Here's the short version of above post-
They are like body snatchers, yes it's a cult.
Posts by carla
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25Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult?
by GoverningBody inthis question has been presented many times throughout the years.
somewhat recently, there has been much talk surrounding the "bite method" :.
"bite” stands for behavior, information, thought, and emotional control.. some examples were thrown at me, such as the decisions of who we associate with, discouraging any worldy media, encouraging our brothers and sisters to report any of our misbehaviours to the elders, our rejection of criticism on the truth, shunning etc.. what do we think about this?.
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25
Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult?
by GoverningBody inthis question has been presented many times throughout the years.
somewhat recently, there has been much talk surrounding the "bite method" :.
"bite” stands for behavior, information, thought, and emotional control.. some examples were thrown at me, such as the decisions of who we associate with, discouraging any worldy media, encouraging our brothers and sisters to report any of our misbehaviours to the elders, our rejection of criticism on the truth, shunning etc.. what do we think about this?.
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carla
Watching my jw become one was scary as hell. He took on different facial expressions, (I believe they mimicked whoever he was studying with at the time as well as elders) body gestures and yes, his eyes literally glazed over when first parroting the jw company line (others saw this as well). He became a different person and I was hard pressed to get his authentic self to come out for quite awhile. His change in personality, beliefs, behavior, everything was profound and not in a good way. I was not the only one to see these changes, everybody noticed something was not right. I was asked often, "is he mad about something?" "what's wrong with him?" and so on. I never wanted to say, "yeah, he just recently joined a cult and this is the result, welcome to my world".
I studied nearly every cult expert out there going back to when our military came back from Korea to current day thoughts. I studied religion, bible and jw theology throughout its history. I spoke with a few cult experts. I have no problem saying without a single doubt that the jw's are a cult and are a danger to ones very being. Be it the sexual abuses, domestic abuses (which I have never suffered either), spiritual abuse, lack of blood, shunning, isolation, flip flops, lack of education, rules and regulations and the list goes on and on.
Over the years he has lost the facial/body expressions and is more himself these days. It is my understanding that being in a cult (or any high control group) quite literally changes the brain. My jw is a good man and means well but is so misguided by the carrot the wt holds. I still miss the man I first married sometimes but still love him all the same and know it will never be the same as it once was. Life is bound to change. We have found a dance of sorts that allow us to continue on our journey together in love. We no longer discuss anything jw related or very very rarely, what's the point? He must come to his own conclusions, and now? I think even if he found out it was all hooey he would stay in because otherwise he would have to admit he wasted all those years and lose his conditional friends.
I do not believe every religion is a cult. Reason being in most churches you are allowed to disagree with many things and you are not judged as being evil, apostate and so forth. That being said, most will say that something is not a 'salvation issue' if you disagree. However, you probably wouldn't do well say if you went to a bible study group and said there was no God and no Jesus, those would be salvation issues in the minds of adherents. If you are allowed freedom of thought, able to scrutinize, dress as you wish, read & watch what you wish (within reason, obviously if you are watching child porn you would and should be judged and jailed) basic human freedoms is what I am talking about. If you can leave and retain friendships, employment and family it is probably not a cult.
Are the jw's a cult? yes, absolutely.
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25
Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult?
by GoverningBody inthis question has been presented many times throughout the years.
somewhat recently, there has been much talk surrounding the "bite method" :.
"bite” stands for behavior, information, thought, and emotional control.. some examples were thrown at me, such as the decisions of who we associate with, discouraging any worldy media, encouraging our brothers and sisters to report any of our misbehaviours to the elders, our rejection of criticism on the truth, shunning etc.. what do we think about this?.
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carla
"...I recall they state that a cult has one leader, and that proves they aren't one, end of story..." - Yes, this is what my jw has consistently said. However a group of men can act as 'one' so their explanation doesn't really hold.
Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
If you are in a group where there is no graceful way to leave and you will be treated badly and/or shunned for leaving the group you are most likely in a cult.
To leave a mainstream church is no problem. Most people understand that people change, their spiritual needs change. You don't usually have the same teacher in school your whole life as that one teacher probably could not serve you well in all your years and all subjects. Why would your spiritual needs be any different? Most churches would be sad to see you go but members would still greet you fondly in the store or on the street. They might ask if you are enjoying your new worship service but it would be as a genuine question not a way to shame you back. If they asked such a personal question to begin with.
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Current Elder and Sub CO Arrested
by James Jack inhttps://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/stlb8r/valley_head_elder_charged_trigger_warning_cp_link/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf.
known his wife her whole life.
they have served both in mississippi and minnesota..
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carla
A reddit commenter said child porn is not a df-ing offense? is that true?
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The Left and Present Truth
by neat blue dog inadd yet another jw similarity to the list:.
they say now the difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth is a matter of weeks.
things like the effectiveness of masks and the vaccine, the origin of covid-19 in a lab, clinton spying on trump, the existence of a pedophile ring for the elites and more, things branded as conspiracy theories have been proven true.
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carla
"... by being open minded enough and by carefully considering the ideas of each other, but I don't know if such is possible"-
Here lies the problem. There is no open mindedness allowed, no discussion allowed if it does not fit the current narrative. Much like the jw's that are not allowed to discuss Biblical ideas, doctrines etc... and to be able to disagree with the current light handed down by the gb. If they openly discuss such things they are canceled, shunned, df'd to become a leper of the jw society. They have a virtual death of sorts. Their family often consider them as 'dead' and only will 'reactivate' their life if they step in line with current beliefs even though they may be subject to change tomorrow.
