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I think Jehovah's Witnesses count as a cult. On the surface they just seem like one of the weirder christian sects out there, but once you get into stuff like "you're forbidden to hang around with non-JWs, and if a family member isn't a JW and isn't willing to convert, you should shun them. And also shun everyone who used to be one of us but isn't anymore" poo poo, we're in cult territory, IMO. I spent my youth as a JW after my mum got way into them when we were kids. I think I believed at some point, and was baptized when I was in my teens. I kinda drifted away over time but I still remember that the straw that broke the camel's back for me was that among the many other things JWs are forbidden to do, even looking at other religions' teachings is one of them. I was always an inquisitive little poo poo (and wasn't surprised to hear I was probably on the spectrum much later), and brought up the subject of looking at what other, false, religions had to say about things. The elders in my congregation absolutely forbid it. I tried to argue that if we were really the one true faith, then looking at others' versions should just prove that, right? Nope. And then I started wondering what they were covering up, and turns out that was "a lot of the poo poo JWs say is unique to them really isn't, because a lot of other religions do most of it". I guess I wasn't the only one wondering about that, because later it was revised to "oh many of the fake religions have SOME of the traits of the true faith, because Satan wants to confuse us, but only we have ALL of the traits". Speaking of revisions, they do that a lot. They claim that they get their teachings directly from Jehovah through the elders at the world headquarters, who are the only ones who can interpret the bible and translate its cryptic messages to us mortals, but they seem to get it loving wrong as poo poo surprisingly often! Throughout the 1900s, they proclaimed that the end of the world (well, not the end of the world, but Armageddon, which might as well be) was right around the corner. They gave specific dates. Predictably, the good brothers and sisters decided that since they weren't going to be around to pay it back, they might as well take big loans and live it up before the current system crashes, and when that didn't happen, a lot of people were financially ruined. And then it kept happening, and happening, and happening. And then towards the end of the 1990s, they said that the elders had received new insight and now understood that only Jehovah knows the actual date but it's coming soon! And then they memory holed all the times they had predicted a date and bringing it up is forbidden. But even that is just peanuts compared to the years of sexual abuse and paedophilia that have gone on behind the scenes. JWs say that anyone who has "grievances" with others, like loving getting raped, shouldn't go to the cops. They should bring it up with their elders -- many of whom were often the abusers -- and let the organization handle it. Anyone going to the cops was booted out and shunned, which meant that people who had lived all their lives as JWs and only had social contacts with other JWs suddenly lost all their social support nets and contacts, if they wanted to try to get justice for the horrible things that were done to them. loving hell, they really should be outlawed alongside Scientologists. But anyway, I was one of them for ~15 years. Ask me anything if you want. E: Animal-Mother posted:My friend in the Jehovah's Witnesses wasn't allowed to celebrate his birthdays and that made me sad. Yeah, among many other things that are forbidden to JWs, they don't celebrate birthdays. I don't remember why anymore. No christmas either. The only celebration they recognize is their version of passover, where you gather at the kingdom hall to hear speeches and if there are people who are among the 144 000 who will go to heaven with god and jesus when armageddon hits (you had to be alive to see World War I, because apparently that was when the "end times" began. They have since corrected that teaching as well, since armageddon was supposed to come before those who witnesses WWI had died, and well...) they got to have a drink of wine and eat a pretzel while everyone else watches. I gotta say it didn't make up for no christmases or birthdays. Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Nov 26, 2023 |
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Nov 26, 2023 15:00
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Oh, they also believe that the bible is 100% literal. I remember getting into Trouble as a kid when I once asked how Noah managed to get animals that only live in arctic regions into his ark that was built somewhere in the Middle-East, and how he managed to fit the millions of species that exist around the world into a wooden ship. They didn't even try to answer and instead I was given a very stern lecture and had to do extra bible study with one of the elders. E: Minotaurus Rex posted:If you’re having trouble determining whether a specific organisation is a cult, this criteria is a decent place to start https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model/ Yeah, JWs definitely fit the bill then. 6/23 for B, 5/6 (maybe even 6/6) for I, 6/11 for T, 7/8 for E. Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Nov 26, 2023 |
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Nov 26, 2023 15:09
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Spinz posted:It was horrific growing up that way It definitely hosed me up for life Yeah that's the thing, isn't it? It's incredibly hard to shake the hosed up poo poo these assholes pump into your head when you're young. Even though I intellectually know that, for instance, sex isn't sinful, on a deep level intimacy still makes me uncomfortable because I grew up in an environment where people in power hammered that point into my head. I would say that I'm mostly fine these days, but I'm sure on some level I'll carry this poo poo in my head to the grave.
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Nov 26, 2023 19:25
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Hyrax Attack! posted:The JWs are frequently camped outside libraries in suits looking bored, is that a part of their doctrine? looks like they are just checking a box and even if I was in the market for a religion nothing about that looks fun. Yeah I guess there's been a switch in doctrine where they don't ring doorbells that often anymore. Instead they have these little display cases with books and magazines and stand around near them on sidewalks. There's usually a couple of them parked outside my building, in summer and in winter. Weirdly enough they keep ringing MY doorbell. I guess membership must be down or something because they're aggressively pursuing ex-JWs. I've told them repeatedly that I'm an ex-JW and not interested in coming back, and they always make a note of it, and then a month later some other pair are at my door. But it gets even better. Here in Finland, we have mandatory military service for all men. You can instead opt for civil service, but you have to do something, or get a six month prison sentence. The JWs over here sat in prison long enough to get an exception. The elders periodically write a note to your local draft board until you're 30 and that gets you out of military service. But if you aren't super active, they'll stop writing the notes and you have to either go to prison or join the army and become an ex-JW. When they stopped writing a note for me, I opted for military service. During the last months in service, literally the night before we were leaving for a two week artillery camp in Lapland, one of the elders from my congregation called me and tried to do the "hip priest rapping with the young hoodlums" thing and told me that I had strayed far from Jehovah's light, but there was still hope for me. If I immediately went to my commanding officer and told him I was stopping my service and wanted to go to prison instead, then maybe there could still be a way for me to come back. I told him I had made my choice and was very happy with it, and told him not to call anymore.
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Dec 1, 2023 21:39
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