Hi Hayleybay, I suspect you might have a problem with selection bias if you use people from this site to identify whether or not people in general have good experiences with new religious movements; it is after all a site dedicated to helping people recover from destructive or negative group experiences. Unlikely you will get many positive reports from anyone. A bit like going to a site dedic
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi, just wondering how much real life camping experience your husband has had? Has he slept out for a week or so under a tent in fall or winter weather? Has he ever camped somewhere that there isn't piped water? (No toilets or showers..?) Camping on the ground can be fun in the summer, but a week or so in rain or bitter cold, with wind knocking down the tent while you struggle to make a fir
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Dsm; Re your theory that the Jesus Christians are in fact supporting an islamic cult involved with Jihad, who are interested in having members commit suicide so as to convert the world to Islam; it does on the face of it seem very unlikely. Perhaps a little more information about their belief systems would be helpful? I'm not an ex member and your request for information from ex members
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

DSM, I can certainly understand why you are not interested in any kind of group dynamic; many who left high demand groups feel similarly. If you are looking for information about the jcs, however it is a good resource,even if as Overlikon suggests, you just look around. Actually, re privacy however,one of the main disagreements between the two sites was the fact that here on Rick Ross, people (
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi DSM, you might be unaware of the Kenyan whipping of a volunteer (who stole something that sounded like it was fairly minor? from the JC's ),before the second whipping happened? To be fair apparently he was given the choice to either watch a close friend JC be whipped, or be whipped himself. The jcs.xjcs website is a good source of information, where many x members describe life and event
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I wish Zeuszor well, and think his idea of a break is a good one.Sometimes taking time for perspective to develop is a helpful thing. And Overlikon it is my personal opinion that bringing him up constantly on this board is not being helpful. I hope however that you are indeed being supportive and helpful to him, as a friend should be, off this board. You have indicated in the past that you d
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quote from Zeuszor "Everything that we do to try and undermine the cult undermines Kevins' ability to reconcile things wiht his father and to communicate and have a relationhip with his mother" Actually Zeuszor, probably exactly the opposite.All their chances of having a normal family relationship probably increases with the group out of the picture. And per Kevin, Cherry had
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here is the link
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'm not good at links, but you can't miss it .It is the last post there....but in case you for some reason can no longer find the xjcs website,the quote is, again, as follows ''My mother never joined the group that Mal chose to join, and he should recall that she tried to leave it in Tallangatta, only to be reeled back in,regrettably with my and my siblings assistance.&quo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Zeuszor, Are you trying to avoid commenting on this??? Okay. Go to www.jcs.xjcs.com Look on the thread "responding to rr flak" Read Kevins' comment. or alternatively, ask your friend Malcolm for confirmation. It would appear very relevant to your recent comments about Cherry McKay.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Look on the xjcs site. It is Kevins post.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The comment about Cherry McKay and her attempt to leave the group is is pertinent. What is your response to it?
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

And (cough) to add something that is more pertinent to this thread than either of our histories, Kevin on the JCs forum, states "My mother never joined the group that Mal chose to join and he should recall that she tried to leave it in Tallangatta, only to be reeled back in, regrettably with my and my siblings assistance"
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Zeuszor, As a second gen ex member myself ( different group) I don't have to rely on friends' reports of what it might be like. Mr Ross' descriptions of the challenges involved were from my point of view, very accurate and deeply moving. It is possible to care very deeply about parents, group members and people you love, and also to wish to prevent harm to others.. All the bes
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Zeusor, you comment; how could anyone be a victim of anything if they choose to stay...That is cult 101. Your quote on bounded choice explains exactly how and why that can happen. The reason there are strong ethical guidlines for the behaviors of psychologists and other counselors is because there is recognition of a power differential. You might be interested in asking your sociology professo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Dreanki, you might be interested in checking into tm free blog; a group of x tm people and others, very supportive and welcoming of lots of different points of view, and and at least one of the contributers was also raised in tm. By the way, Mr Ross normally frowns on more than one user name and can ban people because of it sometimes; best to try and sort things out with one name. Tm free blo
Forum: Former Cult Members and Affected Families

