"You use your brain too much." I think it was Erasmus who opened that "God would not have endowed us with the power of reason if we were not meant to use it."
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." - Galileo Galilei
As an exjw, I really really appreciate all the JW stories. So glad to see they are getting more exposure as a cult now. It's good to see more people waking up, and hearing their stories reminds me that I'm not alone.
There are too many episodes on medical shows like Chicago Med, Grey' Anatomy where parents refuse treatment for their kids on religious grounds. A JW boy died coz they refused blood transfusion, another boy almost went blind coz dad refused to show him to a doctor but the mother secretly dropped him off at a hospital to be treated, another episode featuring female genital mutilation...etc
@Michael Stallings freedom of religion isn't a ironclad defense, when addressed competantly in a court of law its usually trumped by child abuse laws. idk about other country but in the UK at least the Family Division of the High Court can and will overule parents who refuse necessary medical treatment for minors (in life or death scenarios) on religious grounds.
Forget the BITE model. You know it's all bullshit when they tell you: A) We're right, everyone else is wrong, and DON'T YOU DARE EVER QUESTION THAT. B) Give us money and/or do as we say WITHOUT QUESTION, or something bad will happen to you. C) We'll decide what is the best way to live your life. Who your friends are, who your enemies are, who you will marry, what you will read, watch on TV, etc., what you will eat, how you will dress, and what you will say, etc. D) You must love us more than anything or anyone else. E) We want you to snitch on your friends and family. F) You're unworthy. This applies to more than just religion. Actions and narratives like these are gigantic Da-Glo red warning flags for LOTS of things.
I know it's what everyone on Reddit says, but *really* hope you're doing okay with family & friend dynamics now. I have a friend who started campaigning a couple weeks ago to discourage their recruitment tactics over here. I'm generally wary of preaching/conversions, but I didn't get why he was specifically was boycotting "The Way". Now I get it.
@@37thraven wait, there’s others on Reddit talking about the way? Holy shit. I need to check that out. It was a point of contention for a while between my no and my dad, they divorced in1986. Dad and some family were in it for years. Not anymore. Former reverend Craig L Martindale got in trouble for sexual misconduct and other shit. Paul Weirwille is said to have gotten his “degree” from a mail in paid for place. A fraud. He liked teenage girls plus had many mistresses.
i grew up in the 'chuch of christ' , mine wasnt as cultish, but i do remember one thing. The older members of that church would often say how much they disliked baptists and how that since they used a piano while singing in their service they were all going to hell, and they seemed almost gleeful when they said that. the older i got the less sense that made, and made me genuinely fear christianity, as i realized more and more that there was no 'love of/from god' in christiantiy, only judging, fear, and damnation for dissenting opinions. While my parents are still christian, they also no longer go to such churches as i think they wised up too, and thankfully we still have a good relationship. As for me, i became a Norse Pagan, the wisdom of Odin guides me, and come Helheim, Asgard, or Ragnarok, i no longer fear death, and am at peace. I once asked my dad why he didnt disown me as so many other parents have done to ex-christians, dad told me something that ill never forget 'love doesnt do that son', love you dad
@@haylestormable we still have lunch twice a month, he is a great dad, it would be more, but he works as a nurse, things are kinda hectic at the moment
Indeed, everybody writes them off as harmless kooks, but look even a little deeper and you start finding out sinister shit almost immediately. My best friend's brother told me about a guy he knew who left JW and had everybody ostracise him instantly, even people he'd known all his life and grown up with. Everybody was conditioned to not even acknowledge his existence. I think even his own family unpersoned him. If that's not some grade A Creepy Cultist Shit, then it's only because I don't know about the *really* creepy stuff.
@@OmicronX-1999 Yep, you hit the nail on the head. It's fucked up. I was raised in a relatively mild JW congregation and it was still just wrong. I'll be completely disowned for joining the Army, and got reamed out for cutting my hair a specific way, even though it was a pretty conservative cut. I'm at the point where all the JWs I know, including most of my family, can go to the hell they don't believe in
You should check out Telltale’s channel. He’s an ex-jehovah’s witness. He does great videos about how he left and how messed up they are. On a side note, Recently, he had to flee his WV town for exposing the teacher ILLEGALLY teaching religious principles in sex Ed.... he got literal death threats.
I was born on a full JW family and im still one to this day, in fact im thinking on baptizing this year, the biggest problem i've seen is that some JW take everything too seriously and often dont question what other people say or take stuff too literal, this often happens with people that come from other religions, you should follow what the bible says, not what some guy said, some people expect JWs to be saints, but we are imperfect, so obviously there are some assholes mixed between our organization, i have the luck to be in a great congregation that puts friendship and fun over toxicity, i guess thats because most of my brothers are relatively young and succesful. Regarding the part of isolation against those who leave the organization: That should be applied only to those who sinned and dont regret it, if you do that you're expelled and thats when we cut contact with you, but this doesnt mean that your parents should hate you or stop loving you, if your parents and friends do that then they arent following the bible's values, you must do something really bad to justify this behaviour, if im being honest from the few people i've seen getting expelled most of them were cheating on their spouses or abusing them, and then after leaving straight up started taking drugs or having a messed up life, some even started talking shit about us, if you're homosexual and your parents starts hating you because of that, then they are not true christians. If you sin but feel regret then you will lose your privilieges if you had them, but this doesnt give people the right to ignore you, i've seen people confuse the two. Being a JW is a life style, but it shouldnt be your whole life, my father is an elder on the congregation but he doesnt put strict rules on me or my brother, in fact he bought us a gaming pc and my favourite game currently is COD:MW Sorry for the wall of text and for my spelling as english isnt my first language and im on mobile, if you want to ask me anything go ahead, im pretty bored rn
@@alfa9226 I'm very glad you're in a good congregation and that you enjoy it. It can be a good lifestyle for those who want it, but shouldn't be forced on anyone. I had the misfortune of being raised in a bad congregation, where everyone was a hypocrite and my family was hated for little reason. For some people it's a blessing to be a part of. For people like me, who struggle with belief in a God, it's practically a curse. Specifically, Witnesses don't like me because I'm not capable of living in peace, I'm a fighter and twenty years of having peace to all shoved down my throat couldn't change that. I'm not a good person, but I can't help but be what I am and my witness family won't accept that. Sure, not all witnesses are like this, but I've met too many to ever go back to the hypocrisy again. I also apologize for the wall of text, but thanks for making a comment and taking time to talk
How smart is that JW at 7 years old ripping up that card? That refusal of a simple life-saving medical treatment is crazy to me. A lot of these commenters are so smart for noticing the cognitive dissonance at such early ages and having the courage to leave. I can't imagine how hard that would be. I wasn't raised with religion because my great grandma had a really bad experience like the ones in this video so she never indoctrinated her kids and so on. I consider myself very lucky.
@@gettingshotsomeonesgonnapa8635 honestly I think it has a lot to do with ‘bad blood’ (hiv) or mixing the blood of races. Like obviously I doubt they say that outright. But I have the feeling it’s based in that. Because why would it just be blood? What about all modern medicine?
@@MsPuffykinz It has nothing to do with race or fear of diseases like HIV. They don't allow blood transfusions because of the sacredness of blood in their religion. They use many scriptures regarding blood being sacred as the reasoning to never accept it or share it. Not everything is about race ffs
Hoooly shiiiit! Nobody knows about SGI!! I got roped into it by a friend who joins Buddhist groups all the time. I went to like three meetings and figured out the shtick quickly. It helps that I studied in Japan and knew about "new religions" already and picked up on them asking for donations and their intense focus on their leader and lack of general spiritual beliefs and total lack of knowledge of general Buddhist practices between different groups. It was like 50% worship of their leader, 25% sales pitch, and 25% chanting with no study or explanation. Then they harassed my friend for literally years after he left.
the "sex group" is definitely an abusive cult. Cults do NOT have to be religious - they can be political, social, or corporate, or even an abusive family (for instance, most MLMs have some culty dynamics in levels of control, denial of reality and thought-stopping techniques) . If there is lack of choice, control over members, a sense of "outsiders" being different and ignorant somehow, and the inability to exit without being shunned or ostracized, then it is a destructive cult, regardless of philosophy or stated purpose. If any of these stories sound like something you're involved in now, help is available.
My story is similar to the first one, but I was also abused. Pokemon was satanic, tv was only for religious shows, only music was Christian music, everything we did was controlled. I left the church as an adult because I learned about the real world during college and decided to accept myself start dating... and as I am a straight trans male... they saw it as me being a lesbian and I basically got told I was going to hell by the pastor. 😅. Anyway...
My dad was raised in JW. They were discouraged from trying to go to college or bettering themselves in any way because the end times were near and they should focus on guiding more people into the organization. That was 50 years ago and we're still here.Weekends were spent door knocking and selling magazines. They weren't allowed to play sports, celebrate birthdays or holidays. My grandparents spent their money going to conventions and buying magazines to sell. Now when they come to my door I say been there done that, get off my property.
dang i feel bad for anyone that had a weird spinoff of christanity because the person who taught you these things was selfish and took away any form of belief you might have had
@@icephoenix877 Jehovahs witness. And why actively trying to believe? I prefer to go with the agnostic approach: I cannot prove that god exists. I cannot prove that he doesn't. Hence I go the scientific way and say "I simply do not know and have no way of knowing" and that's it.
This is why I love my church. They care about the people. Great example. I asked for prayer for the Linkin Parks lead singers family when he died and my church, knowing full well this was a secular band not christian, Stopped and had prayer for the family. They didnt care that this family wasnt religious they just prayed that they would have peace in this difficult time. And if that isnt showing compassion for others I dont know what is.
Thought I was going to burn for eternity when I relized the contrictions in the bible. I was afraid I would "stray from god" and be punished for dare questeining the gospel. That on top of relizing I might not be straight or cisgender (because of course thats considered a sin) really fucked me up for a while... Turns out my mom went through a simlar thing but her dad pretty much made her take me and my siblings to his church. Thankfully we dont do that anymore but my siblings still hold onto alot of the beleifs they've been taught and im worried for them. Espescilly since my sister has a crush on a girl and im worried she might go through the same thing I have :(
'thou shalt not lie with a man as you would a woman' is a mistranslation from the original bible by homophobes. The original line is 'thou shalt not lie with lie with a young man as you would a woman' so telling off pedefillia. Also Jesus was probably gay or bi.
I grew up Catholic and was seriously religious until college. That shit FUCKED me up (I’m gay and have known forever, but was all about self sacrifice and ended up in an abusive relationship and a bunch of other stuff), and I wouldn’t even consider Catholicism a cult. These stories break my heart, because I know how manipulative “regular” religion can be. I can’t imagine the dreary abismal existence that these survivors experienced. But kudos to all for getting out, and I hope the number of defectors will increase as humanity continues to expand our breadth of knowledge.
