"Cults" (high control groups) have "survivors"
This board and all the other JW survivors are living proof it is what it is. They didn't just change religions, they survived undue control.
freemindfade
JoinedPosts by freemindfade
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225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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94
What other Shenanigans can we expect to see in the next 2 years?
by John Aquila inits been a little over 2 years since i left the watchtower.
in that time the magazines have been cut, the birth of jwtv, jw-org.
carts for preaching, removed district overseers, cut assemblies, demand all the money from the congregations, stop construction and layoff bethelites, change the format of the tmschool .
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freemindfade
Tithing... (but they will say oh its not tithing) -
225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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freemindfade
Meditate on the double speak
We don't call it the rapture now...
We weren't wrong, we are just more refined now...
We are not permissive to pedophiles...
One of the best was the summary of TM3's morning worship, this is what it amounted to and is classic watchtower thinking:
We are not dogmatic, of course you should be able to question what you believe, that is why you must obey us, because we already questioned things for you.
When you are in and not thinking about it, these types of presentation just don't sink in, when you see it for what it is, wow, look out. I can't even sit through the meetings and watchtower without being mad at myself for hearing all this for so many years and not really "hearing" it. Does that make sense?
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225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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freemindfade
When I was waking I watched a documentary from inside North Korea, now that is not a religion, but I was floored by the similarities the religion of my birth shared. Why do they do it? Totalitarian control. So undue influence/high control doesn't need to even be a religion. Or completely believed, like scientology, its science fiction for Xenu's sake! -
225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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freemindfade
What happens is many will have a threshold for the questioning. How its said and whats said. When you realize as a member how much you actually have to censor your words and thoughts, you start to realize they had way more control than you ever thought.
When you see the Cognitive Dissonance alarms go off full blast the first time, there is no doubt in your mind what the JW organization is. It looks like John Aquila's pic which made me laugh out loud
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225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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freemindfade
If you want to find out if your religion is a High Control cult or not, find out what it takes to leave.
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225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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freemindfade
Also since i do feel you are sincere in your questions, something to start to really dwell on is the way they speak about things. Often referred here as "double speak". Not that double speak makes you a cult in of its self, but it lends to things they use to deny being a High control group that fits the model.
Ie; our leader is jesus. When you really get attuned to the way the phrase things you realize they flat out lie about things, or present it in a way that does back flips to make the answer seem correct. Just because they say does NOT mean they practice it. At your baptism you swear yourself to THEM (the gb), if you tell your elders you disagree with THEM, THEY will have you banished.
At the ARC Geoffery Jackson made it seem like he had no idea what was going on, and doesn't have anything to do with policy, in fact other GB member on the stand have similarly played as if they were nobody, but within the group... we know what really goes on, they are calling shots, making policy, enforcing it.
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225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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freemindfade
I didn't attack you Richard. Just responding in my words to the OP. Cult and Religion are the same.
cult
kəlt/Submit
noun
a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.
"the cult of St. Olaf"
a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.
"a network of Satan-worshiping cults"
synonyms: sect, denomination, group, movement, church, persuasion, body, faction
"a religious cult"
a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.
"a cult of personality surrounding the leaders"
synonyms: obsession with, fixation on, mania for, passion for, idolization of, devotion to, worship of, veneration of
"the cult of eternal youth in Hollywood"
Witnesses do fall into a systematic way of high control. ie dangerous cult. I faded out and didn't really think that at first, but then the more the onion was peeled back I realized they are full blown high control.
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225
Cult or Religion
by Richard C B inwhat is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
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freemindfade
even religion that isn't high control like witnesses and scientology is considered a cult in the purist form of the word, and not all the things "cult" are necessarily harmful.
The difference comes when you say dangerous cult. which the witnesses in fact are. All religions are cults. So you cannot say cult or religion, the answer is always both. Now some cults are dangerous like the witnesses and some are eve far more dangerous than them. So as far as I know there is no cult scale showing where a religion falls on the cost of devotion.
Witnesses use undue influence, coercion, emotional manipulation, and the list goes on and on. They are not one of the laid back ones. I suggest you look up on you tube Steve Hassan on Joe Rogan's show. Steven Hassn still is religious and cannot deny that his form of liberal Judaism he participates in could not be called a "Cult". So religion always is a cult. We typically use the word though to describe fringe groups that control people, like the witnesses, but the word has a broad meaning.
jehovah's witnesses are a harmful cult
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freemindfade
The new meeting... our Cult Lies and Manipulates meeting.