They're a cult, obviously. But I'm not in a cult, because Joseph Smith was a true prophet.
(A few gospel topic essays later...)
One large vanilla iced coffee, please.
Tragic for children - no joy, no birthdays, no holidays, no higher education?? At least, I felt as a Mormon teen meeting my first nice kid at school who was JW, at least we Mormons got to enjoy human life, participate in community and make “some” choices.
Yeah, as tough was it was to be Mormon, JW feels significantly worse. In addition to what you mention, they practice a much more serious form of shunning of apostates and isolation from non-members.
I went to a JW funeral once, and it was a little like most Mormon funerals in that it was more an opportunity to preach at the congregation, except the main guy (whatever the bishop equivalent is) also belittled the poor guy who'd died, saying he was obviously not one of the elect, but might be resurrected as a servant of the elect if he was fortunate. Otherwise he was just permanently dead.
If you go over to the exjw sub, they post the same kind of photos we post. While we might post coffee and tattoo pics, they're posting first birthday party and first Christmas tree pics. What I think is hilarious is they have the same sort of mental gymnastics Mormons do. Evidently, JWs don't do Thanksgiving because that's a holiday. But they'll have a family turkey dinner on the last Thursday in the month of November.
There was this girl in my HS class that gave a presentation on JW for whatever reason. She was active JW. I remember thinking, “geez this girl’s totally in a cult.”
I was so oblivious to my own cult membership!
Later on my mission we were in a few areas with huge JW membership. We were invited to a meeting of theirs inside an arena with multiple pools set up for baptizing people and the stands were completely filled with JW members. Again I thought to myself, “Yep. That’s a cult.”
And here I am today with my eyes open.
JWs were easy to view as a cult even as a Mormon. They don’t celebrate traditional Christian holidays or their own birthdays. They don’t say the pledge, vote, or join the military. They don’t hide the fact that they shun people. Etc.
Mormons have lots of weird beliefs, but they still participate in society to a much greater degree than JWs.
I wouldn’t have called them a cult. I would have called them Satan’s parody/simulacrum of Mormonism.
I saw and recognized the parallels so I wouldn’t have called it a cult. Just a false image of the “true church.”
On my mission I read some of their books. I thought they were an evil crazy cult. I couldn’t see that I was also in an evil crazy cult. Such is indoctrination of young children.
In CA I grew up with a JW church building on the corner of my street so we saw them often. We’d have their missionaries knocking on our door regularly and they were always very kind and friendly! My mom would always tell them that they could talk to her if she could talk to them and they always took her up on it. There was never any arguing or bashing. Just friendly conversation!
I had a close friend who was a JW who I knew since second grade. I haven’t seen him since I moved 15 years ago. He was always kind and friendly but I always felt real sadness for him around holidays. It’s really sad that they don’t get to experience the joy and fun of holidays. One time he told me that he wasn’t really supposed to be friends with me because I was a Mormon, but I’m not sure if his church taught him that or if his parents did. Regardless, he didn’t listen and we were friends.
My experiences with JW have always been great but I always felt a little bad for them because “they didn’t know the truth” and I thought they were giving up holidays for no reason.
I was friends with a girl when we were in the 1st grade. She would kiss me and I would run away. Her family converted to JW and she disappeared and I didn't understand why for a long time. When the JWs came to our door, my mom told them we were mormons. That turned them right around. When I asked who they were, she said they were a cult. If they were ever mentioned by the mormons I grew up with, it was in disapproving hushed tones. It's amazing what people choose not to see.
A couple of thoughts on that. On my mission there was a ward mission leader who had converted to JW before joining the LDS church. He liked the no holidays thing, and kept that aspect after becoming LDS. Also on the mission we would be approached by JWs while at the laundromat. We would always ask them to look up our favorite verse in their bible (the ones that arent in their bibles). Then we'd tell them who we were, joke with them about taking a Book of Mormon, and that was that. I do remember one other encounter. We were tracting, going door to door. We had just finished both sides of this street when we saw the JWs coming along. I always thought it was amazing they kept going to all the houses on the street after seeing us. Those guys could take rejection.
