Yesterday, a business associate asked me why JWs would not celebrate a birthday, a Bar Mitzvah, or any other holiday. He asked why they literally believed only 144,000 go to heaven. He asked how they could celebrate everything 1 year and the next year, tell their families that everything is pagan........My answer to all of his questions, were "It's because they're a cult." He nodded with understanding and I realized the easiest answer is "because they're a cult".
"Because They're A Cult"........
by minimus 25 Replies latest jw friends
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Odrade
yep, I use the same response. Cuts down on the explaining time. I think everyone pretty much knows that cults make arbitrary rules with no foundation to bind and control its adherents. Much easier than saying, "well, adulation...blah blah blah, bible...blah blah, heads cut off..."
Odrade
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Stefanie
Good job Min. That is the simplest and most logical way to explain the tards at the WBTS
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talesin
Yes, good answer. There is no logic to their doctrine, so "they are a cult" offers a reasonable and satisfying explanation without trying to explain the twisted reasoning involved. After all, why waste time analyzing a bunch of poppycock?
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Strawberryfieldsforever
At first Min, it was hard to think of myself being part of a cult. I didn't really want to believe it. Now after I realize that it IS a cult, I say it to everyone. And when my friends all ask me why I stayed in it....I tell them because my Mother raised me in it and told me I would be destroyed if I didn't do as they instructed me....thats what cults do!
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Stefanie
Its because at meetings they continually deny that they are a cult, and list reasons why not. When I first started coming here i didnt believe they were a cult, but after examining evidence I have clearly changed my mind.
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minimus
It took me years to accept that Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult.
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itsallgoodnow
Do I think Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult? I keep flip flopping on my opinion on this. I think it depends on what perspective you have of religion in general.
As of today, I think Jehovah's Witnesses are typical of disappointed millenarians still expecting the end of the world, desperately clinging to their beliefs despite a long history of failed prophecies. Yes, they use "high control" tactics as part of their strategy to keep people from leaving, and to get new people to join. I've seen where that has been defined as a cult, but I just hate the word "cult". I'm sick of feeling like a cult victim.
I can understand the need to keep it short with people who don't know anything about the Witnesses, but I don't want people to paint me with the "former cult victim" brush.
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rocketman
I usually stop short of saying that they "are" a cult. Normally, I say 'they are cult-ish' or have 'cult-like charactaristics'. That's just me, and heck - if it looks like a cult and talks like a cult, it's a cult.
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codeblue
Min---I hear ya...it took me years to realize they are a "cult" too...
Codeblue