The CULT that rarely gets called a CULT...but sure does look like a CULT...

by Unlearn 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  MrDarkKnight

  @Unlearn...I AGREE! Can't wait to see this thread take off...here come the believers!!!!
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  Band on the Run

  This is why high mind control makes more sense. Cult all depends on who is in power. This NJ US Rep. remarked to the press at the peak of Moonie freakiness that he had problems with banning it. His sister was a cloistered Roman Catholic nun, forbidden to have any contact with her family. His parents were unable to even speak to her for two minutes.

  Nun - respectable, except among Puritans.

  Moonies- cult.
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  GLTirebiter

  -The leader of the group sets himself up as the sole conduit between man and god. He alone is 'the way'.
  -The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
  -Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
  -The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save hu manity.
  -The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
  -The leader is not accountable to any authorities except god (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
  -The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
  -Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.
  -The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
  -Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.
  -The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group.

  Political parties!
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  Violia

  this can include vitamin and herbal health remedies, any pyramid type scheme . I am going to go out on a limb and say even the folks like Mary Kay and the AA folks could qualify. health care beliefs that fly too far off the beaten path and folks who get too involved with the metaphysical. so many things qualify. I recall back in the late 80's early 90's there was a doctor who was a psychologist or psychiatrist and who saw jws mostly. the elders got involved and it definitely was cult like.
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  JeffT

  Viola

  I agree with what you say about MLM's. However I am currently involved in AA and it is nothing like a cult. I go to one meeting a week and from time to time work with a sponsee if I have one. Some, who want to, put in more time than that but nobody keeps track of anything and leadership is almost nonexistent.

  General Comment

  I prefer the term "high control group" because it is descriptive of what a group does, rather than what it believes. The term can therefore include religions, businesses, some self-help groups and more than a few political movements. I've run across at least one group of atheists that fits nicely.
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  wobble

  It does not pay for sure to call the WT/JW religion a cult to a believeing active Dub. You will get hung up on the meaning/usage of the word.

  The word is not always used in a pejorative sense, as noted above. The main thing to focus attention on is the high control, especially the control of the mind.

  That is simply evil, to imprison someones mind.

  Having said that, I am looking forward to asking an old friend of mine from my old Congo. when I next see him :

  "Are you still in the Governing Body worshipping cult ?" I will ask this of him because I believe it will make him think, it might also make him punch me of course.
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  MrDarkKnight

  This is the WTBS view on cults:

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  w942/15p.4Cults—WhatAreThey?

  ***

  The

  WorldBookEncyclopedia explains that “traditionally, the term cult referred to any form of worship or ritual observance.” By that criterion, all religious organizations could be classified as cults. However, in general usage today, the word “cult” has a different meaning. The same encyclopedia notes that “since the mid-1900’s, publicity about cults has altered the meaning of the term. Today, the term is applied to groups that follow a living leader who promotes new and unorthodox doctrines and practices.”
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  Unlearn

  ' Today, the term is applied to groups that follow a living leader who promotes new and unorthodox doctrines and practices'

  Yep, MrDarkKnight...that's Jesus Christ...to a 'T', even.
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  MrDarkKnight

  @Unlearn - Since my departure from the JWs, I have had a number of ex-JW's try to convince me not to "throw out the baby with the bath water". Many of them are zealous Christians of various denominations.

  I respect everyone's right to believe what they choose, after all its the American way. But for the present I am allergic to organized religion and prefer to hold myself accountable to my own moral code.

  Oh, and I am trying to make as much money as I can to make up for 30 years of "self-sacrafice". LOL!!!

  I know, I am materialistic and will die at Armaggeddon. But as 50 cent says, "Get rich. Or die tryin'".