Lloyd Evans is an ex-Jehovah’s Witness and now an advocate against the destructive cult practices of that group. He has a YouTube channel under the name “John Cedars” and a website at http://jwsurvey.org. For the last three years he has been campaigning hard, doing excellent work to expose the crimes committed in the name of religion.
Lloyd and I decided to collaborate to compare the practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Scientology, since they are both destructive cult practices which follow the BITE model as described by Steve Hassan in his book Combating Cult Mind Control.
Chris, to witness this video…
It’s like being in a movie in which I am watching the first encounter between soul mates. You aremates, men who burden the desire to share the wisdom gained from having been devoted to what eventually revealed itself to be a false and utterly hollow doctrine.
We wanted to be good again. We were willing to do anything, give everything on the hope that what Scientology was offering was real. It occurs to me in this moment the similarity between signing up with a cult and falling in love, finding true love. You want it to be real, so much so that it becomes too difficult to think any other way. It is the same leap of faith. Yes, yes, I can be important. Yes, I can make a difference in the world…
Of course, a cult leader would take every advantage of such leaps.
And now we are indeed being wiser after all. Let’s keep talking, if only that we might reach an ear connected to a mind yearning for a medium through which he may be allowed to express his doubts,
And so become free.
Excellent information from Lloyd Evans. Very articulate gentlemen. I will now follow his work to educate myself more.
I would be interested in hearing from an individual who is more “mainstream” religion. Ever consider connecting with an ex-Mormon? Thank you.
Like the collaboration. Thank you both. As a way to cope with my involvement in a sick, toxic and dysfunctional system…a hospital…I add my 2 cents and always find plenty to compare and find in common between these sociopathic cults and my experience as an RN. I work with the public and I take that into consideration every day. Medical workers always say, The difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance can be remedied with good patient/family teaching whilst stupidity cannot. Today, after listening to the video about the JW religion I did a little more research into a stupid situation that happens quite frequently in the medical arena: JW patient and/or family refuses use of blood or blood products during treatment. I am going to be a little less than cool, calm and scientific here: these poor, misled stupid idiots!!! It especially chaps my a** when the JW grandmas of little pregnant mamas are adamant and stridently opposed to the use of blood during an obstetrical emergency. How dare they put two lives in danger. Why seek care from the medical establishment at all? Then these people sue when something goes wrong. Do they understand the painful dilemma we feel when they refuse sound care and we are forced to work around them and their deluded beliefs?
Similarly, I am reminded of the old problem of the Mormon “temple garments” affectionately known as “magic underwear.” Mormons believe the under garments provide some form of protection against harm….pretty woo. Every once in awhile a Mormon person will refuse to remove their underwear for surgery…SURGERY mind you! I have heard that the OR staff sleeps them, removes their stinky underwear, performs the surgery, and re-dresses them before they wake up in PACU (post anesthesia care unit). No one is the wiser and rarely are questions asked…durrrrhhhh.
Not to mention the ultimate and infamous medical tragedy of Scientology Lisa MacPherson’s death (murder). Can you even imagine the trauma the ER staff experienced after she was brought in DOA and the drama unfolded in subsequent days revealing her neglect and mistreatment? Does the public even grasp that we often need counseling just to be able to go to work and deal with this crap on a daily basis?
My point here is twofold:
1. If you come to us for care and expect optimal results and good medical outcomes, then let us fully do our jobs will you?
2. These examples from my little corner of the universe on a hospital night shift are dangerous reminders of how powerful the laws and rules (found to be arbitrary) of these religious cults are. Mind boggling.
If there is a God (I hope so) then did he not give us the capacity to discover ways to help and treat people medically?…..and use this knowledge to save lives and alleviate suffering?
Do lay people ever think about why nurses are so often burned-out and have PTSD after dealing with the “public” for year after year? We actually become frightened of people where previously we were idealistic and wanted to help and heal others.
Let me just state for the record here that I am a medical worker who is very sensitive to diverse people’s beliefs and needs and I will often bend over backward to accommodate them. I just do not suffer fools gladly.
Well, that’s my rant from my world. P. S. Thanks Chris for your recent video debunking the Purification Rundown. Glad you didn’t have a hot heart attack or a stroke-out when people were in the sauna for 5 hours a day! What hogwash!
Thank you both for this. I am a 40 year old who was raised as a JW. My choice to separate myself from the organization began very young. There was an instance of confusion and outright disbelief when the premise of the generational lie. Those born around 1914 or whatever will be alive to see the end, vexed the hell out of me. I believe I was around the age of 7 or 8. From this I consciously made the decision never to be baptized into the organization. Then as I became older and more conscious, the falsehoods started screaming at mgae. After leaving my mother’s home to stay with my father, years later it was revealed that my uncle who was a long time elder, had for years been molesting and raping my cousin, his own stepdaughter. And it seemed like after that many other elders and friends became dissfellowshiped, left or had some other trouble. Please continue your work. You have access to all of my support. Feel free to contact me if need be.