I'm an Anglican. Many friends are Catholic. The differences far outweigh the similarities, and there are a lot of similarities. I can not believe the hardcore shit Catholics put up with, but High Anglican is not much different. Glad I am neither. My new-then minister asked me once if I would like to schedule a home visit. I said, "Why? What would be the point?" He just laughed and patted my hand and said, "Fair enough!" I told a Catholic friend this and she could not believe it. Said she would be afraid to cross the priest. That tells you a lot. Also: another Anglican minister we had was asked by a congregant if LGBTQ people were (paraphrasing here) 'sinners bound for hell'. He told everyone from the pulpit the following Sunday: " There have been LGTBQ humans since history began. They are part of our human story. When is humanity going to accept that God has created us all in His image and therefore LGBTQ people are on Earth because God wants them to be here?" A Catholic friend has a gay brother who is in his 30s. He has spent most if his life being labelled a "sinner" by his church to the point he tried to kill himself at 20. Their priest was particularly horrible to him.
Glad you got out! Religion declares pride is wrong, and slowly wears away any individuality and self esteem. Which just leaves shame. I was raised very strictly Mormon. Every single day was some church based activity or religious lesson, and bible reading, with at least an hour of prayer a day. Left the religion the day I left my parents house, and have never been back.
Emerson Awesome Step 1: Join the cult Step 2: Follow their laws enough to get in good standing with them Step 3: Seek audience with the elders Step 4: Take the elders hostage (It is recommended you do this step with friends) Step 5: Force them do disband the cult Of course, this will take a huge mental tole not to be brainwashed yourself, and getting to step 5 might land you in prison, but it would be a necessary sacrifice.
My mom was a Jehovah's Witness as a child, and is now rejoining at 51. It worries me sick (literally) that she's involved in such a terrible cult. It doesn't make any sense to me why she would go back after all the abuse she suffered by them.
@John Chen I've tried gently talking her out of it by asking leading questions like yours, but it hasn't worked. Basically, she thinks that what happened in the past should stay in the past, and because she's not being treated badly now, everything is fine. She also genuinely believes in what they teach, and always has, even when she wasn't part of the cult.
15:45 oh they played music and felt things but understood it wasn't their place to have opinions on things (even if it was an intuitive understanding) or to express those feelings.
Twice disfellowshipped JW. It is said in their organization that people aren't disfellowshipped if they repent, but repentance is measured by the elders. Fear of losing my parents made me return. Going on 4 years of being dead to my mom and dad, but feeling more alive than I ever have.
My husband is from... I don't know that I'd call it a straight up cult, but there are several cult-like aspects of this church. I very gently started telling him this when we were dating (he had left before we met), and I think he was reluctant to put that label on it, especially since the home church was literally his immediate and extended family. But a few months ago, he was talking to his brother or cousin (who are still attending, but they agree with him that there are major problems, they just don't want to cause a stir since it's all family) and he used my words and called it a cult. I don't know what to call it otherwise: everyone is obsessed with the college church, everyone is weirdly reverent of the founder, and any kind of questioning of their traditions - not even doctrine, necessarily - would just bring on "Well, if you're questioning that, you must not be a Christian, then." His family didn't come to our wedding because I'm a "lesser light" because I wear pants and tank tops. I met his parents after we'd been married for 3 months. When his grandmother died, I was 4ish months pregnant and wore a dress that still fit and my husband thought it would be fine. Grandfather did not agree and told one of hubby's uncles that the dress I had worn came nearly all the way up my thighs. The uncle then told my BIL who set him straight in no uncertain terms. That dress hit my knees. MIL called hubs, and - not knowing she was on speakerphone in front of me - asked if I could wear something "more appropriate" for the funeral. They're nice people, but knowing how my husband has been treated and probably still would be if the pastor hadn't been removed and replaced, and knowing that I can't really be myself around his parents or extended family like I can be around hubs and his brother and cousin, I don't love visiting. It's emotionally draining. I think his mom is counting on us asking her to help when the baby is born, but honestly, I'd rather have my mom here, and I'm not going to wear a dress just for her and I'm not going to filter myself for her either while I'm figuring out motherhood and healing.
I’m Christian, and I recognize Christianity has cults. I find it sad that some people’s experiences with the Christian cults push them away completely, but I am way more happy that they managed to get out of the cults. Good job, and have a happy life.
I'm a seventh day adventist and I never heard of anything like that. Not being able to play chess, listen to music, or dance? Granted I'm still studying with them, so haven't been baptized yet. But nothing like this came up.
I was born and raised a SDA. I have never heard about the chess thing but the music and dance is a no no for conservative adventist. My mom was not strict on it so I still listen to music but I have always felt awkward about dance.
my uncle and auntie are Jehovah's witnesses and I am aware of some of its "teachings" but my father who is not a Jehovah's witness said that he agreed to not talk to them about cults so I didn't tell them in fear of being told off
I was born and raised in a supposedly Christian church called Iglesia ni Cristo; my grandfather was a preacher. He was one of a few dozen based in Southeast Asia, but were later reassigned to America to spread the word of God. That's the reason I was born in the US, and not some slum like my mother and her siblings. I dutifully went at least twice a week, was indoctrinated, all of it. Some of it stuck; I can still do decently on Bible subjects on Jeopardy. When I was 10 or 11 - long after grandpa had passed - I realized that something was wrong. These people weren't just devout and ultra conservative, they were *obsessed*. It wasn't about spreading the gospel; it was about control. Control of behaviors, lifestyles, financials, relationships, sexuality, information, free time, morality, emotions, critical thinking... It was a cult. Imagine being a child and suddenly realizing that _everyone around you is crazy._ I didn't associate with any of them and withdrew into myself. Since I was forbidden from having friends with non-believers, so I had no one to go to. Not that I'd have any; I was an outcast (despite my excellent academic performance) in public school, and an Asian American minority in a largely Caucasian conservative town. No one was coming to save me. So I just stayed at the very back of the room, the last to go in and the first to leave. I did that for over a decade. I couldn't leave because I was just a kid and living with my mother; the cult demanded that any rebellious children should be not only excommunicated, but disowned from their families. And I saw that happen. Being a LGBTQ kid (and in my case, being non-binary) in the early 90s was bad enough already for normal families, but mine would've left me on the streets - or worse - if they found out. So I sat there, year after year, seething as I listened to their hateful, spiteful messages and watched how these deluded people ate it all up. I eventually moved out and stayed with other relatives. I ended up doing a lot of traveling; as of now, I've been to 25 countries spanning 5 continents. It would've been at least 26/6 if it weren't for the pandemic... I kept my attendance to a bare minimum, sometimes showing up once a year. They kept track of everyone's attendance records, and would send people to harass you if you didn't show. And if you kept missing, you'd eventually be excommunicated. The cult had been steadily losing followers for years due to scandals back home in Asia, as well as the younger members having Internet access and figuring out what was really going on. So they started cracking down on non-believers in an attempt to appear strong. When I showed up for the final time - at the very same church my grandpa preached at all those years ago - a young upstart pastor thought he could play the tough guy and intimidate me. I thought I could play it off like I'd done innumerable times before, but this guy was next level nuts. He called me sinful for my appearance (I've always been naturally androgynous, and had grown my hair out during my college years), and that my traveling the world was a grave sin. He demanded a written apology, and I did just as he instructed. At that point, I really was trying to play it straight. But apparently he thought I wasn't taking it seriously, and told me not to try messing with him. He then tried to cherry pick passages out of the Bible to justify the idea that I shouldn't explore, and obediently show up for every sermon. That I should obey, _NOW._ Needless to say, that was a mistake. I am many things, but a doormat is not one of them. I pounded the desk - my grandpa's own - so hard that it left a small crack and dent. I rarely raise my voice, but I roared *_ENOUGH._* Two other officials rushed in when they heard me, but immediately backed up. Me: You don't ****ing tell me what to do. Him: Yes. I. Can. And you better calm down right now. Me: I SAID, YOU DON'T ****ING TELL ME WHAT TO DO! You think you can intimidate me? You arrogant piece of _shit._ Who the Hell do you think you are?! Him: I AM A MAN OF GOD! Me: You are *_NOTHING!_* The pastor stammered: You better watch your mouth. I warned you not to mess with me! Me: *Standing up* Oh, I'm being *_real_* serious right now. I came to see you out of what little respect I had for my family's legacy in this office. You *_dare_* talk to me like that, boy?! You think you can mess with me, you ****er? COME ON, TRY IT! _I'll carve all three of you up!_ I wanted to tear him apart and burn that place to the ground. For robbing me of so much of my life, and ruining those of countless others. The guys in that room were terrified. One started begging: It's okay. Please, just leave. Please! Me: Oh, so now you don't want me to stay in your church? _Fine._ As I got to the door, I looked back at back at the pastor. He was staring at me like I was a demon. He tried looking tough and defiant, but he was shaking. I stated: I'll never come back here to worship. If you send someone after me, _I'll make you answer for it._ My aunt was waiting outside the office door and had watched the whole thing, and she escorted me back to the car to make sure no one tried attacking me. The cult had a group of armed guards called SCAN that took care of troublemakers. And no, no one clapped. There was a lot of staring and whispering as I walked out, though. I'd just gotten back into town a few days before, and my aunt given me a ride so I could go to the service and keep my attendance record going. On the way back home, I called my mom and told her in no uncertain terms that I'd never go inside that building again. She got some of the family together a few days later for lunch, and they all prayed for my soul. My mom would later try to talk me into going back, but that didn't work out. We kind of gave up on trying to convince the other. I don't know if that false pastor ever had the fear of God. _But I made sure he had the fear of me._ I left and never looked back. I wasn't exaggerating when I said I wanted to kill him and burn the place down; I could've easily snuck back there, but realized that I'd just be an obvious suspect. I talked myself out of it and went back into therapy instead. Regardless, I must have made an impression; none of the cult members ever harassed me or tried to get into my business. Instead, I'm treated like a persona non grata; they refuse to even look at me in public. And that's fine with me. Not making any of this up in the slightest. Go ahead, ask me anything. Feel free to Google them, by the way. Here's a good place to start: culteducation.com/group/1320-inglesia-ni-christo/34664-inside-the-iglesia-family.html www.gotquestions.org/Iglesia-ni-Cristo.html They also check off several of the criteria for an organization to be considered a cult: freedomofmind.com/bite-model/ That cult ruined religion for me. It is a good concept; people need something to believe in, be it God, the supernatural, luck, pop culture, whatever works. But _what becomes of that belief_ is the problem. Scripture can be interpreted/misunderstood/corrupted in many ways. I find the idea that any mortal human being could fully, accurately enact the will of an omnipotent being to be highly presumptuous. People will do all kinds of vile hatred, violence, murder, and outright insanity in the name of whatever they worship. I've survived it firsthand; this cult saga is just one of _several_ tales from my horror story of a childhood. Looking back, it truly is a wonder that I survived all of it. Beware of anyone who claims they know the one true path to God.
