Jehovah's Witnesses---A Cult or Not?

by minimus 160 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  AllTimeJeff

  SoM

  JW's are one of many cults. Comparing what they may have "right" is akin to picking which is the better dictatorship to live under, China, Afghansitan, etc. They all suck.

  JW's are just the ones "we" on this board know best.

  For you to argue about what they have right is immaterial to what they clearly have wrong. As you are not on Kingdom Hall or Bethel property, but instead, have ventured into an area full of ideas and facts, you are at a disadvantage.

  One thing that the GB has tried to do to keep the results of their harmful doctrine secret is shunning or disfellowshipping. As you know, this effectively muzzles dissent, keeping control. If I were you, I would go "preach to the choir" where you can make dogmatic statements and not have to answer for them.

  Here, people offer reasons for saying its a cult, and instead of trying to understand people like Mrs Jones, you insult them. Cults hurt people, and there are many hurt people here.

  Your platitudes about what JW's have right or wrong are not the point. They are a cult. And your behavior seems to be produced by a cult; exceedingly self righteous, blind to actual events, content to make odd, out of context statements that dodge questions and are only intended to move the conversation away from uncomfortable and unflattering attributes of the Jehovah's Witness organization.

  In short, you act like a cult member, as usually, cult members are the last to know and recognize a cult while involved either in membership or defense of it.

  Good night to you to, my misled cult associate.
• 

  The Oracle

  Yes, the JW movement does fit the definition of a cult.

  It's a healthy step to be able to recognize it as such.

  Thankfully. you can be deprogrammed, and you can live a normal life after exiting the cult - but before you can truly move on I believe recognizing your former religion was in fact a cult is an important step. It wasn't just a silly religion...it is okay to call it what it really is...a cult

  peace on earth...

  The Oracle
• 

  lifelong humanist

  minimus

  JWs, to me, definitely tick all the boxes to qualify for being a cult - and a rather nasty one at that.

  I don't believe that any JW that has a good working knowledge of how the JW beliefs originated, and how the religion is mind-control managed, could come to any other rational conclusion - no matter how painful such a discovery might be for them. I DAd for other reasons, but, latterly was painfully aware of the cult status of the religion I'd been a member of for over 40 years - it was quite scary to contemplate.

  I'm just hoping that I can convince my wife that she's been a captive of the Watchtower for over 50 years. It is perhaps only when you are trying to help someone exit the JWs that you appreciate just how brainwashed their members are, and how difficult it is to spring them free from the cult mentality and awaken to a new life outside the organization's mind-control.

  lifeong humanist
• 

  diamondiiz

  A Cult!

  A cult isn't much different from a religion IMO but some minor aspects would categorize it as a cult. Most religions you may question your doctrine with family and friends and not be shunned. You can state your opinion openly and not be excomunicated, in cults you are not allowed such freedoms. Many may say that Muslims are fanatical, but wouldn't some fall under the cult banner? I would think so. Roman Catholic church at one time would kill heretics which would make it be a cult but now with much of it's grip lost on it's people it's just a religion.

  I don't have a problem with anyone joinging whatever group they want as long as they have freedom to state their opinion freely or disagree with ideas that are presented as truth by the leaders to which rank and file can't disagree to and that to me is a cult. Watch Tower in many ways appears to be as any other religion with people quite nice and friendly on the outside, the teachings are not evil in nature for most part but the small destructive aspects of it make it a cult and whether innocently structured into a cult society or by Rutherford's power obsession it is a cult today and it's hard to argue against it.
• 

  Newborn

  YESSSSSSS
• 

  lisavegas420

  I remember the first time some called JW's a cult. I felt sick. I mean, I felt that they could have called them anything, but THAT!

  I read all I could find on cults, I could clearly see how certain other religions could be called a cult, but it took a while before, I could see, the JW's were a cult also.

  This was the quote that jumped out to me that pushed me over the edge.

