I've been asked to be a regular contributor to a new #blog on #cults. We're still firming up some of the details, but I'm excited to see where this goes. #ExMormon #apostake
Interesting. I am an #ExJW. Online discussions on Usenet alt.religion.mormom was one of my first steps in deconstructing my JW faith. Our family (wife and four daughters) left the JWs in 2007. So it has been awhile for us. Kind regards, Randy
Content warning: discussion of high-demand religious groups
@randygalbraith Yeah, I've read up on Jehovah's Witnesses. As much as the Mormons like to demonize their defectors, JWs make that look like amateur hour.
@randygalbraith Probably similar to the JW view on Mormons, we respected their dedication to sharing the gospel (publicly anyways) but we were the one true church.
As a JW I would just shake my head in bewilderment. How can anyone believe in Mormonism? Large sections of the KJV copied in the BOM? Doesn't this make for obvious flaws? Thus many of my initial posts to a.r.m were pretty aggressive and dismissive towards the LDS faith. At the same time the high-school teacher who taught computer science helped me a great deal and he was a sincere Mormon. Eventually I came to the JW, LDS and many other faiths are not so much about foundational text as they are about the living culture presented by trusted leaders.
Looked at from that perspective JW leadership tends to direct isolation rather than any integration. JWs appear to have a much lower tolerance for dissent.
JWs appear to have a much lower tolerance for dissent.
Absolutely. I mean, asking too many questions too publicly will get you excommunicated from the LDS church, but at least when that happens it's handled privately.* They don't publicly announce it and shun the individual.
* People do notice when disciplinary action happens, because it's rather visible. They're not supposed to judge, but it happens all the time.
I've been seeing a bunch of people joining the Fediverse who have a great deal of expertise with high demand control groups (A.K.A. #cults).
This makes me happy because as a survivor of such a group myself, I've been passionate about helping people to know how to spot the warning signs.
I'm hoping to put together a list of resources to help in this regard. There's a lot of stuff out there, but it's kind of scattered all over the place.
randygalbraith
•Jonathan Lamothe
Content warning: discussion of high-demand religious groups
randygalbraith
•Jonathan Lamothe
Jonathan Lamothe
randygalbraith
•Looked at from that perspective JW leadership tends to direct isolation rather than any integration. JWs appear to have a much lower tolerance for dissent.
Cheers, -Randy
Jonathan Lamothe
Absolutely. I mean, asking too many questions too publicly will get you excommunicated from the LDS church, but at least when that happens it's handled privately.* They don't publicly announce it and shun the individual.
* People do notice when disciplinary action happens, because it's rather visible. They're not supposed to judge, but it happens all the time.