The only thing any person needs in order to justify treating other humans like garbage and trampling all over their individuality is to believe they are in the right by doing so. Religion tends to give people carte blanche in that area by literally *telling* them they are right and will be rewarded for their beliefs. Unfortunately, religion is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to people needing to feel vindicated. Sadly, this applies to every single person on Earth. Nobody is immune to this way of thinking. And these days everybody thinks they're right. The thing with cults though is that they're only ever designed to benefit the ones who start them, and 99% of the rules are there to keep the indoctrinated from realising it. Whether it's crazy ultra-religious right-wing conservative nutjobs, or insanely woke liberals worshipping at the cult of Twitter, or the outcasts who have concluded that the whole world is against them and chosen to reject *everything,* everybody is trapped in their own systems of belief that can only ever benefit the founders of those beliefs, or themselves in the case of those who have rejected all other beliefs. It's why humanity is doomed. I can't see anybody pulling out of the spiral in time to fix this world. Who knows, maybe that's for the best. Personally I belong to the last category so I gave up hoping for a better world a long time ago. Anyway, my point is that these systems of control through belief aren't going to go away, because people want to feel justified in their actions and prejudices and won't let them go for anything. Sorry for the rant, I tend to get weirdly introspective mid comment and go off on tangents. And I fully agree with your sentiment about people needing something to believe in. It took me 35 years but I think I've finally come to understand why so many people seem to need to worship a higher power, even if it's something I could never believe in myself. And you're right about people twisting those beliefs to serve their own ends. Hell, I wonder how many of us would choose to be manipulative assholes like the people who ran the cult you were in if they suddenly realised one day that they had the power to influence thousands of people and make them do whatever they wanted. That kind of thing is happening a lot these days, so my guess is probably lots of people would. Whoops, almost went off on one again there. Anyway, this comment is in danger of becoming a gigantic wall of text, so I'll peace out before the floodgates open and I drown everyone reading this in crazy. Take my words whichever way you want. For what it's worth, were I in your position I probably would have gone back to that place with a can of gas and a lighter and then watched it all burn to the ground. Good for you for getting out.
@@GeneLagrimasJr Yup. If the INC hadn't sent my grandpa to preach in the States back in the day, it's very likely I wouldn't have been born. And if I were, I wouldn't be the same person; I'd be raised in the slums like my mom was. I won't say what locales (the last thing I need is those idiots reading this and sending someone to snoop around my house again), but I was a secretary for a number of years. They also wanted me to be a watcher for their Sunday school sermons, but I kept on flaking out on them, or falling asleep during the service. I'm not a morning person, I was so busy with school that I didn't have much time to sleep, and the services are so boring when you've heard them literally a hundred times. Plus, I asked a lot of questions, kept to myself, and everyone kinda _knew_ I was LGBTQ despite it never being said out loud. My dad was an American guy who'd gotten out and divorced my mom when I was born, but it was for a reason even worse than the cult; he nearly murdered my mom. I'm not kidding. He nearly beat my mom to death, and had all the traits of a sociopath. I strongly believe he would've become a serial killer if he'd kept in better shape. He was so crazy that _staying in the cult with my mom was the safer option._ But that's a whole other horror story. All these years later, my mom's family sees me as a black sheep, rebel, etc. My mom's generation does, anyway; all of my cousins think I'm pretty cool in private. When I rode with a couple of them to my grandma's funeral, they openly laughed when I made a joke about my mom wanting me to "marry a nice church girl" and how neither of them planned to get married. I took another one hiking a couple of years ago; she's nearly 30 and married, but her little sister tagged along as an unenthusiastic chaperone. They all relaxed as soon as there wasn't anyone else in earshot, because they knew I wouldn't judge them. It's like the older folks think I'm going to corrupt their kids or something. My cousin and I had several more hikes planned, but then the pandemic screwed everything up. In the meantime, I'm just living life here in California and working on a couple of science degrees remotely during the pandemic downtime. I'll never set foot in an INC locale again.
@@Polymathically Honestly Filipino church systems are pretty messed up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but INC separate men and women, right? To "preserve the innocence" of everyone there? I also live in California, and churches here are way better tbh
As a protestant it's so weird to me that the JWs are told to never question anything. My parents actively question things and I look up stuff all the time. Blind faith isn't necessarily good. I've come to believe after looking into my religion from an outside view. I may have grown up in it but I can still look and think about things that don't seem to make sense.
1:15 is it just me or did the ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns catch me off guard i thought smthing posessed my laptop for a moment lmfao im sitting here listening to cult stories too lmfao
So my grandmother joined the Children of God when they first started, she thought it was a good group for a bit but then started to get a suspicious and then one day they told her to kill her autistic brother because he was an abomination to God. She went home in tears and told my great grandparents what they had said and she never went there again.
The 15:00 one hits home… the absolute inability to evaluate how you feel about something because you’re so used to repressing your own opinions/feelings/critical thinking skills
I studied with a JW and looking back now I can see her look wanting to do the things like normal kids like sing Happy Bday or having fun in kids parties And I heard she got married and probably is a set up marriage and I hope someday she notices
'Their dad was a cop... I have no idea where they got the money from.' It's insane to me that most people don't know cop salaries are usually WAY above the local, even national, average.
I have met people in AA who are addicts and/or alcoholics because of the so called “God” they grew up with. I wonder how many were actually in a cult? I met one person and their parents... after meeting the parents the person with addiction issues said “do you understand why I used, it’s because I truly believed I was going to hell when I was 12 years old”. I can’t imagine the complete terror and horror they must have lived with. It’s no wonder some don’t believe in God or a higher power. How horrible for children.
19:17 These days it is so ironic that a lot of Christians hate Pokémon and consider it Satanic since a lot of Pokémon Gyms and Pokestops in Pokémon Go are churches. I wonder how that particular group reacted when they found out that they were a Pokémon Gym or Pokéstop in the game.
Dude. It's the first frigging post in the video. FIX UR BROKEN TTS BEFORE POSTING. Rest of the video seems cool BTW. Also, did anyone else hear 'Evangelical Megachurches' and immediately start thinking about giant robots?
Funny you think this channel isn’t practically auto generated it’s like: pick random ask Reddit post, copy and paste the top comments into text to speech, upload
Seventh Day Adventist here and have been from birth. You can play cards, checkers, chess. You can go dancing. You can watch TV and play sports. I have no idea what church that person went to but it wasn't an actual Sevvie one, that's for sure. I play games, I swear and have lots of friends on and off-line. I watch youtube and porn and eat all kinds of food. IDK, this sounds like they were part of some asshole pastor's power trip, and not the actual church I know of and grew up in. Like, yeah, there's some restrictions especially around Sabbath, but everyone are just people? Living their lives? Doing their shit and loving God? Not... _that_ .
Exactly, same here, I'm SDA and have been since birth. Except I don't watch porn and don't eat pork (except for the like 10 times I did eat it just to not seem rude or because I got bacon in my salad and I didn't have the patience to pick it out so I just chose to pretend I didn't see it) But I noticed that, even though it is a centralized denomination, some churches differ a little bit from others. My town has two SDA churches. In one I've had someone question me about what I was playing on the piano in the church basement on Sabbath because it seemed "too lively" to be a "Sabbath song", but in the other, we regularly discuss controversial subjects in Sabbath school... just because? Whatever anyone brings up, we discuss? And I honestly feel like a lot of even non-cult Christian churches would taboo discussions like that, but that's what I love about my church - research and discuss, not shut up and listen.
@@annast3370 I've always been encouraged to look into the truth of things and research stuff because, well, God wants willing people who know their shit, not brainless sheep who follow every bleat. How can you truly _choose_ something if you don't understand it and agree with it? You can't, really. Or, well, you can but with blinders on how do you even really know a thing? So yeah, I appreciate that aspect of my religion a lot. The seek and find, understand and then choose (or not).
Um, all of those things are true tho. Your prophet EG White also copied most of her work including the visions she claimed to have experienced from God. Your religion also strictly prohibits unclean foods and working on the 7th day. If you’re not practicing or a SINO (SDA in name only) just say that. But the actual teaching and doctrines of your church absolutely fits that of a cult. Look it up. It’s not about your personal experience as you can have a bad experience anywhere. Stop spreading misinformation.
@@mariemm200 If you consider Jewism a cult based on the idea of 7th day worship and eating non-clean foods too, then I guess that would make us a cult. So are some of the biggest religions in the world, then. Buddha is considered a prophet, Mohammed also. Except, no, those religions _aren't_ considered cults despite having restricted diets and 'prophets'. Even the Catholic church has come out and said that SDA is not a cult but a Christian group, my dude. One of the biggest things that makes us not a cult is the fact that we intermingle with many other churches and groups. We're not seclusionist and we're open to ANYONE. We support other churches and faiths and do a LOT of community and world-wide supporting via not only funds but schools, hospitals and various other agencies. We. Are. Not. A. Cult. There may be small-town branches who are headed by assholes who act in that way, but the religion as a whole is not. (Also, most people view EG White as someone who had some great sensibility and prediction smarts, not as a holy person who is worshipable or put on a pedistal. She's not Jesus or God or, hell, even one of the twelve. Just a woman who was very smart and had a lot of good things to say.) How about _YOU_ stop spreading misinformation of something you're not even part of?