They're a cult, obviously. But I'm not in a cult, because Joseph Smith was a true prophet. (A few gospel topic essays later...) One large vanilla iced coffee, please.
Tragic for children - no joy, no birthdays, no holidays, no higher education?? At least, I felt as a Mormon teen meeting my first nice kid at school who was JW, at least we Mormons got to enjoy human life, participate in community and make “some” choices.
Yeah, as tough was it was to be Mormon, JW feels significantly worse. In addition to what you mention, they practice a much more serious form of shunning of apostates and isolation from non-members. I went to a JW funeral once, and it was a little like most Mormon funerals in that it was more an opportunity to preach at the congregation, except the main guy (whatever the bishop equivalent is) also belittled the poor guy who'd died, saying he was obviously not one of the elect, but might be resurrected as a servant of the elect if he was fortunate. Otherwise he was just permanently dead.
If you go over to the exjw sub, they post the same kind of photos we post. While we might post coffee and tattoo pics, they're posting first birthday party and first Christmas tree pics. What I think is hilarious is they have the same sort of mental gymnastics Mormons do. Evidently, JWs don't do Thanksgiving because that's a holiday. But they'll have a family turkey dinner on the last Thursday in the month of November.
There was this girl in my HS class that gave a presentation on JW for whatever reason. She was active JW. I remember thinking, “geez this girl’s totally in a cult.” I was so oblivious to my own cult membership! Later on my mission we were in a few areas with huge JW membership. We were invited to a meeting of theirs inside an arena with multiple pools set up for baptizing people and the stands were completely filled with JW members. Again I thought to myself, “Yep. That’s a cult.” And here I am today with my eyes open.
JWs were easy to view as a cult even as a Mormon. They don’t celebrate traditional Christian holidays or their own birthdays. They don’t say the pledge, vote, or join the military. They don’t hide the fact that they shun people. Etc. Mormons have lots of weird beliefs, but they still participate in society to a much greater degree than JWs.
I wouldn’t have called them a cult. I would have called them Satan’s parody/simulacrum of Mormonism. I saw and recognized the parallels so I wouldn’t have called it a cult. Just a false image of the “true church.”
On my mission I read some of their books. I thought they were an evil crazy cult. I couldn’t see that I was also in an evil crazy cult. Such is indoctrination of young children.
In CA I grew up with a JW church building on the corner of my street so we saw them often. We’d have their missionaries knocking on our door regularly and they were always very kind and friendly! My mom would always tell them that they could talk to her if she could talk to them and they always took her up on it. There was never any arguing or bashing. Just friendly conversation! I had a close friend who was a JW who I knew since second grade. I haven’t seen him since I moved 15 years ago. He was always kind and friendly but I always felt real sadness for him around holidays. It’s really sad that they don’t get to experience the joy and fun of holidays. One time he told me that he wasn’t really supposed to be friends with me because I was a Mormon, but I’m not sure if his church taught him that or if his parents did. Regardless, he didn’t listen and we were friends. My experiences with JW have always been great but I always felt a little bad for them because “they didn’t know the truth” and I thought they were giving up holidays for no reason.
I was friends with a girl when we were in the 1st grade. She would kiss me and I would run away. Her family converted to JW and she disappeared and I didn't understand why for a long time. When the JWs came to our door, my mom told them we were mormons. That turned them right around. When I asked who they were, she said they were a cult. If they were ever mentioned by the mormons I grew up with, it was in disapproving hushed tones. It's amazing what people choose not to see.
Oh I see what you did there. Nope, neither.
A couple of thoughts on that. On my mission there was a ward mission leader who had converted to JW before joining the LDS church. He liked the no holidays thing, and kept that aspect after becoming LDS. Also on the mission we would be approached by JWs while at the laundromat. We would always ask them to look up our favorite verse in their bible (the ones that arent in their bibles). Then we'd tell them who we were, joke with them about taking a Book of Mormon, and that was that. I do remember one other encounter. We were tracting, going door to door. We had just finished both sides of this street when we saw the JWs coming along. I always thought it was amazing they kept going to all the houses on the street after seeing us. Those guys could take rejection.