This has been on my mind all day. I am grateful for a place like this to vent. For anyone that is wondering why some of us are so disgusted and feel nothing but contempt for the Watchtower Organization aka Jehovah Witnesses, I want you to think about it from an outside point of view.
There are a few things that the JW organization does that is not only makes it a cult, but I want to at least touch on a few big ones.
It suppress free thought. It takes a very tactical approach to questioning their authority; even when they admit their ideas were wrong at a later date. They also do any and everything to make you stay in even if the seeds of doubt are lingering.
1) They suppress free thought. You are NOT ALLOWED to question the authority of this group. There is a group of men called the Governing Body who lord over the entire organization with some idea that they and they alone are ordained by the "holy spirit" on what you are to read, think, believe, and worship. If you dare to question them, they will mark you. Which leads me to point number 2.
2) The tactical approach to questioning their authority. Has anyone ever questioned something that came out in a publication; a watchtower or awake? Something a brother said or someone claiming to be of the 144,000 even though they were born in say 1989? Trust me, you will be "marked". And don't take it further. They will expell you out of there with a quickness. Funny thing is, a lot of the really questionable beliefs have been routinely changed "with new light". Have any of the people that were disfellowshipped for questioning the authority of these people reinstated or apologies given? Oh, not on your life. You have to "wait on Jehovah"; imperfect men who are using political voting techniques to create decisions for their organization hide behind these conditioned buzz words to keep their authority completely impenetratable.
3) The tactic to get you to stay. More than likely you were either born in or converted, and most likely your extended family and friends are all JWs. Do they care if you know they are full of baloney? Sometimes I wonder. Especially with their latest harsh approach to family members that are no longer Witness. USE EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL. CUT ALL TIES. DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE THEM! LET THEM DIE IN THE STREET PENNILESS. They want you to suffer if you don't want to be a witness and they routinely publish information that tells families to ignore their children, their siblings, their extended family because they reject the religion. This has got to be one of the most sadistic mind controlling cults I have ever seen. My reason is that nowhere does it allow free will. What if I just don't agree with their teachings? Should I have to give up my entire family because of it. And you are not telling family members to show them love and decency in your religion. Honestly, it doesn't seem you care whether your doctrine or not. The message is "let them miss their family so much that they come to a religion, even one they don't really want to be apart of..." That's disgusting to me. They can't talk about Muslims or Quakers or any other religion. How can you knowingly tell families to ignore their kids, ignore their family simply because of a difference in belief?
They are a cult. I will write more when I have had my dinner. Feel free to add your own thoughts.