Who thinks JW is a cult?

codeblue

According to Steven Hassan's: Combatting Cult Mind Control, the answer is YES.

If you have read the book, it NEVER mentions JW's.....it lists the all the signs of a cult.

Codeblue

bisous

hmmm....well here are 2 definitions , the 1st is of CULT and the 2nd is of HIGH CONTROL GROUP. I think JW exhibits many of the characteristics described...and my view is YES, JW is a cult.

1. Cult:

A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
The followers of such a religion or sect.

A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
The object of such devotion.

g. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.

2. High Control Group:

Internal control, the amount of internal political power exercised by leader(s) over members.
Wisdom claimed by leader(s), the amount of infallibility declared about decisions.
Wisdom credited to leader(s) by members; the amount of trust in decisions made by leader(s).
Dogma, the rigidity of reality concepts taught; the amount of doctrinal inflexibility.
Recruiting, the emphasis put on attracting new members; the amount of proselytizing.
Front groups, the number of subsidiary groups using names different from that of the main group.
Wealth, the amount of money and/or property desired or obtained; the degree of emphasis on members' donations.
Political power, the amount of external political influence desired or obtained.
Sexual manipulation of members by leader(s); the amount of control of sex lives of members.
Censorship, the amount of control over members' access to outside opinions on group, its doctrines, or its leader(s).
Dropout control, the intensity of efforts directed at preventing or returning dropouts.
Endorsement of violence when used by or for the group or its leader(s).
Paranoia, the amount of fear concerning real or imagined enemies, the perceived power of opponents.
Grimness, the amount of disapproval concerning jokes about the group, its doctrines, or its leader(s).

there was a coming out on another site and i wondered if i was just one of a few who thought it was... people who don tthink it is have tried to make me feel like im paranoid about it. i knew it wasn't out of my mind.

Happy Guy :)

Well let's see what we know from our own personal experiences:

They promote and enforce shunning on one's own family for reasons as simple as questioning the accuracy of Watchtower teachings.

They have a code of conduct for almost every action in life which is enforced.

They encourage even minor children to decieve authorites to protect the Watchtower's interests (see the Watchtower booklet distributed to children in the U.S. and Canada which instructs them to decieve family court Judges about their practices and instructs them on how to provide false testimony in family court cases)

They have used a date for the end of the world coming but where only JWs would be saved in order to extract free (some call slave) labour en masse and billions of dollars in sales revenue from their publications on how to save oneself in the final war.

Inspite of the dates coming and being long past they continue to hold firmly in their mind control countless members who are apparently in denial.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...it's a duck.

Frannie Banannie

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...it's a duck.

Amen to that! It IS a cult. No two ways about it!

Frannie B

AlmostAtheist

But it says RIGHT IN THE REASONING BOOK that they aren't a cult! I don't have mine handy, but I'm sure it was very clear on the subject.

Seriously, it couldn't be clearer that it *is* a cult. They don't call for absolute allegiance to a *person* -- as the Koreshian and Jonesian cults do -- but they certainly do demand unquestioning allegiance to the *organization*.

I can't tell you how happy I am to be out. And despite losing the hope of the "Paradise", I've never looked to the future with such hope in all my life.

gumby

living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader/leaders.

That's a cult.

Any group who insists upon their interpretation and sanctions those who deviate from them is a cult.

Any group(s) who beleive god deals directly with them alone and views all others as misguided, is a cult.

Gumby