by Brother Mike 90 Replies latest jw friends
The topic is amusing
The OP asks why the JW org is considered a cult but wishes no response from apostates
Anyone active in the JW org wouldn't consider it a cult, naturally
Those who have little to no knowledge or interest in JW affairs likely wouldn't be posting here
Anyone who was a member but left because they recognized it as a cult is apostate by definition. These make up the vast majority of posters here
So who does the OP expect to get responses from?
lol
Why would you even post such a question on a website that is clearly "apostate" according to the WTBTS's definition?
That's just dumb.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, guess what?
Brother Mike
If I claim to be a "publisher of the Good News"
and yet I am unfamiliar with the "Good News" according to Paul, Moses, Isaiah and Psalms
could it be because I have been deliberately and subtly led away from the "Good News"
by those whom I am following?
My question is, Why do so many think the Watchtower Bible Tract Society is a Cult?
Haven't read through the thread, so this may already have been covered:
- Because a member of the wts is not allowed to research the religion with sources outside of approved wts materials.
- Because a member is not allowed to doubt the GB or discuss their doubts and speak as to what they think is false, without being disfellowshipped and shunned.
- Because members ARE forced to choose between their religion and their families.
- Because members DO have to sacrifice their lives and/or the lives of their children to the wts, according to the blood doctrine of the wts... or be killed (spiritually) by disfellowshipping and shunning.
The wts does not follow Christ, but does steal some of His titles for themselves, such as this one: God's mouthpiece/channel of communication = Word of God. Or by calling themselves the Truth.
Christ is the Truth. Christ is the Word of God. Christ is the Life. Christ is the Image of God. No one and nothing else, Brother Mike. Not men. Not religion. Not traditions and rules and doctrines.
Just Christ. And there is no mediator between man and Christ. Just Christ as the mediator between man and God.
May you have ears to hear if you wish them, so as to hear as the Spirit (Christ) and the Bride say to you, "Come... take the free gift of the water of life."
Peace to you and yours,
tammy
BTTT, excellent stuff for JW's to read, may the honest comments herein reach their hearts and minds.
Hearts=emotions, minds=thinking ability, both have been stolen and twisted by the W.T, cult or not.
Your question actually betrays the fact that you yourself seems in doubt that it is a cult.
You (Brother Mike) seems not to know exactly who is an apostate. If you want a TRUE answer open your mind. And be honest: who can really know if he hadn't been a JW? It is these bellringers, these insiders who do know best since they have been there. Some were even as "high" as a GB member...
I understand your reluctance to listen to "former"-JW's but maybe it helps to see us as "fellow humans" and not as enemy. We actually are probably the JW's best friends!
Bro Mike please don't tells us when we can comment on a post.
Have some respect for long time posters & their views.
(By the way you are now getting on my tits!)
From "Freedom of Mind" by Steven Hassan:
CULT: Tightly controlled, high-pressure social environment. Limit access to outside information (Page 3)
Some religious cults have “An elite group that claims to know the real meaning of Scripture” (Page 4)
They rail on about how all the other Churches are dead and unscriptural (Page 7)
Threatening Prophecies (Page 12)
“Love” depends on meeting expectations and goals (Page 13)
Demand for purity: Establishing impossible standards for performance, thereby creating an environment of guilt and shame. No matter how hard a person tries, he always falls short, feels bad and works even harder. (Page 17)
Sacred Science: The belief that the groups dogma is absolutely scientifically and morally true, with no room for questions or alternative viewpoints (Page 17)
Dispensing of existence: The belief that people in group have the right to exist and all ex-members and critics or dissidents do not (Page 17)
Cult control is a social process that encourages obedience and conformity. It discourages autonomy and individuality. The groups dogma becomes the persons only concern (Page 19)
Thought Reform: Create a tightly controlled system with a closed system of logic, wherein dissenters feel their questioning indicates something inherently wrong with them (Page 20)
Behavior Control (Page 22)
- Dictate with whom the member lives and associates
- Restrict leisure and entertainment
- Encourage group-think (not stumbling others)
- Impose rigid rules & regulations
Information Control (Page 23)
- Discourage access to non-cult sources of information - Internet, Critical Information, Former Members
- Keep members busy so the don't think and investigate
- Outsider versus insider doctrines
- Encourage spying on other members
- Extensive use of cult-generated information, including magazines and other media
- Misquotations, statements from non-cult sources taken out of context
- Unethical use of confession
Thought Control (Page 24)
- Members required to internalize the groups doctrine as “the truth”
- Instill Black and White thinking
- Good versus Evil; Us versus Them
- No critical questions about leaders, doctrine or policy allowed
- Alternative belief systems viewed as evil
Emotional Control (Page 25)
- Make the person feel that problems are their own fault – never the leader or group
- Excessive use of guilt – You are not living up to your potential
- Excessive use of fear
- Fear of the outside world
- Fear of losing one’s salvation
- Fear of leaving the group or being shunned by the group
Phobia indoctrination
- No happiness or fulfillment possible outside of the group
- Terrible consequences if you leave
- Shunning of those who leave, fear of being rejected by friends and family
- Never a legitimate reason to leave; Those who leave are weak, unspiritual, worldly or seduced by sex
Brother Mike - where are you? A lot of people have given throughful responses to your question. Why are you not acknowledging those responses? Frazzled
