[awareness]

Originally Posted by OBW

Cargo cults . . . . I always smile when you bring those up, awareness.

For me all the credit goes to Marvin Harris and his book, [URL="https://www.amazon.com/Cows-pigs-wars-witches-riddles/dp/0394483383?hvadid=241604949117&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9014633&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14045133655352675159&hvtargid=kwd-493808975&keywords=cows+pigs+wars+and+witches&qid=1540646013&sr=8-1&tag=googhydr-20&ref=sr_1_1"Cows, pigs, wars & witches;: The riddles of culture[/URL]. A book I just stumbled upon at a used bookstore, a few yrs after leaving the LC.

Originally Posted by OBW-Mike

And there is at least a little of that at work in the LC.

There's a lot of it going on in the LC. The very idea of the Recovery is cargo cult thinking ; the idea that if we can only get the church recovered, back to the early pre-corrupted state, God's blessings will pour out upon us, is cargo cult wishful thinking. Same with the recovery being the preparation the of bride, getting 'her' just right, so the coming bridegroom will appear with the boon - the cargo. It's a cargo cult method of thinking.

Is it a carryover from our more primitive ignorant superstitious days, still lingering in our DNA, and hardwired in our nature? Maybe. It's certainly alive and well in many groups, sects, and cults ... not just The Recovery.

I'm not saying the local church IS a cargo cult. It may be a cult, but not that type ; they aren't building bamboo mock setups, to mimic times when the gods delivered the cargo. But looking deeper into what came to be called cargo cults -- their petitioning of the gods, praying, and rituals -- there are similarities.

Originally Posted by OBW-Mike

But to deal with the topic of the thread, I have to chime in to state that, while I agree, it has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum and the general consensus is that just saying the word stops the conversation. It closes the ears of any that you might like to persuade.

I'm certainly guilty of saying the cult word ad nauseum. And I've taken a lot of flack for it. But the conversation continues on. And I'm not trying to persuade anyone. I want to warn people about the local church. I want those looking into the local church to see that at least some are calling the local church a cult. Google, btw, reaches down even into Alternative Views. Just this thread's title will work as a warning.

Talking about persuasion. In my early days in the LC I remember that due to a death in the family, I spent the night at my grandmothers house with my Dad. He was frank with me. He thought I was in a cult, and was concerned. It didn't phase me. He didn't convince me. I was certain I wasn't in a cult.

But had there been the internet back when I joined, I would have unquestionably looked into the LC before joining up. And if before I was too soused to the gills with the LC to see it, if I had found people on the internet calling the LC a cult, I would have walked the other way.

Originally Posted by OBW-Mike

Falls under the ad Hitlerum fallacy. Compare something to Hitler or Nazism (or Pol Pot, etc.) and any valid comparison that might be argued are buried behind all of the extreme issues that hang on those terms (that are not relevant in the present argument) are brought to bear and the discussion ends in the lobbing of live grenades.

And it tends to apply to the word "cult."

I get that it's a loaded word. Say it and immediately Jim Jones is pictured in the brain, and Heaven's Gate ; those mass suicides.

Originally Posted by OBW-Mike

It is not that there are not valid points to be made, but that the whole of what the word/comparison could bring is presumed to be in play and the argument can no longer be won on that basis.

Again, I'm not arguing. I'm telling what I saw with my own eyes.

Originally Posted by OBW-Mike

Argue for the distinct issues of doctrine, teaching, practice, etc., that are worthy of concern and let them each stand on their own — and in concert — to paint the picture of the LC that you feel applies.

There's that approach. And it's needed and worthy.

I have explained that the local church is not a hard cult, like dooms day cults, or sex cults. As I see it the LC is a soft cult ; a personality cult, like Scientology. They have L. Ron Hubbard, and the LC has Witness Lee.

Thanks Mike for your thoughtful post, and concern. AND, glad to see you back around again.

Blessings to you brother ...

Harold