Cult Status Covered Over By Blood & Why Ex's Seek To Infiltrate

by Englishman 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  Englishman

  It does not appear that disfellowshipping was held over the heads of the Witnesses back then as it is today, requiring that they conform "or else".

  It was very, very rare for someone to be DF'd back then. In actual fact, between 1954 and 1972 when I was attending meetings, I can only recall 1 DF'ing taking place in the congregation that I attended. There were though, amazing rumours constantly circulating through the circuit about the reasons that some had been DF'd from other congo's.

  The Portsmouth South congo had something of a reputation as being a congo where they had a "Different kind of truth there", and multiple DF'ings did occur there at one time.

  Most "wrongdoing" was handled by a secret probation up until the early 70's, after that they just went haywire.

  Englishman.
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  garybuss

  
  
  Eman, You wrote: Just wondering how it is that ordinary folk tend not think of JW's as a cult like, say, The Moonies.
  
  It's because the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation's business executives run their company like a business and their product is their image. They work hard to be seen as "normal" in society and for the most part, they are successful here in my area. From my experience with child custody hearings in court with the Watch Tower Corporation attorney, their primary gaol is to convince the judge that they are a normal misunderstood roadside religion that would never harm anyone.
  
  They instruct the Witness spouse to lie to the judge and tell the court that they don't know what they would do if their child needed emergency blood medical treatment. They hide how bad they are. They are so bad, the truth is less believable about them than the lie, so people tend to belive the lie.
  
  On one hand they work hard to make members conform to the guidelines like refusing to stand for the national anthem or receiving blood medical treatment, that make them appear different. On the other hand the public relations division of headquarters as well as the legal department work hard for the same members to be seen as not different. A read dichotomy.
  
  I would much rather my children were Moonies than Jehovah's Witnesses.