You know you are recovered when you are the owner of your own life and decisions. For some people this happens when they are still in the organization, some take years to fully recover even after they leave. Everybody should care about cults, they have an effect on the whole of society and the way society evolves.
apostatethunder
JoinedPosts by apostatethunder
-
36
The real truth is that you know you've recovered when you stop caring about JW's
by gubberningbody init's perhaps sad, but perhaps a bit of wisdom to come to realize how insignificant jws really are.. .
you finally get to the point where you don't even care what happens to the borg one way or another.. .
this said after almost four years..
-
-
-
9
UK Anti-Cult charity under threat of closure
by cedars ini'm wondering what you all make of this story from the guardian regarding the cult information centre - a uk charity that aims to raise awareness of cults.
it seems that it's on the verge of having its charitable status withdrawn (or, at least, this was the case three months ago).
unsurprisingly, the complaints that have led to its potential closure stem from cults such as the church of scientology.. here is the story:.
-
-
apostatethunder
This is very serious. A cult is a group that manipulates and takes advantage of people, an anti-cult is a group that helps people recover from a cult. They have their own beliefs? Sure, so do you and me and everyone else. Do they coerce anyone to accept their beliefs? Do they exploit people’s vulnerabilities for their own gain? Do they respect basic human rights like freedom to dissent? Do they blackmail people that is trapped in to make them disclose their private lives, that they have no right to know much less to judge? Do they harass people that leave the group in any way? If you think about it, it is not so difficult to distinguish one from the other.
If they talk about Jesus and the Trinity is because jws despite calling themselves Christians are anti-Christians. Exposing that doesn’t make you a cult. What someone chooses to believe is his/her personal decision, stepping in someone else’s personal rights is not. Not respecting somebody’s personal conscience goes high on the list of cult traits.
About the therapist that had to stop helping people, that goes beyond cult or not cult, it is just criminal.
-
-
-
apostatethunder
It makes them feel better about themselves. If you look happy they seem surprised. One way the society keeps them in is by fear of what is in the world, so they will think twice before leaving the organization. Everybody knows stories of the ones who left and how bad they fared. I noticed that some of them seem envious of the ones with the courage to leave anyway. Deep down they know, even though they are too trapped to even realize why they feel this way.
-
8
Spain may tax the Catholic Church?
by darthfader inrunning low on money, the spanish government looks at the catholic church for property tax revenue:.
http://news.yahoo.com/amid-economic-crisis-spain-ponders-taxing-catholic-church-092208656.html.
.
-
-
apostatethunder
The Catholic church in Spain and Italy is already a big source of income to the State in terms of tourism. They own a big part of the historical patrimony of this countries. That and all the services they provide like schools, charities, etc, and the religious support to individuals, that comes without a blank check for them to run your life as they please. Not all religions are the same.
-
11
Could the JWs fit the defintion of Fascism?
by Aussie Oz infascism ( /'f?
?z?m/) is a radicalauthoritariannationalist political ideology.
[1][2] fascists seek rejuvenation of their nation based on commitment to an organic national community where its individuals are united together as one people in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood through a totalitariansingle-party state that seeks the mass mobilization of a nation through discipline, indoctrination, physical education, and eugenics.
-
-
apostatethunder
Good question, they are controlling and totalitarian, but what is their real aim? If they are not about religion, what are they about?
-
4
Emmanuel Goldstein
by d inin george orwell's 1984 the percieved enemy emmanuel goldstein wrote a book called theory and practice of oligarchical collectivism in where on one one number he talks ignorace as source of strength for the people in control.. this says lot about the jw's and people in power.. the theory and practice of oligarchical collectivism.
chapter i - ignorance is strength.
throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the neolithic age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the high, the middle, and the low.
-
-
apostatethunder
Ignorance is strength, but their own ignorance. In the end it is too costly for you to keep slaves. Far more intelligent to contribute to the common good.
-
6
Only an apostate would flee to the forbidden zone! Which movie was this a quote from?
by usualusername inonly an apostate would flee to the forbidden zone!
which movie was this a quote from?.
uun.
-
-
apostatethunder
It is an honor to be an apostate of certain causes.
-
20
Has anybody given any thought for Calebs freind ?
by smiddy inafter all, this unidentified freind of caleb gives him a toy, which calebs mom finds objectionable , shouldn`t she just have said to caleb ,give it back to your freind ?
and not dump it in the trash can ?
what sort of a message does that send to caleb (or any other children who watch this video ) calebs mom should have acknowledged that his freind gave him a present, and it should be appreciated , not to disrespectfully throw it away in the trash can with no thought to the giver of the present.. smiddy.
-
-
apostatethunder
Caleb’s friend is disposable, as much as Sparlock.
-
28
Do JWs treat women like second-class citizens, like their husbands' property?
by matt2414 inas an elder, i recall that the husband always had to be present on any judicial committee meeting involving his wife, but that the wife was not to be present on judicial committee meetings involving her husband.
has this changed?
if not, isn't that treating women as lesser persons than their husbands?.
-
-
apostatethunder
This has not changed, I know a recent case where the wife couldn’t be present at her husband’s meeting. Over the years I’ve seen many cases of women being disrespected by the organization and then being labelled as rebellious. The way they treat women just shows who they are, even if in your country you had the legal right to take advantage of a group of people for example, if you were half decent you would not even consider doing so. They take Paul’s words literally, and apply them to everything. The Bible can have many lectures, unfortunately for them they don‘t seem to get that women are also made in God‘s image and what this means. A lot of women in the organization would not make nice elders though, some of them admit themselves that they would find very difficult to be impartial and that it‘s better that only the men are elders, not sure if this is brainwashing at its best, or just self-awareness. I am glad to be free from all that.
-
11
Am I seeing my JW life and exit in context?
by jemba inwhile visiting with a workmate the other day i got to thinking.
my friend has had the lowest of morals of anyone ive ever met.
she was an illegal drug manufacturer for 20 yrs, jailed 3 times, junkie for 17 years, has been a topless waitress, made porno movies and prostituted herself.
-
-
apostatethunder
Any group that exercises so much control over people is damaging, especially for people that don‘t have the strength or the support to get out. When you realize you were manipulated you tend to feel angry. The more you bought into it, the angrier you will be, it’s the equivalent of realizing your whole life has been about supporting a sham, to advance somebody’s agenda at your expense.