As a kid, late 1970s, I was friends in gr. 6/7 with a girl I will call Gina whose family were Jehovah's Witnesses. I knew she and another JW boy in class did not celebrate birthdays or Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. plus could not participate in certain school events like dances and the xmas concert & thought it was weird, but did not think much beyond that. Small town in B.C., Canada. Every time I went to her house her Mum or Dad or Grandparents would give me copies of the "Watchtower" and/or discuss their beliefs with me for a few minutes, which I found bizarre, and it made me uncomfortable, but otherwise they seemed pretty low-key. She had 3 younger brothers who were rowdy, so we spent a lot of time outside. We are Anglicans, and my Mum was fairly religious so I would bring the propaganda home and hand it to her. She never said anything but I got the impression she was less than impressed. The pamphlets would just disappear. The most she ever said was, "Everyone is entitled to their beliefs." One time our church and the United Church were having a joint summer picnic/fun fair a couple of weeks after the end of the gr. 7 school year, the 2nd Sunday in July, and needed people to run the games and concessions and such. I was 12 and they asked any kids 12 and up if they had friends who would like to help out. I was excited to be old enough to help. The idea was that with enough people, everyone could take a short shift so everyone could also enjoy the fair. I asked Gina if she wanted to do it. She got all weird and quiet and mumbled something about not being allowed and being busy that day. Another girl from my church and I were enthusiastically talking at recess one day about all the food and prizes and that one of the Dads had built a dunk-tank and you could dunk adults, including both Church's ministers. Whee! Then we went on to talk about the Cake-Walk and how we were each going to make a cake to bring. Gina sidled up to me then and whispered, "I want to come, but you can NOT tell my parents!" The thing was open to the public, taking place in the town park, and only cost a dollar to enter, just to cover basic costs, kids under 10 free. Huge fun. Gina and I ended up running the Fish Pond in back to back shifts, so we just did the hour together. She won two "bigger" prizes at different games and tons of candy. One was a small stuffed animal and the other a little plastic comb and mirror set. I won a coin purse, a beaded necklace, candy... and a cake! Good times! As we were leaving and walking home her Dad pulled up in his truck and said, tersely through gritted teeth, "GET IN." He was staring straight ahead and looked mad. She climbed in and I started to when he turned to me and said, "Not you." Gina looked really scared. Then they drove off. I was an anxious kid and thought I'D done something wrong but had no clue what. I did not see or hear from her for three days so I knocked on their door. Her Mum answered and said, "Gina is grounded." Then abruptly shut the door. About a week later Gina called me. I could tell she was crying. I heard adults saying something muffled in the background. She said in a monotone, "My parents are angry because I went to the picnic and fair with you and feel you are a bad influence. I am sorry I can not be friends with you anymore. Good bye." I was stunned. It made zero sense to me. Who gets upset that their kid went to a Church picnic? Or a fair? Or volunteers at a community event? I just remember my Mum hugging me for a long time while I cried. Some days later a bag was left on our back porch and in it was everything I had ever given Gina- kid-crap like a book about horses, a barrette, a t-shirt, a keychain from Disneyland, traded Barbie clothes, painted rocks, little Salada Tea ceramic figurines, etc. and the prizes she'd won. In a tiny screwed up piece of paper at the bottom of the bag was written in tiny letters, "Thanks for being my friend. I am really sorry I'm a JW." So sad. By gr. 9 Gina was a very chubby girl with a very bad attitude and was quite the bully. She only hung out with her cousins and the 3 or 4 other JW kids in our grade. Some gr. 11 girl told Gina that JW was full of crap and a cult and started to tell her why. Gina punched her in the eye- major shiner- and got expelled for it. Talk about brainwashed.
I don't know if brainwashed is the word I would use to describe a child with mental health issues that stemmed from years of mental and emotional abuse with a side of neglect.
@@denilla8034 The term "brainwashed" is a catch-all used to indicate all of those plus the added tragedy of perpetuating the abuse upon others in order to maintain minimum self-preservation and thus keep the cycle growing. The way a political prisoner will take up the cause of those holding him against his will. Join or die. Very, very sad.
@@lesliemccormick6527 No. It's a term to describe indoctrination. Let's not keep inventing definitions to words to fit what we are trying to say. Rather, let's try actually expanding our vocabulary to include words to describe what we actually mean to say. False labels are counterproductive. Words have meaning for a reason. Grouping individual disorders together and labeling them as something completely different is another way to discredit the torment and suffering of the victim. The violent behavior and attitude you describe isn't representative of a "believer in the truth". In other words, she was a prisoner, trapped in a lifestyle she did not want but didn't know how to escape. Makes perfect sense that she would act out in frustration at the reminder that she's powerless over her life
I'd always had doubts, this one had the usual stuff of "try to bring as many people in as possible", "don't research the religion", "everyone else is wrong, this is what the truth is", etc. etc. (after watching this video I'm sure you'll all be surprised to hear this isn't a Jehovah's witness story). but upon realizing that I'm trans I was told that it's "normal to have deviant thoughts and feelings like this, but acting on those feelings is the problem". and that's the moment the scales truly fell from my eyes, because once it was clear that what I want didn't matter to them I knew I had to get out.
15:45 i know some people may find this hard to believe...but some people really just dont like music, nothing to do with religion, just dont care for it. my cousin is one of them. he never cared at all about music, even in his video games and would turn it off if the option was given. now its just something he doesnt avoid now that hes an adult, but it its not something he uses for anything emotive. if he wants to feel good, he just plays with his gaggle of children.
Man, I was lucky that my entire family stopped being JW, I was so into it until middle school and things went south. Even though I was into it I would do things in secret like watching movies I wasn't supposed to see, watching holiday-related things even if you weren't supposed to, and watching video games that would've shocked my mom. I felt free not having to pray anymore, even as I left I felt the pressure to pray because the area I live in are Catholic or Christian, I had a phase of hating all religion, and now I hate most western religions. I keep telling my mom they're bad and a cult but she's in denial, she hasn't gone back but I think she sees them as being similar to Catholicism and says Catholics are similar too (my mom used to be Catholic, what kind of experience did she have!?)
Oh and to add to that it gets very weird when you are like considered a full fledged members they have like closed doors schools for young members to become elders I have literally seen regular old kids going in and then when they come out their like suddenly adults and they have like a nice suit, glasses and a brief case everywhere they go
The dude in the thumbnail is Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shinrikyo. They’re known for the subway sarin attack they’ve committed, as well as a few murders
@@angiepagan535 Didn't they all commit mass suicide? Or am I confusing them with that Jimmy Jones guy and *his* weird cult? *Somebody* committed mass suicide, I know that much.
Yeah not suprised to always find jws on these my stepmom forced me and my siblings to go and they literally had my stepsister going to every event and multiple Kingdom Halls because they would reward her with like trips to Disney land and fancy dinners
It’s very sad that these people have had such a negative experience with religion. Whereas I grew up attending church my entire life and it’s been nothing but a positive experience in my life. I’ve had friendship, fellowship and peace of mind.
It's also possible that they felt the same as you while they were actively part of their religion. Your church could be very toxic and you just don't see it. I've seen many people find common ground and laughter in mocking others (be it politicians, celebrities, or neighbors). Trashing "bad" people together. I'm not saying your church is like that. I'm just saying that these people didn't join and participate because they realized how horrible it was. They thought it was great at some point as well
My old roommates grandmother is a Jehovah's witness. He said she would choose her religion over him if it came down to it. Some of the things he's told me he had to go through while growing up because of that religion is crazy.
I have an Aunt who's a JW. Hate the people associated with the religion, so much so I actually am an Apostate(?) (Not exactly sure of the spelling of that term.)
I’m a Pentecostal Christian but geez. JWS are something ahhaah. Not all Christian churches are like JW churches. I hope even if you aren’t Christian, you realize Christianity is the same as any other religion but not. Mini rant but yeah: I don’t get why it’s ok to persecute Christians yet it’s not ok to persecute other religions? If any non Christians see this and have any answers please answer this. (:
The more I watch the more I realize how much less of a cult I’m in. Like I have 0 limitations. Well that’s a lie but like some of these stories in “Christian” churches are just wrong. That’s not how the church should be. I’m sorry to everyone
"You use your brain too much."
I think it was Erasmus who opened that "God would not have endowed us with the power of reason if we were not meant to use it."
Cults hate individuality. When people start thinking their own thoughts, the cult leades lose just a little bit of power.
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei
"Opined"- and yes, exactly right.
@@lesliemccormick6527 yeah, an autocorrect error I was just too lazy to correct... And didn't notice I'd done.
“YOU HAVE A NOGGIN, USE IT!”
-Lockstin
As an exjw, I really really appreciate all the JW stories. So glad to see they are getting more exposure as a cult now. It's good to see more people waking up, and hearing their stories reminds me that I'm not alone.
You are never alone 😘 in fact you're incredibly strong. Ex jw here too..were lucky to finally have woken up
10:35 Parents denying their kid medical care seriously needs to be illegal.
There are too many episodes on medical shows like Chicago Med, Grey' Anatomy where parents refuse treatment for their kids on religious grounds. A JW boy died coz they refused blood transfusion, another boy almost went blind coz dad refused to show him to a doctor but the mother secretly dropped him off at a hospital to be treated, another episode featuring female genital mutilation...etc
@Michael Stallings freedom of religion isn't a ironclad defense, when addressed competantly in a court of law its usually trumped by child abuse laws. idk about other country but in the UK at least the Family Division of the High Court can and will overule parents who refuse necessary medical treatment for minors (in life or death scenarios) on religious grounds.
In many countries it is
That could and should count as child neglect, which is illegal.
Forget the BITE model. You know it's all bullshit when they tell you:
A) We're right, everyone else is wrong, and DON'T YOU DARE EVER QUESTION THAT.
B) Give us money and/or do as we say WITHOUT QUESTION, or something bad will happen to you.
C) We'll decide what is the best way to live your life. Who your friends are, who your enemies are, who you will marry, what you will read, watch on TV, etc., what you will eat, how you will dress, and what you will say, etc.
D) You must love us more than anything or anyone else.
E) We want you to snitch on your friends and family.
F) You're unworthy.
This applies to more than just religion. Actions and narratives like these are gigantic Da-Glo red warning flags for LOTS of things.
Anyone that doesnt let you question them is definitely lying/bullsh*tting.
1:15 wtf happened-
Nersnersnersnersners
Omg you heard that too, legit thought it was my headphones.
These channels put basically zero effort into most of their videos. It happens every now and then.
pisspisspisspiss
It witnessed Jehova
"skateboarding your way out of a nuclear apocalypse" reminds me of a MAD comic where someone was surfing a Tsunami...and grinning maniacally!
Holy shit. I grew up in the Way Ministry. My heart dropped when I heard that. I hated every part of it. The founder was a perv.
I know it's what everyone on Reddit says, but *really* hope you're doing okay with family & friend dynamics now. I have a friend who started campaigning a couple weeks ago to discourage their recruitment tactics over here. I'm generally wary of preaching/conversions, but I didn't get why he was specifically was boycotting "The Way". Now I get it.
@@37thraven wait, there’s others on Reddit talking about the way? Holy shit. I need to check that out. It was a point of contention for a while between my no and my dad, they divorced in1986. Dad and some family were in it for years. Not anymore. Former reverend Craig L Martindale got in trouble for sexual misconduct and other shit. Paul Weirwille is said to have gotten his “degree” from a mail in paid for place. A fraud. He liked teenage girls plus had many mistresses.
i grew up in the 'chuch of christ' , mine wasnt as cultish, but i do remember one thing.
