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| Not my actual photo, but I saw some like this one. |
How's the weather treating ya? It's been raining, we've had severe Thunderstorms, and just last Sunday, Papa and I got caught out on the lake during such a storm. I put together footage shot of the storm from the pontoon with my camera and made a documentary of the experience. Most of my friends who watched the video used words like "heart attack" and "crazy" and "scared to death" in describing what their condition would be if THEY were out on the lake. Yep, never a dull moment with the Clark's.
So, yeah, this mention came up about Jehovah's Witnesses, and the word 'cult' was used. Someone tweeted this to me: sender - sound like the watchtower, they shun you if you question the cult teaching, and research what they talk about... do your selfe a favor, and understand instead of accepting stupid lies from a cult like http://JW.org . So I asked: Hi, why do you call it a cult? sender - Becourse it is defined as a cult, try to look it up, and see what a cult is ;)
Well thank you for mentioning it. I will look it up. And as I mentioned earlier, I wanted to make this a matter of prayer before responding. So I whipped out my trusty dusty Google search engine, and this is what I found -
1) Cult From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cult is a controversial term that has divergent definitions in popular culture and in academia and has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.[1][2] In the sociological classifications of religious movements , a cult is a religious or social group with socially deviant or novel beliefs and practices.[3]However, whether any particular group's beliefs and practices are sufficiently deviant or novel is often unclear, thus making a precise definition problematic.[4][5] In the English speaking world, the word often carries derogatory connotations, but in other European languages, it is used as English-speakers use the word "religion", sometimes causing confusion for English-speakers reading material translated from other languages.[6][7] The word "cult" has always been controversial because it is (in a pejorative sense) considered a subjective term, used as an ad hominem attack against groups with differing doctrines or practices, which lacks a clear or consistent definition.[8][9]2) Cult from Dictionary.com - cult [kuhlt]
1.
a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2.
an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers:
the physical fitness cult.noun
3.
the object of such devotion.
4.
a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal,etc.
5.
Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
6.
a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
7.
the members of such a religion or sect.
cult in Culture - cult definition
In anthropology, an organization for the conduct of ritual, magical, or other religious observances. Many so-called primitive tribes, for example, have ancestor cults, in which dead ancestors are considered divine and activities are organized to respect their memory and invoke their aid. A cult is also a religious group held together by a dominant, often charismatic individual, or by the worship of a divinity, an idol, or some other object. ( See animism, fetish, and totemism.)
Note : The term cult often suggests extreme beliefs and bizarre behavior.
Last one -3) The Free Dictionary - cult n.
I didn't see any mention of Jehovah's Witnesses. I supplied the link so you can look it up for yourself. You must decide.
Now, the next thing I did was do a Google search for popular cults. Here's what I found:1) 10 of the Most Dangerous Religious Cults
2) Notorious Cults
And the list goes on. I decided to stop at two because it was just depressing me, looking at all of that messed up stuff. My point, though, Jehovah's Witnesses were not listed. Hum! So I have concluded that when people use the word 'cult' to describe me, they have no idea what they are talking about. That is understandable though. If a person does not take the time to learn, they speak in ignorance. Hey, I use to! When I was growing up, my dad, who was against the Witnesses, spoke very badly of them, and because I believed my dad knew what he was talking about, I repeated what he said, like it was the 'gospel truth.' Later, though, I would find out that my dad was grossly incorrect and he did not speak accurately about the Witnesses, therefore neither did I.
The last bit of information that I want to share with you dear readers comes directly from the beautiful website jw.org. The information addresses the question: Are Jehovah's Witnesses a Cult? The article takes less than two minutes to read, and there it also discusses 2 common perceptions that don't apply to Jehovah's Witnesses. I recommend that you read it for yourself. (Also, there are related articles to the right of the page that answer other questions about Jehovah's Witnesses.) I do want to share with you the opening paragraph which answers the question: Are Jehovah's Witnesses a Cult? in which it states:
No, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not a cult.
Rather, we are Christians who do our best to follow the
example set by Jesus Christ and to live by his teachings.
There it is my dear readers. I have put it out there for you to ponder and meditate over. The decision is yours to make. I know that some of you will chose not to believe that Jehovah's Witnesses are not a cult, and that is ok, you have that right. However, I hope that this has been helpful for those who were wonder but didn't know where to go for answers.
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