  When our own thoughts are forbidden, when our questions are not allowed and our doubts are punished, when contacts and friendships outside the organization are censored, we are being abused for an end that never justifies its means. When our heart aches knowing we have made friendships and secret attachments that will be forever forbidden if we leave, we are in danger. When we consider staying in a group because we cannot bear the loss, disappointment, and sorrow our leaving will cause for ourselves and those we have come to love, we are in a cult.

  This quote came from Former Jim Jones disciple Deborah Layton....a group that I already knew was a cult.

  lisa
• 

  MadGiant

  "Most of their teachings are "TRUE". They are misled in some areas as all are. So they are NOTset-apart from mainstream Christianity. All faiths believe they are the "true" faith and "true" church. Only The Kingdom of GOD is the TRUE CHURCH. No others are nor ever will be." - Son of Man

  http://www.freeminds.org/psychology/mind-control/a-study-of-the-persuasion-techniques-used-by-jehovahs-witnesses-and-the-watchtower.html

  The link is a research report with synthesis of Lifton’s ideas with general cultic application. Each description is followed with an evaluation of the JW’s in relation to the statement.

  Take care,

  Ismael
• 

  Son of Man

  Ok, I was in the organization as you all put for a number of years. When I found out their error in teaching I simply left. I did not have to be de-programmed or anything of the sort. I believe in GOD, not some worldly organization.

  Ok they do not observe Pagan holidays + They do not follow politics + The adhere strictly to the bible in the best way they know + They remove those they feel are apostates from the congregation + etc. etc.

  I am not saying I agree with their teachings however they are not so different from the rest of the world. In fact they teach with more accuracy then all of them combined......prove me wrong in that instance.

  The trinity doctrine followers and those that believe christ if GOD are extreme wouldn't you say? Base it upon beliefs which is what a cult is not. How many of you follow the Pope? Is he not held in high esteem above any other man? Is that not cult-like?

  The bible says that a faithful slave or steward exists but then asks: who really is the faithful and wise servant whom Jesus gives all of his belongings to. This proves that there are those that are misled into believing they are the one.......

  It is all based upon bible teaching whether accurate or not..............become a vampire and belong to that cult. Now there are truly those that follow such belief. Those are cults....

  t.f.d.s.
• 

  drwtsn32

  Absolutely.

  But I think it is important to recognize there is a spectrum of "severity" when it comes to cults. Not all cults are the same. On one end of the spectrum there are the high control groups. On the other end there are the extreme cults like Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, Branch Davidian, etc. The JWs fall somewhere along that spectrum. The ones that deny JWs are cults usually try by saying they aren't like the ones at the extreme end, failing to realize that there are groups that are cults and aren't "as bad" as those.

  I like the list of cult "warning signs" on the Rick Ross web site http://www.rickross.com/warningsigns.html:

  Ten warning signs of a potentially unsafe group/leader.

  1. Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.

  2. No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

  3. No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.

  4. Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.

  5. There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.

  6. Former members often relate the same stories of abuse and reflect a similar pattern of grievances.

  7. There are records, books, news articles, or television programs that document the abuses of the group/leader.

  8. Followers feel they can never be "good enough".

  9. The group/leader is always right.

  10. The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.
• 

  AllTimeJeff

  SoM

  It appears that you are intent on re-defining the definition of a cult to meet your peculiar belief system.

  Feel free to have your own definition of a cult, and even to defend what you think is correct about JW's.

  However, you are in a small minority of one. Being no great fan of organized religion myself, I am aware that all religions continue to do damage to families in some respect around the world.

  But that doesn't a cult make. Cultish behavior aside, any organization, religious or otherwise, can harm its members. However, if the level of control demanded by the religion is enforced, and the punishment is shunning, dividing of family, then it is a cult.

  Again, you make distinctions without differences. If your idea of a cult are vampire clubs, then you are hopeless. Really? Good luck to you. Stay away from Hot Topic and Twiglight....