The older members of that church would often say how much they disliked baptists and how that since they used a piano while singing in their service they were all going to hell, and they seemed almost gleeful when they said that. the older i got the less sense that made, and made me genuinely fear christianity, as i realized more and more that there was no 'love of/from god' in christiantiy, only judging, fear, and damnation for dissenting opinions.
While my parents are still christian, they also no longer go to such churches as i think they wised up too, and thankfully we still have a good relationship.
As for me, i became a Norse Pagan, the wisdom of Odin guides me, and come Helheim, Asgard, or Ragnarok, i no longer fear death, and am at peace.
I once asked my dad why he didnt disown me as so many other parents have done to ex-christians, dad told me something that ill never forget 'love doesnt do that son', love you dad
Good Dad
Sounds like you have a great dad, that line melted my heart a little
@@haylestormable we still have lunch twice a month, he is a great dad, it would be more, but he works as a nurse, things are kinda hectic at the moment
"GLORY UNYIELDING!"
-Odin Dark
Sinnesneanesnesnesnesnesnes...
Nersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersners
Nersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersnersners
i was 15
PoV: you witnessed Jehova
Whenimetyainthesummer
Appreciate the JW stories, not enough people know how messed up they are
Indeed, everybody writes them off as harmless kooks, but look even a little deeper and you start finding out sinister shit almost immediately. My best friend's brother told me about a guy he knew who left JW and had everybody ostracise him instantly, even people he'd known all his life and grown up with. Everybody was conditioned to not even acknowledge his existence. I think even his own family unpersoned him. If that's not some grade A Creepy Cultist Shit, then it's only because I don't know about the *really* creepy stuff.
@@OmicronX-1999 Yep, you hit the nail on the head. It's fucked up. I was raised in a relatively mild JW congregation and it was still just wrong. I'll be completely disowned for joining the Army, and got reamed out for cutting my hair a specific way, even though it was a pretty conservative cut. I'm at the point where all the JWs I know, including most of my family, can go to the hell they don't believe in
You should check out Telltale’s channel. He’s an ex-jehovah’s witness. He does great videos about how he left and how messed up they are. On a side note, Recently, he had to flee his WV town for exposing the teacher ILLEGALLY teaching religious principles in sex Ed.... he got literal death threats.
I was born on a full JW family and im still one to this day, in fact im thinking on baptizing this year, the biggest problem i've seen is that some JW take everything too seriously and often dont question what other people say or take stuff too literal, this often happens with people that come from other religions, you should follow what the bible says, not what some guy said, some people expect JWs to be saints, but we are imperfect, so obviously there are some assholes mixed between our organization, i have the luck to be in a great congregation that puts friendship and fun over toxicity, i guess thats because most of my brothers are relatively young and succesful. Regarding the part of isolation against those who leave the organization: That should be applied only to those who sinned and dont regret it, if you do that you're expelled and thats when we cut contact with you, but this doesnt mean that your parents should hate you or stop loving you, if your parents and friends do that then they arent following the bible's values, you must do something really bad to justify this behaviour, if im being honest from the few people i've seen getting expelled most of them were cheating on their spouses or abusing them, and then after leaving straight up started taking drugs or having a messed up life, some even started talking shit about us, if you're homosexual and your parents starts hating you because of that, then they are not true christians. If you sin but feel regret then you will lose your privilieges if you had them, but this doesnt give people the right to ignore you, i've seen people confuse the two. Being a JW is a life style, but it shouldnt be your whole life, my father is an elder on the congregation but he doesnt put strict rules on me or my brother, in fact he bought us a gaming pc and my favourite game currently is COD:MW
Sorry for the wall of text and for my spelling as english isnt my first language and im on mobile, if you want to ask me anything go ahead, im pretty bored rn
@@alfa9226 I'm very glad you're in a good congregation and that you enjoy it. It can be a good lifestyle for those who want it, but shouldn't be forced on anyone. I had the misfortune of being raised in a bad congregation, where everyone was a hypocrite and my family was hated for little reason. For some people it's a blessing to be a part of. For people like me, who struggle with belief in a God, it's practically a curse. Specifically, Witnesses don't like me because I'm not capable of living in peace, I'm a fighter and twenty years of having peace to all shoved down my throat couldn't change that. I'm not a good person, but I can't help but be what I am and my witness family won't accept that. Sure, not all witnesses are like this, but I've met too many to ever go back to the hypocrisy again.
I also apologize for the wall of text, but thanks for making a comment and taking time to talk
How smart is that JW at 7 years old ripping up that card? That refusal of a simple life-saving medical treatment is crazy to me.
A lot of these commenters are so smart for noticing the cognitive dissonance at such early ages and having the courage to leave. I can't imagine how hard that would be.
I wasn't raised with religion because my great grandma had a really bad experience like the ones in this video so she never indoctrinated her kids and so on.
I consider myself very lucky.
Why would a cult even do that? Why would they want the members of the cult to die?
@@gettingshotsomeonesgonnapa8635 honestly I think it has a lot to do with ‘bad blood’ (hiv) or mixing the blood of races.
Like obviously I doubt they say that outright. But I have the feeling it’s based in that.
Because why would it just be blood? What about all modern medicine?
@@MsPuffykinz It has nothing to do with race or fear of diseases like HIV.
They don't allow blood transfusions because of the sacredness of blood in their religion. They use many scriptures regarding blood being sacred as the reasoning to never accept it or share it.
Not everything is about race ffs
Hoooly shiiiit! Nobody knows about SGI!! I got roped into it by a friend who joins Buddhist groups all the time. I went to like three meetings and figured out the shtick quickly. It helps that I studied in Japan and knew about "new religions" already and picked up on them asking for donations and their intense focus on their leader and lack of general spiritual beliefs and total lack of knowledge of general Buddhist practices between different groups. It was like 50% worship of their leader, 25% sales pitch, and 25% chanting with no study or explanation. Then they harassed my friend for literally years after he left.
the "sex group" is definitely an abusive cult. Cults do NOT have to be religious - they can be political, social, or corporate, or even an abusive family (for instance, most MLMs have some culty dynamics in levels of control, denial of reality and thought-stopping techniques) . If there is lack of choice, control over members, a sense of "outsiders" being different and ignorant somehow, and the inability to exit without being shunned or ostracized, then it is a destructive cult, regardless of philosophy or stated purpose. If any of these stories sound like something you're involved in now, help is available.
My story is similar to the first one, but I was also abused. Pokemon was satanic, tv was only for religious shows, only music was Christian music, everything we did was controlled. I left the church as an adult because I learned about the real world during college and decided to accept myself start dating... and as I am a straight trans male... they saw it as me being a lesbian and I basically got told I was going to hell by the pastor. 😅. Anyway...
They are creating one form of hell that they exsist in and yet, are projecting it out onto everyone else. Glad you are free 💖
My dad was raised in JW. They were discouraged from trying to go to college or bettering themselves in any way because the end times were near and they should focus on guiding more people into the organization. That was 50 years ago and we're still here.Weekends were spent door knocking and selling magazines. They weren't allowed to play sports, celebrate birthdays or holidays. My grandparents spent their money going to conventions and buying magazines to sell. Now when they come to my door I say been there done that, get off my property.
1:15 Buz buz buz!
me calling my cat
Pspspspspspspspspspspspps
I heard nerz nerz nerz
dang i feel bad for anyone that had a weird spinoff of christanity because the person who taught you these things was selfish and took away any form of belief you might have had
I struggle with this VERY THING! (Born into/raised a JW.)
@@larisabreedlove5102 I'm not sure what JW is but I hope you can still try to believe in God if someone actually teaches you the right way.
@@icephoenix877 Jehovahs witness. And why actively trying to believe? I prefer to go with the agnostic approach: I cannot prove that god exists. I cannot prove that he doesn't. Hence I go the scientific way and say "I simply do not know and have no way of knowing" and that's it.
@@icephoenix877 Jehovah's Witnesses. I never said I don't believe, BTW. Just not how THEY believe.
I have belief/faith. But it's a thing I have to work at all the time because cults don't actually care about belief. They care about control
JW doesn't approve of long hair and beards. But you know who has them? Jesus.
And they hate middle eastern Jews
Guess how many middle eastern Jews are bible characters? Yeah a lot
Love the kid figuring out the blood card and ripping it up
1:15 The Bees Are Attacking!
What is that??
That one bug banging his head against the all day but then is near me at night:
This is why I love my church. They care about the people. Great example. I asked for prayer for the Linkin Parks lead singers family when he died and my church, knowing full well this was a secular band not christian, Stopped and had prayer for the family. They didnt care that this family wasnt religious they just prayed that they would have peace in this difficult time. And if that isnt showing compassion for others I dont know what is.
There are true Christians I've met them! They actually care about everyone! I do but I'm leery of religion grew up Catholic!
That was very kind of them.
Thought I was going to burn for eternity when I relized the contrictions in the bible. I was afraid I would "stray from god" and be punished for dare questeining the gospel. That on top of relizing I might not be straight or cisgender (because of course thats considered a sin) really fucked me up for a while...
Turns out my mom went through a simlar thing but her dad pretty much made her take me and my siblings to his church. Thankfully we dont do that anymore but my siblings still hold onto alot of the beleifs they've been taught and im worried for them. Espescilly since my sister has a crush on a girl and im worried she might go through the same thing I have :(
'thou shalt not lie with a man as you would a woman' is a mistranslation from the original bible by homophobes. The original line is 'thou shalt not lie with lie with a young man as you would a woman' so telling off pedefillia. Also Jesus was probably gay or bi.
*contradictions
“Not in a cult per se, but was in one of those evangelical megachurches”
In the words of Atrocitus, *a distinction without a difference*
Human history shows that there have always been some people who believe they need to tell other people how to live, where to live, what to do, etc.
I grew up Catholic and was seriously religious until college. That shit FUCKED me up (I’m gay and have known forever, but was all about self sacrifice and ended up in an abusive relationship and a bunch of other stuff), and I wouldn’t even consider Catholicism a cult. These stories break my heart, because I know how manipulative “regular” religion can be. I can’t imagine the dreary abismal existence that these survivors experienced. But kudos to all for getting out, and I hope the number of defectors will increase as humanity continues to expand our breadth of knowledge.
I'm an Anglican. Many friends are Catholic. The differences far outweigh the similarities, and there are a lot of similarities. I can not believe the hardcore shit Catholics put up with, but High Anglican is not much different. Glad I am neither.
