In a world that’s growing increasingly profligate and vile, I’m concerned so much vitriol is aimed at churches like the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’m not one, and I have theological differences with it; however other religions and former members of the religion seem to be unusually bitter and critical. And the word “cult” is used in relation to it.
I admit to being unfamiliar with many of the social aspects of the church, but all churches have a hierarchal structure and it’s not unusual for many churches to also be dogmatic in relation to the scriptures.
The word “cult,” though, has acquired a vicious connotation that, in the past, has been limited to the likes of Jim Jones, David Koresh and Warren Jeffs. Now it’s routinely applied to Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other sects that, while they may not be mainstream, are far removed from the real wackos.
One Internet article, for example, begins: “If you are involved in Seventh Day Adventism or any other cult, let me assure you that your friends and relatives do care.” Later the author states, “When I consider Seventh Day Adventists whom I know personally, I realize that none of them is happy.” He then goes on to mention their “perverted lifestyles,” their “delusions” and “self righteousness.” Similar articles appear for just about any religion you can imagine. Entire websites are aimed at Catholicism, assuring people that the Pope is the Antichrist.
I have no issue with critical review of religions; however, what is it about the Jehovah’s Witnesses that inspire such hatred?
Another website calls the JWs a “destructive cult” and reports: “The Jehovah Witness Watchtower is a big money (billion a year) mind control operation that steals the hearts, minds and ultimately the lives of it’s followers. The cult uses mind control tools to keep members in line such as: milieu control, loaded language, demand for purity, confession, mystical manipulation, doctrine over person, sacred science, dispensing of existence, control of environment, closed logic, and most of all fear.” And “Cult members…aren’t allowed to read anything critical of the cult so they don’t think for themselves. [They use] mind control techniques to create a nowhere to run, nowhere to hide atmosphere for the members. Members must literally spy on other cult members to ensure that they have not violated cult rules.”
Although the Witnesses are dogmatic and somewhat eccentric, most other religions also have a canon of scripture, a board of governors or a central convention. Evangelicals used to use the Catholics as their primary whipping boy, but recently Catholics (who “pray” to saints and believe in all sorts of strange doctrines like transubstantiation) have proven to be better allies against the crop of “cults.”
So why the charges of cultism in a day when Christianity is dying in large parts of the U.S.? I don’t know if the charges of mind control are right or not, but I find the mind control used my many progressives and Marxists to be far more dangerous to people — and very few people are attacking this trend, which is being taught in the schools and universities of the U.S. In short, as long as people can just walk away from a religion and speak out against it, how much of a “cult” can it be? And how much is hype?
Admittedly, I don’t know what the Witness culture looks like from the inside. I’ve never talked to an “elder” or “overseer,” but are the Jehovah’s Witnesses really the cult many people say (this isn’t rhetorical, I’m just asking from ignorance)? I just think the term “cult” has been overused on the Internet, and to me churches like the Seventh Day Adventists and the Witnesses have more in common with other Christian churches than they do with the wackos.
What do you think?
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P.S. -- Someone recommended the book Combatting Cult Mind Control, by Steven Hassan. I'd be interested in hearing any stories where you or someone else was subjected to mind control from within the church.