement to pioneer.
The group is preoccupied with making money. Constantly being encouraged to donate more money for the World Wide Preaching work.
Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished. This one is a biggie and I think the reason most responsible for them being labelled a cult. Don't believe me..just start questioning things.
Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s). Does going out in field service count?
The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth). Oh yeah!!!
The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity). Only Jehovah's Witnesses will survive Armageddon and they have to get out the good news...
The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society. You are strongly encouraged not to associate more than necessary with non Witnesses. I wasn't allowed to spend time with my "worldly" friends outside of school. See they even have a name for non Witnesses.."Worldly"
The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations). The Witnesses strongly discourage taking a "Brother" into court for any reason.
The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities). I actually don't think they are guilty of this one.
The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them. They do!!! Trust me!
Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group. Ever hear of shunning? You will be strongly encouraged to spend as little time possible with non jw's, even if they're family.
Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group. Five meetings a week plus weekly field service, family study, personal study of each week's Watchtower.
Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members Trust me on this one!
I hope you take the kind advice of the people here who have lived through the Witnesses and know what they are talking about. I'm not anti JW because I have family who I love very much that are still active but, I dislike the Watchtower Organisation and what it does to people and their families. Before you make that big leap please do a little research. The Witnesses aren't all bad. Some people have joined and really straightened out their lives and enjoy being a Witness. Unfortunatly most aren't that lucky. Just make an informed decision.
~Aztec
