Is the LC a cult? (A comparison of JW & TLR)

[LifeGoesOn]

I have wondered just how cultish the The Lord’s Recovery truly is. Well, I just read a post (listed below) on another message board from an ex-JW about his membership in the JW cult and I am convinced that TLR is a cult.

But, I’ll let you, the reader, decide.

“OP I was a JW for 20 years of my life. Yes the people are very very sincere in their beliefs. However, the Governing Body that runs things in NY have 100% control over their sheep. What they say goes and if you disobey you are cast out and shunned. Please keep that very close in mind.

If you join and get baptized you are stuck. Either you do whatever the Governing Body says (through the meetings and publications), whether you personally agree with it or not, or you get kicked out aka. Disfellowshipped and you lose everything. If you get disfellowshipped you will no longer be able to talk to any of your former JW friends or family members (if you have such). The only way to get back in is to repent of your sins and start following all their rules again.

If you join you will be expected to go door to door preaching their beliefs.

It all sounds very very good at first....living forever in paradise on Earth with no sickness and nothing but happiness but as you get deeper into the cult they slowly turn you away from your "worldly" (any non witness) friends and even your family. It's very insidious how slowly and thoroughly this changes takes place. Typically you will study for at least a year before you'd even qualify to join (and get baptized). Every meeting you go to is brainwashing you into their beliefs, and before you know it you start to think like them and then you are hooked. All your friends are witnesses, you start distancing yourself from your family and your whole life is centered around the religion.

It can be very good for a while, all the new friends, and the excitement of the new belief system, and most of all having the answers to EVERY thing. But as time goes by the true insidiousness of the cult starts wearing on you. Why? Because through very subtle means at the meetings and in all the publications you are meant to never feel good enough, and to always be told you are worthless and to constantly improve and strive to be a better "Christian". They never come right out and say it like that but it's the underlining of every teaching "You are not worthy, you will never be good enough. GIVE MORE MORE MORE"

So what ends up happening? You feel guilty, tremendously guilty all the time. This isn't just my personal experience either. I belong to a few Ex Jehovah's Witness support groups and this same story is told over and over and over again. The guilt and the shame that you feel is overwhelming. Some have even committed suicide over it.

They will constantly expect more of your time and more of your resources. And let me tell you if you do a little digging on the Governing Body and it's financial practices you'll come to see it's very shady like all religion. They've also got their fair share of child molestation issues going on, especially in Australia where the Governing Body has been put on trial.

In short, do your homework very very carefully if you are serious about this. I am 100% sure the man you study with is a fantastic and sincere person. Nearly everyone I knew in my local Kingdom Hall and the hundreds of other friends I had from all over the world were amazing and sincere people. But sadly when I left I lost them all. But more to the point now I am free. I researched the religion and found so many discrepencies and I know now that I was in a cult. I was brought into it in the 1980's when I was very young and nieve and there was no internet to do research, and once you're in you are strictly forbidden to do any outside research on the Governing Body, you are only permitted to read and believe what they tell you to.

It has all the earmarks of a cult and believe me you will be much happier NOT being a JW.”