Calling Jehovah's Witnesses a "cult" in the common pejorative sense is just a biased ad hominem attack.It is just a simple minded method of prejudicing others so that they will not use their reasoning and look at the real facts.
In actuality, Jehovah's Witnesses can PROVE that all their beliefs are from God's Word. And their only leader is Christ Jesus and they do not follow any human. On the other hand, other religions have proven that they have rejected Biblical teachings and they do not imitate Christ. Instead they follow human teachers. So these "mainstream" religions are more accurately described as "cults."
The true Church would not be in the majority (Mt.7:13,14), but would be condemned as a "sect" and a "cult" (Ac.24:14; 28:22).
A primary sign of a cult is that they want to isolate their members from outside information. Yet, to be a Witness you are REQUIRED TO talk to people of all religions, including ministers and scholars, who will challenge your beliefs and force you to continue to research your own beliefs and support them from the Bible. No Witness can escape being confronted by opposing arguments, anti-Witness accusations etc. Outside of the admonition to avoid hate literature, Jehovah's Witnesses are never asked to avoid talking to those who don't agree with them.
However, other religions constantly discourage and outright tell their members not to talk to Jehovah's Witnesses. So who really deserve the "cult" description?!!
On the other hand, how do other religions rate on the "mind control" issue? We are constantly faced with people of other religions who cannot explain their own beliefs, and know nothing about arguments against their doctrine.
Cults cannot support their belief from the Bible and so the majority of their members always lack the ability to give evidence from the Scriptures. This is a good description of Christendom, but virtually EVERY Witness can give a Scriptural reason for what they believe.
Another tool of cults is misrepresentation and avoidance of facts. Even when people of other religions are told to talk to us they are often encouraged to use emotive accusations rather then a discussion of Scriptural themes--such as dismissing others as a "cult." So Jehovah's Witnesses are not the ones using "mind control."
And when it comes to "controlling" people both Catholics and Protestants tortured, burnt people. Today their main tactic is to keep their flock ignorant and use social pressures and prejudice.
Therefore Jehovah's Witnesses are not a cult!
Through extensive study individual Jehovah's Witnesses have come to trust the accuracy of the information the Watchtower presents. Through experience they have proven that all True Christians are associated with Jehovah's Witnesses and this organization is the only one which gives solid evidence of being God's congregation. So, we do not blindly follow any organization but we also recognize those who give evidence of accurate Biblical teaching and are obedient to them (Heb.13:17,24; 1 Thes. 5:12; 1Cor.16:16)
When we see how weak, unreasonable, illogical, and downright false these other opposing arguments and beliefs are then we are even more convinced that we have the Truth and are part of the Christ's True "Church" today (Dan.12:3; Mat.13:39-43).
David Hume said: "A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence." And this is what we should do when someone calls another religion a "cult" or "false prophets."
All we have to do is quickly point out that other religions are willing to go shoot members of their own church in war, allow fornication, disagree on doctrine and even remove the Divine Name from God's Word, etc. All of these things result in God's curse upon anyone who makes common cause with such imitation Christians (Mat.15:7,8; 23:27; 1 Cor.6:9,10; Rm.1:24-32; Rev. 22:18,19).
All Jehovah's Witnesses do is to invite others to do the same, critically examine your beliefs in light of the plain and explicit teaching of Scripture and the evidence in the actions of your religion and its members, then choose to follow Christ closely (Rom.10:1-3; Eph.1:17).
SOURCE: This is an answer provided by BAR_ANERGES to a question at Yahoo Answers.
Also see:
Jehovah's Witnesses are NOT a Cult - Links to Information (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Are Jehovah’s Witnesses a Cult? (JW.ORG)
Are Jehovah's Witnesses Really a Cult? - Showing How This Label is Incorrect (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Are Jehovah's Witnesses a Sect or a Cult? (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
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