Zeuszor, X members had their private information collected and then released without their consent to strangers. Perhaps this has something to do with their current reluctance to communicate? Just a thought. Who am I;This board supports my right to be anonymous. Re my opinions; you pm ed me;what you do with the feedback you got is up to you. It would seem you have several different o
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Zeuszor, you asked me to reply by pm, and I sent it to you. Also, i note that you have not responded to the fact that you just misrepresented Kevin. (April 14,time 2:32) Your citation please?? Thanks, Yasmin
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Zeuszor, the impression I get is that if I do respond, it will be considered off topic. If it is ok with RR moderator, I would be happy to do so . It does however seem important to clarify the misinformation quoted here; Kevin has never requested the thread be removed and should not be stated as having done so. All the best, Yasmin
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Malcolm, no, I did not know that Kevin asked for this thread to be deleted. Fair enough though. And I agree with you that I am sure Jezebel meant well. I understand that you do not care about current members Malcolm. And if I am misinterpreting please let me know, but my understanding is that Zeuszor also feels the same way. That is something I don't really understand. Surely Malcolm, yo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Malcolm, Brian, Sorry to disagree, but I am 100 % with RRmoderator/Mr Ross on this. In fact I hope he might go a little further and edit the comment to take out the personal information. And for any interested parties who don't feel able for whatever reason to read the X site, but are able/willing to read this one, you may be interested to know that several x site members have already sp
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Re thinking oneself well; like most things there is a small aspect of truth in this; there certainly can be a mind/body connection; the placebo effect is well documented (i.e. people who believe they are taking pain pills when they are really only taking sugar pills may feel pain relief). Think there was even a study that showed patients whose anesthesiologist made a point of sitting down wit
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Guys, At this point, I consider Kevin to be a friend, and find it uncomfortable to read negative comments about him on a forum meant to provide support for ex members. The ex JC forum is apparently far more scary to the JCs than this one, as current JCs are banned from reading that forum completely, but are allowed to read this one. Since we know the JCs in general enjoy pointing out any po
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Anticult, I think you under estimate a bit the strength of belief in long term true believers..If you were lucky enough to never get caught into a cult long term, then it may be hard to understand how someone cannot exercise intellectual ability to get themselves out of cult think. But the reality is, belief operates on a different "gut " level and even very smart people can get conne
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Zeuszor, you have a point. I did go back over your posts, and on July 23, 2008 you said " I think that David Mckay is little more than a small time pimp, a glorified con man, a child molester/spiritual pervert/chickenhawk type who does what he does..." In another post later, you do state that you don't think he actually is a child molester, though later again, "I think
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Zeusor, I think you are being very tough on the ex members, who I personally deeply admire for their integrity. All forums have rules; who gets banned for saying what depends on the moderators. That forum has been developed to provide an open honest discussion between members and ex members; I think it is understandable that the moderators don't think that name calling facilitates that.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Dr Logic; Am not Anticult, but is it ok with you if I put in my two cents? Guy in the car, obviously would be better off cultivating a more relaxed attitude. But if I may also propose a different scenario; A man is lying on the beach, enjoying the sun, while his two young children are playing in the water. Suddenly, an onimous fin appears, and a shark approaches the children. Man A looks
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

kseej22008, think it is great that you care so much about finding the name of the Jane Doe who was murdered by the patrol officer. Was not in this group, but am wondering; in many groups, people would be more likely to go out in pairs than on their own, (less likely to be harrassed for being different) and from something someone said here, it seems that this might have been the case in the Chri
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Corboy, You make some good points about the responsibility of bystanders.In many groups though, particularly those that practice hot seat type approaches, people are often both victims and at other times bystanders.And normally in a group, the choices are between saying something, and joining the victim in the punishment, or saying nothing and not being punished, this time. Think it can be a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi. It may be useful to point out that Dr Paul Offit is a physician and millionaire whose financial wealth is alleged to have come at least in part from his vaccine invention. Unfortunately, not all vaccines are safe for everyone.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"