Gehova’s witness

Hi Ken,
I will give it a go even when there are certainly better BB to discuss religion.

You ask if the religious group know as the Jehovah witness is a cult.
But what is a cult?

According to the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (1971) the term, “cult,” originally referred to “worship; reverential homage rendered to a divine being or beings…a particular form or system of religious worship; especially in reference to its external rites and ceremonies …devotion or homage to a particular person or thing.” More recently, the term has taken on additional connotations: “3 : A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious…4 : A system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator…5 a. great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work…b. a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion.” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, 1994)

However, Rutgers University professor Benjamin Zablocki (1997) says that sociologists often distinguish “cult” from “church,” “sect,” and “denomination.” Cults are innovative, fervent groups. If they become accepted into the mainstream, cults, in his view, lose their fervor and become more organized and integrated into the community; they become churches. When people within churches become dissatisfied and break off into fervent splinter groups, the new groups are called sects. As sects become more stolid and integrated into the community, they become denominations. Zablocki defines a cult as “an ideological organization held together by charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment.” According to Zablocki, cults are at high risk of becoming abusive to members, in part because members’ adulation of charismatic leaders contributes to their becoming corrupted by the power they seek and are accorded.

So is cult good or bad? I suppose it depends who you ask. It seems that traditional churches or denomination use the term as a whip for smaller groups they disagree with or that challenge their teachings. Small groups in their beginnings may see this term not as derogatory but as proof of their zeal for the one cause that makes them different.

In the particular case you ask, it is difficult to use a classification for the simple reason that their doctrine has changed many times over in the last 40 years, and members who have entered the organisation recently don’t know much of what their predecessors use to preach only 20 years ago and would certainly not believe you if you told them.

From time to time someone writes a book about this group highlighting what the author interprets as errors of doctrine, contradictions, or signs that show without a shadow of doubt that they are not what they appear to be.
Invariably such books become obsolete, because the teachings of JW adapt and change in what I can only interpret as an attempt to accommodate their critics, for lack of a better explanation. This is made easy by their high members turn over.

If you are interested in the JW history, their credo and claims, past and present status, a Google search will give you ample to read. I suggest you read from their own websites and from the opposing view to have a balanced opinion.

I will volunteer the opposing views on the link below, but you are free to seek you own information. This days it is at anyone’s fingetips.

http://www.xjw.com/

May God prosper you always.[biggrin]
Marc

I really consciously try to fear or judge less, stop myself when I do, etc.
Fear means you temporarily forgot to love.
And so does judging others.

So I try to think what is the ‘love’ answer to these questions? And leave the rest (judgements etc) up to God.

Focus on the similarities that unite the world not the differences which divide.

joy to the world

http://www.carm.org/jw/history.htm
http://www.carm.org/jw/doctrines.htm
http://www.carm.org/jw/nutshell.htm
http://www.carm.org/jw/cult.htm
http://www.ahajokes.com/crt882.html
http://www.ahajokes.com/crt888.html

May God prosper you always.[biggrin]
Marc