My new-then minister asked me once if I would like to schedule a home visit. I said, "Why? What would be the point?" He just laughed and patted my hand and said, "Fair enough!"
I told a Catholic friend this and she could not believe it. Said she would be afraid to cross the priest.
That tells you a lot.
Also: another Anglican minister we had was asked by a congregant if LGBTQ people were (paraphrasing here) 'sinners bound for hell'.
He told everyone from the pulpit the following Sunday: " There have been LGTBQ humans since history began. They are part of our human story. When is humanity going to accept that God has created us all in His image and therefore LGBTQ people are on Earth because God wants them to be here?"
A Catholic friend has a gay brother who is in his 30s. He has spent most if his life being labelled a "sinner" by his church to the point he tried to kill himself at 20. Their priest was particularly horrible to him.
Glad you got out! Religion declares pride is wrong, and slowly wears away any individuality and self esteem. Which just leaves shame. I was raised very strictly Mormon. Every single day was some church based activity or religious lesson, and bible reading, with at least an hour of prayer a day. Left the religion the day I left my parents house, and have never been back.
Why haven't you fix the parts where the robot keeps repeating the same word
Emerson Awesome
Step 1: Join the cult
Step 2: Follow their laws enough to get in good standing with them
Step 3: Seek audience with the elders
Step 4: Take the elders hostage (It is recommended you do this step with friends)
Step 5: Force them do disband the cult
Of course, this will take a huge mental tole not to be brainwashed yourself, and getting to step 5 might land you in prison, but it would be a necessary sacrifice.
*cocks gun*
*sharpens knife*
*Unsheathes blade*
*shines machete*
*Brandishes Katana*
I read The Way and I couldn’t avoid but think that the dude’s coworker was probably the Mandalorian
My mom was a Jehovah's Witness as a child, and is now rejoining at 51. It worries me sick (literally) that she's involved in such a terrible cult. It doesn't make any sense to me why she would go back after all the abuse she suffered by them.
@John Chen I've tried gently talking her out of it by asking leading questions like yours, but it hasn't worked. Basically, she thinks that what happened in the past should stay in the past, and because she's not being treated badly now, everything is fine. She also genuinely believes in what they teach, and always has, even when she wasn't part of the cult.
15:45 oh they played music and felt things but understood it wasn't their place to have opinions on things (even if it was an intuitive understanding) or to express those feelings.
That sounds better. Let's go with that
Twice disfellowshipped JW. It is said in their organization that people aren't disfellowshipped if they repent, but repentance is measured by the elders. Fear of losing my parents made me return. Going on 4 years of being dead to my mom and dad, but feeling more alive than I ever have.
My husband is from... I don't know that I'd call it a straight up cult, but there are several cult-like aspects of this church. I very gently started telling him this when we were dating (he had left before we met), and I think he was reluctant to put that label on it, especially since the home church was literally his immediate and extended family. But a few months ago, he was talking to his brother or cousin (who are still attending, but they agree with him that there are major problems, they just don't want to cause a stir since it's all family) and he used my words and called it a cult. I don't know what to call it otherwise: everyone is obsessed with the college church, everyone is weirdly reverent of the founder, and any kind of questioning of their traditions - not even doctrine, necessarily - would just bring on "Well, if you're questioning that, you must not be a Christian, then." His family didn't come to our wedding because I'm a "lesser light" because I wear pants and tank tops. I met his parents after we'd been married for 3 months. When his grandmother died, I was 4ish months pregnant and wore a dress that still fit and my husband thought it would be fine. Grandfather did not agree and told one of hubby's uncles that the dress I had worn came nearly all the way up my thighs. The uncle then told my BIL who set him straight in no uncertain terms. That dress hit my knees. MIL called hubs, and - not knowing she was on speakerphone in front of me - asked if I could wear something "more appropriate" for the funeral. They're nice people, but knowing how my husband has been treated and probably still would be if the pastor hadn't been removed and replaced, and knowing that I can't really be myself around his parents or extended family like I can be around hubs and his brother and cousin, I don't love visiting. It's emotionally draining. I think his mom is counting on us asking her to help when the baby is born, but honestly, I'd rather have my mom here, and I'm not going to wear a dress just for her and I'm not going to filter myself for her either while I'm figuring out motherhood and healing.
I’m Christian, and I recognize Christianity has cults. I find it sad that some people’s experiences with the Christian cults push them away completely, but I am way more happy that they managed to get out of the cults. Good job, and have a happy life.
I'm a seventh day adventist and I never heard of anything like that. Not being able to play chess, listen to music, or dance? Granted I'm still studying with them, so haven't been baptized yet. But nothing like this came up.
I was born and raised a SDA. I have never heard about the chess thing but the music and dance is a no no for conservative adventist. My mom was not strict on it so I still listen to music but I have always felt awkward about dance.
my uncle and auntie are Jehovah's witnesses and I am aware of some of its "teachings" but my father who is not a Jehovah's witness said that he agreed to not talk to them about cults so I didn't tell them in fear of being told off
I was born and raised in a supposedly Christian church called Iglesia ni Cristo; my grandfather was a preacher. He was one of a few dozen based in Southeast Asia, but were later reassigned to America to spread the word of God. That's the reason I was born in the US, and not some slum like my mother and her siblings. I dutifully went at least twice a week, was indoctrinated, all of it. Some of it stuck; I can still do decently on Bible subjects on Jeopardy. When I was 10 or 11 - long after grandpa had passed - I realized that something was wrong. These people weren't just devout and ultra conservative, they were *obsessed*. It wasn't about spreading the gospel; it was about control. Control of behaviors, lifestyles, financials, relationships, sexuality, information, free time, morality, emotions, critical thinking...
It was a cult.
Imagine being a child and suddenly realizing that _everyone around you is crazy._ I didn't associate with any of them and withdrew into myself. Since I was forbidden from having friends with non-believers, so I had no one to go to. Not that I'd have any; I was an outcast (despite my excellent academic performance) in public school, and an Asian American minority in a largely Caucasian conservative town. No one was coming to save me. So I just stayed at the very back of the room, the last to go in and the first to leave. I did that for over a decade. I couldn't leave because I was just a kid and living with my mother; the cult demanded that any rebellious children should be not only excommunicated, but disowned from their families. And I saw that happen. Being a LGBTQ kid (and in my case, being non-binary) in the early 90s was bad enough already for normal families, but mine would've left me on the streets - or worse - if they found out. So I sat there, year after year, seething as I listened to their hateful, spiteful messages and watched how these deluded people ate it all up.
I eventually moved out and stayed with other relatives. I ended up doing a lot of traveling; as of now, I've been to 25 countries spanning 5 continents. It would've been at least 26/6 if it weren't for the pandemic... I kept my attendance to a bare minimum, sometimes showing up once a year. They kept track of everyone's attendance records, and would send people to harass you if you didn't show. And if you kept missing, you'd eventually be excommunicated. The cult had been steadily losing followers for years due to scandals back home in Asia, as well as the younger members having Internet access and figuring out what was really going on. So they started cracking down on non-believers in an attempt to appear strong.
When I showed up for the final time - at the very same church my grandpa preached at all those years ago - a young upstart pastor thought he could play the tough guy and intimidate me. I thought I could play it off like I'd done innumerable times before, but this guy was next level nuts. He called me sinful for my appearance (I've always been naturally androgynous, and had grown my hair out during my college years), and that my traveling the world was a grave sin. He demanded a written apology, and I did just as he instructed. At that point, I really was trying to play it straight. But apparently he thought I wasn't taking it seriously, and told me not to try messing with him. He then tried to cherry pick passages out of the Bible to justify the idea that I shouldn't explore, and obediently show up for every sermon. That I should obey, _NOW._
Needless to say, that was a mistake. I am many things, but a doormat is not one of them. I pounded the desk - my grandpa's own - so hard that it left a small crack and dent. I rarely raise my voice, but I roared *_ENOUGH._* Two other officials rushed in when they heard me, but immediately backed up.
Me: You don't ****ing tell me what to do.
Him: Yes. I. Can. And you better calm down right now.
Me: I SAID, YOU DON'T ****ING TELL ME WHAT TO DO! You think you can intimidate me? You arrogant piece of _shit._ Who the Hell do you think you are?!
Him: I AM A MAN OF GOD!
Me: You are *_NOTHING!_*
The pastor stammered: You better watch your mouth. I warned you not to mess with me!
Me: *Standing up* Oh, I'm being *_real_* serious right now. I came to see you out of what little respect I had for my family's legacy in this office. You *_dare_* talk to me like that, boy?! You think you can mess with me, you ****er? COME ON, TRY IT! _I'll carve all three of you up!_
I wanted to tear him apart and burn that place to the ground. For robbing me of so much of my life, and ruining those of countless others. The guys in that room were terrified.
One started begging: It's okay. Please, just leave. Please!
Me: Oh, so now you don't want me to stay in your church? _Fine._
As I got to the door, I looked back at back at the pastor. He was staring at me like I was a demon. He tried looking tough and defiant, but he was shaking. I stated: I'll never come back here to worship. If you send someone after me, _I'll make you answer for it._ My aunt was waiting outside the office door and had watched the whole thing, and she escorted me back to the car to make sure no one tried attacking me. The cult had a group of armed guards called SCAN that took care of troublemakers. And no, no one clapped. There was a lot of staring and whispering as I walked out, though. I'd just gotten back into town a few days before, and my aunt given me a ride so I could go to the service and keep my attendance record going. On the way back home, I called my mom and told her in no uncertain terms that I'd never go inside that building again. She got some of the family together a few days later for lunch, and they all prayed for my soul. My mom would later try to talk me into going back, but that didn't work out. We kind of gave up on trying to convince the other.
I don't know if that false pastor ever had the fear of God. _But I made sure he had the fear of me._ I left and never looked back. I wasn't exaggerating when I said I wanted to kill him and burn the place down; I could've easily snuck back there, but realized that I'd just be an obvious suspect. I talked myself out of it and went back into therapy instead. Regardless, I must have made an impression; none of the cult members ever harassed me or tried to get into my business. Instead, I'm treated like a persona non grata; they refuse to even look at me in public. And that's fine with me.
