I wanted a peer review over this post. I want to post it on my Facebook profile.
A Woman’s Search for Freedom and Balance
Innocents
When you grow up you have goals these goals are influenced by your parents or an authority figure. Protection, safety, and love.... love that did have conditions I find out later.
Guilt
As you become an adult, you fall short of your community's standards. The community is called your spiritual family. Where they consider themselves close like “Brothers” and “Sisters". This causes emotional attachment. What is the penalty for leaving?
What is the cost of freedom?
Wonder
You wonder if it really is the “True” religion? Self-bias is in all of us but when we are young adults, we are curious. Testing the waters. This is normal and healthy for young adults to do.
Discovery
There are other cults like mine.
But there are good organizations out there, more fit for a lifestyle that is not controlling.
There are also leaders out there who treat their people with dignity and intelligence.
They split up the leadership and have a pluralistic social structure. They are transparent with politics and money.
Us versus Them Mentality – Self-Righteous
Jehovah's Witness programming - Thinking highly of their religion over others. They are chosen by God. They are considered spiritual “warriors” of God. They have the “Truth”.
Avoid pagans and false prophets, aka philosophers, other religions, and disfellowshipped.
Authoritative versus Authoritarian
Authoritative is a loving guidance that allows a person to develop and improve. They accept feedback from the person they guide.
Authoritarianism is controlling and demands guidance using fear and a false love that dictates the person’s emotions. Jehovah will destroy the ‘wicked’. Who really would wish for a God to “destroy’ the wicked? Killing humans. Humans that might have mental issues or neuro issues. What is Jehovah’s Witness's standard of wicked versus modern thinkers' version of wicked?
What are the psychological harms of having an authoritarian upbringing?
Children with authoritarian parents tend to be socially withdrawn, impulsive, and insecure.
Dictator – Shunning Policy
They control information and do not let their members hear anything contrary to their own ideas. They are taught how to speak and preach to those outside their religion.
Three MEN judge those who don’t uphold their standards.
Women and Men’s Equal
Women do not have leadership as elders or governing body members. They are told to be “submissive” to their husbands. Women and men are told how to dress and do their hair.
Fear tactics
They are told that only Jehovah’s Witnesses have the truth, and the truth will set you free. They are the only way. They are the light. The world will be destroyed, and Armageddon will come.
BITE Model
What are the criteria for cults? They control your behavior, information, thoughts, and emotions.
History
“When 19th-century British missionaries arrived in the Caribbean to convert enslaved Africans, they came armed with a heavily edited version of the Bible. Any passage that might incite rebellion was removed; gone, for instance, were references to the exodus of enslaved Israelites from Egypt.”
What things are altered in the “Holy Scriptures” by Jehovah's Witnesses?
The Good in Others
Nondenominational churches speak of grace, goodwill, and helping those in need.
Buddhism, like America’s founding fathers, was concerned about the danger of tyranny.
Secular Buddhism has amazing insists on mental clarity and meditative practices.
Freedom
My children can go to a four-year college and feel proud of their accomplishments. My children can be in competitive sports. My children can gain cultural diversity and celebrate holidays. My children can be creative and wear fashion. My children as young adults can be in a relationship with a partner without worrying their family will shun them. They can fight for their country and defend the people they love. They can vote and share in the democracy of our country.