Does GB know 'IT' is a farce? - Yes!

by Amazing 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  bwoga

  Amazing.......I love your posts....but when are you going to post part 2 to justice #16?????

  As far as this one goes.....I do think that the GB knows the religion is a farce....I have come to believe as well that it is a cult....The only difference is that they don't physically isolate members (unless you count bethel!) The scary thing is that they are still so effective! I liken coming out to stripping off many layers of old paint....layer by layer...you peel it off...stripping it down to the surface...I've been out 4 years and still have work to do!

  The Governing Body knows.......but I think they have a lot of fear...and well...truthfully most of them are old...if they just hang in there they'll die out..and won't have to worry about it. Look at Ray Franz....he didn't exactly get a retirement package offered to him.

  It is religious communism at it's finest....you can't disagree or speak out....if you do....it's to the firing squad you go (backroom)! I appreciate the time you put in to your posts...you're doing a good thing...
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  Sam Beli

  Dear Amazing,

  You said: “…when people who are young get into a cult, and then leave many years later, perhaps 10 or 20 or more, they will for a period of time revert back to the age they were when they joined th cult. [I am headed somewhere with this.]”

  “When I left the JWs, before I read any material about cults, I was heard to say many times that I feel young again, like I am 20 years old ... and I actually when through a re-growth process.”

  Your observation seems ‘right-on’ with respect to reverting back one’s age when leaving the JW cult. I am old enough to be retired, and yet after leaving the JWs I found myself interested in my old high school chums. I went to a HS reunion for the first time – they had had eight previous reunions that I did not go to. I send birthday cards now to old HS friends and communicate occasionally with them via e-mail. I skinny dip in a nearby pool and do other ‘crazy” things associated with teenagers, though I am a grandfather. Nope, I am not having a mid-life crisis (I am way beyond mid-life) I am enjoying to the max my new found freedom.

  Thanks for the insight, Amazing.

  Warm regards,

  Sam Beli
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  Sam Beli

  Dear Amazing,

  One other point. You said: “I am of the opinion that the WTS/JW religion is a moderate cult, or at least exhibits 'cultish' behavior in its inter-social dynamics.”

  I am surprised that you are this generous (calling them a moderate cult). It seems to me that they force their members to drink the “cool-aide” in hospitals and “back rooms” of KHs all over the world. I know that I almost drank it. I was on my death-bed when I woke-up to the JW hypocrisy – “you can have all of the components of FFP, but you can’t have the FFP,” said the HLC. That is when I woke-up!

  Had I stayed with the hard-line JW beliefs I’d be dead today. That doctrine, my friend, is cool-aide and that puts them beyond moderate, IMHO. Birthdays, Christmas, sports, etc. may put them in the mild to moderate class, but the blood issue (physical death) and shunning (emotional and spiritual death) catapults them into the highest class possible, it seems to me.

  Regards,

  Sam Beli
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  Amazing

  Hi Sam: Thanks for your good points. I call the WTS/JWs a moderate cult 'only' because there are worse, more dangerous cults. Jim Jone's Peoples Temple and their Guyana event, and the David Koresh Branch Davidian's are among just a few examples of extremely dangerous cults. Once poeple were inside their camps or compounds, they were prevented at gun point from leaving. And many tried to leave when they saw that things had gone to far. The level of sexual abuse, molestation, and weird doctrines are likewise generally far more extreme.

  This does not suggest that the WTS/JWs and their blood doctrine, or other anti-political stances have not caused serious harm or death ... but, in your case, for example, you were able to 'leave' and survive to talk about it. Most former JWs never faced such extremes as you have, and leave under far less extreme circumstances.

  By using the term 'moderate' I may still be generous, but I am trying not to embellish reality. The JW beliefs and policies and practices are clearly cultish, and as such pose a danger to the mental and physical well-being of their members. But, they are free to walk away with no guns pointed at their heads, and often other than emotional effects caused by shunning, there are no real physical scars, or permanent mental damage. There is a long period of adjustment and growth to be experienced upon exiting, and in this sense, the JWs are on a par with more extreme cults.

  I am sure in time that as science learns more about this social phenomenon, we will be better able to define a 'cult', identify solid characteristics from solid data, know the extent of the harm and have better theraputic treatments. But just in the last 20 or 30 years we have already made considerable progress to this end.

  Thanks again for your comments. - Amazing