Not making any of this up in the slightest. Go ahead, ask me anything. Feel free to Google them, by the way. Here's a good place to start:
culteducation.com/group/1320-inglesia-ni-christo/34664-inside-the-iglesia-family.html
www.gotquestions.org/Iglesia-ni-Cristo.html
They also check off several of the criteria for an organization to be considered a cult: freedomofmind.com/bite-model/
That cult ruined religion for me. It is a good concept; people need something to believe in, be it God, the supernatural, luck, pop culture, whatever works. But _what becomes of that belief_ is the problem. Scripture can be interpreted/misunderstood/corrupted in many ways. I find the idea that any mortal human being could fully, accurately enact the will of an omnipotent being to be highly presumptuous. People will do all kinds of vile hatred, violence, murder, and outright insanity in the name of whatever they worship. I've survived it firsthand; this cult saga is just one of _several_ tales from my horror story of a childhood. Looking back, it truly is a wonder that I survived all of it. Beware of anyone who claims they know the one true path to God.
This is just a wild guess, but are you a Filipino? I have a lot of Filipino INC friends who've had a similar experience like yours.
The only thing any person needs in order to justify treating other humans like garbage and trampling all over their individuality is to believe they are in the right by doing so. Religion tends to give people carte blanche in that area by literally *telling* them they are right and will be rewarded for their beliefs. Unfortunately, religion is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to people needing to feel vindicated.
Sadly, this applies to every single person on Earth. Nobody is immune to this way of thinking. And these days everybody thinks they're right. The thing with cults though is that they're only ever designed to benefit the ones who start them, and 99% of the rules are there to keep the indoctrinated from realising it. Whether it's crazy ultra-religious right-wing conservative nutjobs, or insanely woke liberals worshipping at the cult of Twitter, or the outcasts who have concluded that the whole world is against them and chosen to reject *everything,* everybody is trapped in their own systems of belief that can only ever benefit the founders of those beliefs, or themselves in the case of those who have rejected all other beliefs. It's why humanity is doomed. I can't see anybody pulling out of the spiral in time to fix this world. Who knows, maybe that's for the best. Personally I belong to the last category so I gave up hoping for a better world a long time ago.
Anyway, my point is that these systems of control through belief aren't going to go away, because people want to feel justified in their actions and prejudices and won't let them go for anything. Sorry for the rant, I tend to get weirdly introspective mid comment and go off on tangents. And I fully agree with your sentiment about people needing something to believe in. It took me 35 years but I think I've finally come to understand why so many people seem to need to worship a higher power, even if it's something I could never believe in myself. And you're right about people twisting those beliefs to serve their own ends. Hell, I wonder how many of us would choose to be manipulative assholes like the people who ran the cult you were in if they suddenly realised one day that they had the power to influence thousands of people and make them do whatever they wanted. That kind of thing is happening a lot these days, so my guess is probably lots of people would.
Whoops, almost went off on one again there. Anyway, this comment is in danger of becoming a gigantic wall of text, so I'll peace out before the floodgates open and I drown everyone reading this in crazy. Take my words whichever way you want. For what it's worth, were I in your position I probably would have gone back to that place with a can of gas and a lighter and then watched it all burn to the ground. Good for you for getting out.
@@GeneLagrimasJr Yup. If the INC hadn't sent my grandpa to preach in the States back in the day, it's very likely I wouldn't have been born. And if I were, I wouldn't be the same person; I'd be raised in the slums like my mom was. I won't say what locales (the last thing I need is those idiots reading this and sending someone to snoop around my house again), but I was a secretary for a number of years. They also wanted me to be a watcher for their Sunday school sermons, but I kept on flaking out on them, or falling asleep during the service. I'm not a morning person, I was so busy with school that I didn't have much time to sleep, and the services are so boring when you've heard them literally a hundred times. Plus, I asked a lot of questions, kept to myself, and everyone kinda _knew_ I was LGBTQ despite it never being said out loud. My dad was an American guy who'd gotten out and divorced my mom when I was born, but it was for a reason even worse than the cult; he nearly murdered my mom. I'm not kidding. He nearly beat my mom to death, and had all the traits of a sociopath. I strongly believe he would've become a serial killer if he'd kept in better shape. He was so crazy that _staying in the cult with my mom was the safer option._ But that's a whole other horror story.
All these years later, my mom's family sees me as a black sheep, rebel, etc. My mom's generation does, anyway; all of my cousins think I'm pretty cool in private. When I rode with a couple of them to my grandma's funeral, they openly laughed when I made a joke about my mom wanting me to "marry a nice church girl" and how neither of them planned to get married. I took another one hiking a couple of years ago; she's nearly 30 and married, but her little sister tagged along as an unenthusiastic chaperone. They all relaxed as soon as there wasn't anyone else in earshot, because they knew I wouldn't judge them. It's like the older folks think I'm going to corrupt their kids or something. My cousin and I had several more hikes planned, but then the pandemic screwed everything up. In the meantime, I'm just living life here in California and working on a couple of science degrees remotely during the pandemic downtime. I'll never set foot in an INC locale again.
@@Polymathically Honestly Filipino church systems are pretty messed up. Correct me if I'm wrong, but INC separate men and women, right? To "preserve the innocence" of everyone there? I also live in California, and churches here are way better tbh
What a story. I'm glad you escaped that horrible situation
1:16 I though my brain doused off or something.
1:16 He was having a stroke right there
This scary crap...unfortunately we have many of these people in authority in our communities and government.
As a protestant it's so weird to me that the JWs are told to never question anything.
My parents actively question things and I look up stuff all the time. Blind faith isn't necessarily good. I've come to believe after looking into my religion from an outside view. I may have grown up in it but I can still look and think about things that don't seem to make sense.
1:15 is it just me or did the ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns catch me off guard i thought smthing posessed my laptop for a moment lmfao im sitting here listening to cult stories too lmfao
So my grandmother joined the Children of God when they first started, she thought it was a good group for a bit but then started to get a suspicious and then one day they told her to kill her autistic brother because he was an abomination to God. She went home in tears and told my great grandparents what they had said and she never went there again.
COG should go to prison.
Oh i heard about C.O.G. but hearing a personal experience from someone inside the cult is both horrifying and interesting
The 15:00 one hits home… the absolute inability to evaluate how you feel about something because you’re so used to repressing your own opinions/feelings/critical thinking skills
"Saying Pokémon came from Satan"
Me, playing Pokémon while listening to this: 👁👄👁
I studied with a JW and looking back now I can see her look wanting to do the things like normal kids like sing Happy Bday or having fun in kids parties
And I heard she got married and probably is a set up marriage and I hope someday she notices
Also if you cant defend your faith then its not really faith you're pretty much just repeating what you've heard.
What was your first statement? Thats a seperate comment so I can't read your first comment.
@@gettingshotsomeonesgonnapa8635 its people like these that give all Christians a bad name
'Their dad was a cop... I have no idea where they got the money from.' It's insane to me that most people don't know cop salaries are usually WAY above the local, even national, average.
I have met people in AA who are addicts and/or alcoholics because of the so called “God” they grew up with. I wonder how many were actually in a cult? I met one person and their parents... after meeting the parents the person with addiction issues said “do you understand why I used, it’s because I truly believed I was going to hell when I was 12 years old”. I can’t imagine the complete terror and horror they must have lived with. It’s no wonder some don’t believe in God or a higher power. How horrible for children.
19:17 These days it is so ironic that a lot of Christians hate Pokémon and consider it Satanic since a lot of Pokémon Gyms and Pokestops in Pokémon Go are churches. I wonder how that particular group reacted when they found out that they were a Pokémon Gym or Pokéstop in the game.
I grew up seventh day Adventist but I guess we weren't radical cuz we always played games, danced, etc when it wasn't the sabbath
Dude. It's the first frigging post in the video. FIX UR BROKEN TTS BEFORE POSTING.
Rest of the video seems cool BTW. Also, did anyone else hear 'Evangelical Megachurches' and immediately start thinking about giant robots?
Funny you think this channel isn’t practically auto generated it’s like: pick random ask Reddit post, copy and paste the top comments into text to speech, upload
I’m thinking of Mortal Engines and a titanesque church absorbing the unsuspecting into its twisted faith
I hope that the people who were raised in Christian cults were able to find out what the Bible really says about what you can and can’t do.
4:30 I’ve never thought of it as a cult
Seventh Day Adventist here and have been from birth. You can play cards, checkers, chess. You can go dancing. You can watch TV and play sports. I have no idea what church that person went to but it wasn't an actual Sevvie one, that's for sure. I play games, I swear and have lots of friends on and off-line. I watch youtube and porn and eat all kinds of food. IDK, this sounds like they were part of some asshole pastor's power trip, and not the actual church I know of and grew up in.
Like, yeah, there's some restrictions especially around Sabbath, but everyone are just people? Living their lives? Doing their shit and loving God? Not... _that_ .
Exactly, same here, I'm SDA and have been since birth. Except I don't watch porn and don't eat pork (except for the like 10 times I did eat it just to not seem rude or because I got bacon in my salad and I didn't have the patience to pick it out so I just chose to pretend I didn't see it)
But I noticed that, even though it is a centralized denomination, some churches differ a little bit from others. My town has two SDA churches. In one I've had someone question me about what I was playing on the piano in the church basement on Sabbath because it seemed "too lively" to be a "Sabbath song", but in the other, we regularly discuss controversial subjects in Sabbath school... just because? Whatever anyone brings up, we discuss? And I honestly feel like a lot of even non-cult Christian churches would taboo discussions like that, but that's what I love about my church - research and discuss, not shut up and listen.
@@annast3370 I've always been encouraged to look into the truth of things and research stuff because, well, God wants willing people who know their shit, not brainless sheep who follow every bleat. How can you truly _choose_ something if you don't understand it and agree with it? You can't, really. Or, well, you can but with blinders on how do you even really know a thing?
So yeah, I appreciate that aspect of my religion a lot. The seek and find, understand and then choose (or not).
Um, all of those things are true tho. Your prophet EG White also copied most of her work including the visions she claimed to have experienced from God. Your religion also strictly prohibits unclean foods and working on the 7th day. If you’re not practicing or a SINO (SDA in name only) just say that. But the actual teaching and doctrines of your church absolutely fits that of a cult. Look it up. It’s not about your personal experience as you can have a bad experience anywhere. Stop spreading misinformation.
@@mariemm200 If you consider Jewism a cult based on the idea of 7th day worship and eating non-clean foods too, then I guess that would make us a cult. So are some of the biggest religions in the world, then. Buddha is considered a prophet, Mohammed also. Except, no, those religions _aren't_ considered cults despite having restricted diets and 'prophets'.
Even the Catholic church has come out and said that SDA is not a cult but a Christian group, my dude.
One of the biggest things that makes us not a cult is the fact that we intermingle with many other churches and groups. We're not seclusionist and we're open to ANYONE. We support other churches and faiths and do a LOT of community and world-wide supporting via not only funds but schools, hospitals and various other agencies.