How many doctors lost their jobs and some even their license to practice for simply doing what they have been doing for years and years? that being; using drugs for off label use. There was no open discussion in the media or with the powers that be even though there is study after study that using certain drugs early on were life saving and incredibly cheap. Why was discussion, studies and real life examples not allowed? Why all the suppression for even thinking or talking about some of these drugs? because if there was found to be early treatments that worked already on the shelf the vax would never been approved to begin with. The vax would have had to go through normal trials which takes years. Now there are real life examples all over the world that the vax does not stop you from getting ill, does not stop the spread and any boosters wane after a very short time. Even though they all know this there are those that still insist everyone get these m-RNA experimental shots. Where is the open minded discussion on that? Follow the money.
One might ask, well, if there are all these studies to the contrary of the vax why aren't we hearing about it? I don't see it on the mainstream news! exactly, and you never will or probably not for many years later. If one is not willing to research the why then there is not open mindedness only going along with the crowd or going along with what the gb tell us to do.
I am not trying to make this exclusively about ivermectin and hydroxy merely one example of the lack of open mindedness and lack of real reporters. When reporters say things like, "wow, I just can't imagine why someone wouldn't get the vax" I can't help but think how damn ignorant they are as reporters, that is their job! to find out why, but they don't, they shake their head in disgust.
Why not report both sides and let the reader decide for themselves? let them do their own further research and make informed decisions instead suppressing studies and what real doctors who actually work with patients have to say.
I direct you to this youtube particularly the 3 minute mark and then tell me how independent our news really is- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yshJn7lgVsY
As for conspiracy theories consider when people were saying that covid came from a lab, remember anyone who said that was a tin hat nut job? not so much today.
I recently watched an interesting thing on false flags even though at first I was skeptical and found much of the promo distasteful and probably against my belief system in general. Then I thought no, I should watch it because I can't outright dismiss it when I have not looked at whatever evidence they wanted to show me. That is having an open mind, looking at both side even if at first you might find it disagreeable with your original belief system.
When people in government, news sources, etc... say things like, "the science is settled" on any subject I am automatically skeptical because that is not how science is done! Science is always asking questions, always looking deeper and doing more research. When scientists and doctors cannot do their due diligence because they will lose funding or their license because they are not towing the line and following a certain narrative we all lose out.
(@neatbluedog-
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Anthony Morris wants to help inactive ones return to Jehovah
by RULES & REGULATIONS injw broadcasting.
news and announcements.
2021 governing body update #10. .
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carla
Ok, as a non never been jw I either find this really creepy or amusing, I can't decide which- "...76 individuals in his circuit have been re-activated". I kind of have science fiction vibe going in my head
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The Left and Present Truth
by neat blue dog inadd yet another jw similarity to the list:.
they say now the difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth is a matter of weeks.
things like the effectiveness of masks and the vaccine, the origin of covid-19 in a lab, clinton spying on trump, the existence of a pedophile ring for the elites and more, things branded as conspiracy theories have been proven true.
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carla
"Has anyone noticed how for a long time, you find out news on the internet and then a week later your local news channel has it as a breaking story?"-
good grief, I sometimes thought I was suffering from the Mandela effect or something! There are things I could have sworn I read about years and years ago and now all of a sudden it is new news. Who knew? well, no kidding, that was written about x amount of years ago and written off as goofy, woo-woo or 'unscientific and unproven' at the time.
Comparing it to jw-ism is true. I should not have a tongue left from biting it so often when my jw will come out with something that is 'new news' when I told him about it years ago and he looked at me like I was the nutcase. Yet he cannot believe anything about jw's that doesn't jive with current light. It is maddening. breathe, shake head, silent roll of the eye, sigh....
I am of the opinion there is no real news, it all seems to be 'opinion news' or simply repeated news from some major source. It is like changing the channel from one National Enquirer story to the next. No offense to National Enquirer but it used to be considered a 'less than' or 'rag' paper of sorts and often a bit looney. Not sure if it is even still in existence, haven't noticed at the check out lines.
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22
Governing Body busy with building projects...looking beyond the ''last days''
by RULES & REGULATIONS inin addition to studio space, the planned ramapo-tuxedo complex would total 1.5 million square feet.
the complex would include offices, 600 housing units in multiple-family buildings, underground parking, a fitness area, and a visitor center for the public.. .
here is anthony morris in a jw broadcasting february 2022, reading a (fake) letter from a ''concerned brother.
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carla
"I’m wondering if after 99.99% of the population is executed if there will be enough people to keep the power stations open"- is that after they help jah & the birds clean up our sorry butts? you mean someone will have to stop playing with their pet tigers and panda bears and go to work for awhile? is that really a paradise then? is it still a 9-5 sort of deal?
First the jw's have to clean up dead bodies for what? about 1000 yrs or something then they get our nice now empty homes along with exotic pets and they have to go back to work on top of it? hmm, no thanks, don't even get a good steak dinner out of the deal.
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Geehovah this and Geehovah that.
by Foolednomore insome jw's used geehovah like a worn out sunday dish rag.
and so as those with a trade or talent.
in my hall my family owned an auto repair shop.
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carla
why do they say jehovah god?- Exactly! I used to ask my jw why they did that. Did they need to differentiate between bob god and jah god?
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Geehovah this and Geehovah that.
by Foolednomore insome jw's used geehovah like a worn out sunday dish rag.
and so as those with a trade or talent.
in my hall my family owned an auto repair shop.
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carla
I never understood the whole name thing to begin with. If God is your heavenly Father why would you call him by his name? sounds disrespectful to me. They don't call their earthly parents by their given names do they? (just forget for the moment that jehovah isn't even correct to begin with)
In the same vein I also find some Christians use "so blessed" as a throwaway as well. (by Christians I mean non jw's as I do not consider jw's as Christian)