We. Are. Not. A. Cult. There may be small-town branches who are headed by assholes who act in that way, but the religion as a whole is not. (Also, most people view EG White as someone who had some great sensibility and prediction smarts, not as a holy person who is worshipable or put on a pedistal. She's not Jesus or God or, hell, even one of the twelve. Just a woman who was very smart and had a lot of good things to say.)
How about _YOU_ stop spreading misinformation of something you're not even part of?
If you find this comment have a good day :D
You too bro
*plays uno reverse card* YOU have a good day, sir!
Thank you!
As a kid, late 1970s, I was friends in gr. 6/7 with a girl I will call Gina whose family were Jehovah's Witnesses. I knew she and another JW boy in class did not celebrate birthdays or Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. plus could not participate in certain school events like dances and the xmas concert & thought it was weird, but did not think much beyond that. Small town in B.C., Canada.
Every time I went to her house her Mum or Dad or Grandparents would give me copies of the "Watchtower" and/or discuss their beliefs with me for a few minutes, which I found bizarre, and it made me uncomfortable, but otherwise they seemed pretty low-key. She had 3 younger brothers who were rowdy, so we spent a lot of time outside.
We are Anglicans, and my Mum was fairly religious so I would bring the propaganda home and hand it to her. She never said anything but I got the impression she was less than impressed. The pamphlets would just disappear. The most she ever said was, "Everyone is entitled to their beliefs."
One time our church and the United Church were having a joint summer picnic/fun fair a couple of weeks after the end of the gr. 7 school year, the 2nd Sunday in July, and needed people to run the games and concessions and such. I was 12 and they asked any kids 12 and up if they had friends who would like to help out. I was excited to be old enough to help. The idea was that with enough people, everyone could take a short shift so everyone could also enjoy the fair. I asked Gina if she wanted to do it. She got all weird and quiet and mumbled something about not being allowed and being busy that day.
Another girl from my church and I were enthusiastically talking at recess one day about all the food and prizes and that one of the Dads had built a dunk-tank and you could dunk adults, including both Church's ministers. Whee! Then we went on to talk about the Cake-Walk and how we were each going to make a cake to bring. Gina sidled up to me then and whispered, "I want to come, but you can NOT tell my parents!"
The thing was open to the public, taking place in the town park, and only cost a dollar to enter, just to cover basic costs, kids under 10 free. Huge fun. Gina and I ended up running the Fish Pond in back to back shifts, so we just did the hour together.
She won two "bigger" prizes at different games and tons of candy. One was a small stuffed animal and the other a little plastic comb and mirror set. I won a coin purse, a beaded necklace, candy... and a cake! Good times!
As we were leaving and walking home her Dad pulled up in his truck and said, tersely through gritted teeth, "GET IN." He was staring straight ahead and looked mad. She climbed in and I started to when he turned to me and said, "Not you." Gina looked really scared. Then they drove off. I was an anxious kid and thought I'D done something wrong but had no clue what.
I did not see or hear from her for three days so I knocked on their door. Her Mum answered and said, "Gina is grounded." Then abruptly shut the door. About a week later Gina called me. I could tell she was crying. I heard adults saying something muffled in the background. She said in a monotone, "My parents are angry because I went to the picnic and fair with you and feel you are a bad influence. I am sorry I can not be friends with you anymore. Good bye."
I was stunned. It made zero sense to me. Who gets upset that their kid went to a Church picnic? Or a fair? Or volunteers at a community event?
I just remember my Mum hugging me for a long time while I cried.
Some days later a bag was left on our back porch and in it was everything I had ever given Gina- kid-crap like a book about horses, a barrette, a t-shirt, a keychain from Disneyland, traded Barbie clothes, painted rocks, little Salada Tea ceramic figurines, etc. and the prizes she'd won. In a tiny screwed up piece of paper at the bottom of the bag was written in tiny letters, "Thanks for being my friend. I am really sorry I'm a JW."
So sad.
By gr. 9 Gina was a very chubby girl with a very bad attitude and was quite the bully. She only hung out with her cousins and the 3 or 4 other JW kids in our grade. Some gr. 11 girl told Gina that JW was full of crap and a cult and started to tell her why.
Gina punched her in the eye- major shiner- and got expelled for it.
Talk about brainwashed.
I don't know if brainwashed is the word I would use to describe a child with mental health issues that stemmed from years of mental and emotional abuse with a side of neglect.
@@denilla8034 The term "brainwashed" is a catch-all used to indicate all of those plus the added tragedy of perpetuating the abuse upon others in order to maintain minimum self-preservation and thus keep the cycle growing.
The way a political prisoner will take up the cause of those holding him against his will. Join or die.
Very, very sad.
@@lesliemccormick6527 No. It's a term to describe indoctrination. Let's not keep inventing definitions to words to fit what we are trying to say. Rather, let's try actually expanding our vocabulary to include words to describe what we actually mean to say.
False labels are counterproductive. Words have meaning for a reason. Grouping individual disorders together and labeling them as something completely different is another way to discredit the torment and suffering of the victim.
The violent behavior and attitude you describe isn't representative of a "believer in the truth". In other words, she was a prisoner, trapped in a lifestyle she did not want but didn't know how to escape. Makes perfect sense that she would act out in frustration at the reminder that she's powerless over her life
That poor girl. 😔
Ironically working in retail has given me a dim view of humanity.
10:03 Wow, BITE control sounds fascinating!
I'd always had doubts, this one had the usual stuff of "try to bring as many people in as possible", "don't research the religion", "everyone else is wrong, this is what the truth is", etc. etc. (after watching this video I'm sure you'll all be surprised to hear this isn't a Jehovah's witness story). but upon realizing that I'm trans I was told that it's "normal to have deviant thoughts and feelings like this, but acting on those feelings is the problem". and that's the moment the scales truly fell from my eyes, because once it was clear that what I want didn't matter to them I knew I had to get out.
15:45 i know some people may find this hard to believe...but some people really just dont like music, nothing to do with religion, just dont care for it.
my cousin is one of them. he never cared at all about music, even in his video games and would turn it off if the option was given.
now its just something he doesnt avoid now that hes an adult, but it its not something he uses for anything emotive. if he wants to feel good, he just plays with his gaggle of children.
Never baptized but I was a jw and… sometimes something felt off and I could never put my finger on it.
Man, I was lucky that my entire family stopped being JW, I was so into it until middle school and things went south. Even though I was into it I would do things in secret like watching movies I wasn't supposed to see, watching holiday-related things even if you weren't supposed to, and watching video games that would've shocked my mom. I felt free not having to pray anymore, even as I left I felt the pressure to pray because the area I live in are Catholic or Christian, I had a phase of hating all religion, and now I hate most western religions. I keep telling my mom they're bad and a cult but she's in denial, she hasn't gone back but I think she sees them as being similar to Catholicism and says Catholics are similar too (my mom used to be Catholic, what kind of experience did she have!?)
Nersnersnersnersnersnersnersners 1:15
Okay but wtf happened at 1:16
Damn i thought my phone crashed at 1:19
Oh and to add to that it gets very weird when you are like considered a full fledged members they have like closed doors schools for young members to become elders I have literally seen regular old kids going in and then when they come out their like suddenly adults and they have like a nice suit, glasses and a brief case everywhere they go
@10:12 Not all cults are religious in nature.
It's poison news paper umbrella man.
1:15 scared me wtf
20:00 Omg I remember reading that book as a kid!
It sucks to see people who leave because they don't have the answers to their important questions.
(Not talking about JW)
Lol thumbnail looks like Phil Anselmo
The dude in the thumbnail is Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shinrikyo. They’re known for the subway sarin attack they’ve committed, as well as a few murders
@@angiepagan535 Didn't they all commit mass suicide? Or am I confusing them with that Jimmy Jones guy and *his* weird cult? *Somebody* committed mass suicide, I know that much.
@@OmicronX-1999 yeah, you’re thinking of Jimmy Jones. Aum Shinrikyo, as far as I’m aware, didn’t do the whole suicide thing
1:16 the video: bee
When we needed to perform bloodletting rituals to keep rakmou leusan alive
1:20
you good there?
1:15 nose goes
wait what? SGI is sort of considered as a cult...?
I can only handle one cult at a time.
bruh did the bot glitch out for anyone else lmao
1:15 r/ihadastroke
Did 1:17 break for anyone else
Fanatics, amirite?
Yeah not suprised to always find jws on these my stepmom forced me and my siblings to go and they literally had my stepsister going to every event and multiple Kingdom Halls because they would reward her with like trips to Disney land and fancy dinners
1:16 Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz Nuz
1:18
We'll, I ain't joining these cults.
Oof
Can we talk about how many women and girls are sex trafficked and raped in the USA (USA specifically) because of supposed religious freedom?
I love Jesus. It's the "followers" who most of them weaponize their religion I can't stand.
It’s very sad that these people have had such a negative experience with religion. Whereas I grew up attending church my entire life and it’s been nothing but a positive experience in my life. I’ve had friendship, fellowship and peace of mind.
It's also possible that they felt the same as you while they were actively part of their religion.
Your church could be very toxic and you just don't see it. I've seen many people find common ground and laughter in mocking others (be it politicians, celebrities, or neighbors). Trashing "bad" people together.
I'm not saying your church is like that. I'm just saying that these people didn't join and participate because they realized how horrible it was. They thought it was great at some point as well
My old roommates grandmother is a Jehovah's witness. He said she would choose her religion over him if it came down to it. Some of the things he's told me he had to go through while growing up because of that religion is crazy.
I have an Aunt who's a JW. Hate the people associated with the religion, so much so I actually am an Apostate(?) (Not exactly sure of the spelling of that term.)
I’m a Pentecostal Christian but geez. JWS are something ahhaah. Not all Christian churches are like JW churches. I hope even if you aren’t Christian, you realize Christianity is the same as any other religion but not.
Mini rant but yeah:
I don’t get why it’s ok to persecute Christians yet it’s not ok to persecute other religions?
If any non Christians see this and have any answers please answer this. (:
The more I watch the more I realize how much less of a cult I’m in. Like I have 0 limitations. Well that’s a lie but like some of these stories in “Christian” churches are just wrong. That’s not how the church should be. I’m sorry to everyone
A strawberry approved
18:32 🤢
1:15 bruh you aint even proofreading these scripts before you paste them into the voice to text software,lol comeon
ayyye early gang
im a christian and JWS just seem to hurt the view of christianity
They almost ruined religion for me.
As a Christian I swear Jehovah’s Witness are the issue
And I thought all those stories from Grey' Anatomy and Chicago Med were just stories.
Sad how medical dramas understand religion better than human treatment