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Hey Former Cult Member Pandas, What Made You Figure Out You Were In A Cult? (Closed)
I’m so sorry if this makes someone uncomfortable you don’t have to answer.
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#1
I once knew an American lady, she told how she left one cult, after being stuck for years. Then 6 months after leaving, she joined ANOTHER cult. Took her years to escape that one as well. She ended up being a devotee/groupie to Pastor John Hagee, a lesser known televangelist. Some people do not like independent thought.
Final score:
37points
Kirsten Kerkhof 1 year ago
I find that last line a bit harsh. Not everyone is capable of being independent and being in a cult must have brainwashed her. Plus, when she left the first cult, she may have been completely and utterly alone. In some cases even bad friends may have been better than desperate loneliness.
#2
I saw a YouTube documentary on a Christian weight loss cult and I was like "oh, I remember this from Sunday school!" We moved to a different country when I was 9 (My dad had gone to college and I think wanted to get away from the church) and as a kid I never took religion seriously, but I definitely remember the tapes about how God was going to punish us for sinning and we had to keep our temples looking perfect and all that. It's a weird thing to realize 25 years later that I was in a cult, but not very surprising as I already knew the religion I was born into espoused pretty old-school beliefs.
Final score:
34points
Michelle C 1 year ago
Is this, by chance, CrossFit? I’ve heard a lot of people call CrossFit a cult and what you described sounds similar to CrossFit.
#3
Not me, but my friend. They told him the key to “enlightenment” was giving up everything from your past and joining a new “family” (the cult) but when they told him he needed to break up with his girlfriend, he instantly knew that it was a cult. He went no-contact with anyone for a while, but then his girlfriend talked some sense into him. We are still friends
Final score:
27points
#4
Not me, but my *relative* (won't say who) joined a series of cults. First he got into psychopharmaceuticals - Benzodiazepines. He became addicted. After that he got into mushrooms. And thought the illusions/delusions he was seeing was some deep truth or something. He weaned himself off the benzos because they made him allegedly paranoid. He then got into a cult through his shroom dealer. They insisted on all white clothing and absolute obedience of the 'master'. He was introduced by a woman. I never got out of him whether there was a physical relationship there. Anyway he realised after a few months what was going on, but stayed on and then digressed into a version of christianity that was preaching end of world stuff. Fortunately also didnt stay long there. His paranoia led him into conspiracy theories and he's now trapped in that, spewing out stuff about the usual suspects: "banksters", "illuminati", "jews", "one world order", etc etc. He then went on an anti-drug fanaticism thing, bullied his dad and friends till they stopped speaking to him. I've excommunicated him too. This is what cults do, they make you insufferable so your family and friends abandon you. You are then forced to go to the cult for human connection. Be that cult in person or the online conspiracy nut community. It's really bad. He's gone forever, as far as I can tell. It's been years now.
Final score:
23points
floop floop 1 year ago
That sounds like he has something wrong mentally. Unfortunately a lot of conspiracy theorist driven individuals tend to have undiagnosed mental issues/trauma and it forces the "I know something true about the world others don't, I'm special and they are sheep" mentality. Sometimes it's even outright paranoia delusions or schizophrenia that they get no treatment for. Benzoids are also horrible and screw up a lot of peoples lives. My doctor told me that for serious anxiety that they recommend them incredibly sparingly and very temporarily because it's well known how addictive they are. Let alone for someone getting them non-prescribed. I've never taken them because I don't want that risk. Only if I was suicidal or something would I consider it.
#5
Not sure if this will count but...my whole family were Jehovah's Witnesses for years. My parents left it just before I was born so I never knew anything about it. But when someone isn't in the everyday religion anymore but they grew up with it indoctrinated into them, you'll find that it stays with them quite a bit.
My parents, while not being in it, still believe in the tenants as being the 'truth' if there is such a thing. Like, they don't go to the kingdom hall anymore but if you ask them what they think happens when you die it's absolute in there minds that the way they were taught is the only thing that could possibly be.
I knew it was a cult when I realized that they wouldn't report my abuse. I don't want to say that every JW is like this but a lot of them tend to act like sexual abuse, rape or any other 'below the belt' issues aren't really happening. And if it does you just get over it or don't talk about it. Pretend it didn't happen. And it's because it has been so rampant in the JW history. I was abused badly by a family member from the age of 6 until I was about 12, and I told my mother about it and they never got him in trouble, they never reported it. They never got me any help and I continued living with him. The abuse did stop but the effect continuing to live with him and acting like it never happened was really severe. I understood it was hard for them...he was an immediate family member. But I was treated like it never happened just because they decided it was so. To this day, my family has not talked about it and have always acted like they don't know why I've had the issues I've had growing up with my weight, lack of relationships, depression et al.
And then he died and, while most people think that would make me feel good, it ended up causing a little bit of weird depression. And I can't even talk to them about it.
If your religion or belief system has ingrained in you that you don't take care of issues like this because it's just 'not to be talked about. Just get over it'...that's not a caring or helpful faith-- it's a cult.
Final score:
21points
raincloud the whalien 1 year ago
I hope you're doing okay ❤ I'm really sorry that happened to you. Please take care of yourself🥰
#6
I’ve started a bread cult, it’s casual but like EVERYONE LOVES BREDDD
Final score:
20points
#7
I was in a cult as a young bloke. We used to have to chant a lot and repeat stuff. Then the leader would make us all eat some dead guy and drink his blood then some more chants. Hours and hours of brainwashing and writing it all down, Oh wait that was Catholic school
Final score:
20points
#8
I watched a (really great) documentary called "Holy Hell", which was about a cult. Suddenly I realized I could closely relate to what the former members had experienced, and if I thought they were in a cult, then I must be too. I left.
Final score:
19points
Michelle C 1 year ago
Yup. If you think you may be involved in a cult, have the courage to ask questions. God certainly doesn’t punish anyone for asking. Legitimate questions like cult leaders do!
#9
Perhaps some of you are familiar with LARP, Live Action Role Play. There are different organizations for it, and I'm part of Amtgard. I was recently apprenticed to a knight, and for absolute kicks and giggles, they told me about the "cult" they started. "The Cult of Jerry! Our Lord and Savior is a Hyacinth Macaw! All other birds are false!" My knight has pamphlets with pictures of a hyacinth macaw, and spiritual sounding mumbojumbo about repenting and turning away from all false birds. I honestly take every opportunity to ham it up bcs it makes people around me at Amtgard laugh. Ok, I just wanted to share something I find hilarious. Have a nice night!
Final score:
19points
#10
In college (many many years ago) seeking meaning and truth, I got wrapped up in a born-again Christian cult. (I had had NO religious education as a child, so went into this very naively.) Once, during services, I got this sudden onslaught Moment of Clarity. I thought "This is all B.S." and quietly left. I lost all my friends, my entire support system, and was convinced that I turned my back on God. But it was the right this to do.
Later, there was a lengthy expose of this "Church", exposing it as a cult.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/kdka-investigates-former-pastors-member-call-bridgeville-church-cult-like/
Final score:
13points
Dan Bexell 1 year ago
My Scientology instructor has taught me that the belief that cults exist is just another urban myth.
#11
I’d left my high school church in the summer of my second year of college for personal reasons and was looking for a church when I encountered the one that I mention here. The church had a campus ministry at my college and several other colleges in my area. I got to know a little bit about the church through an outreach event which many campus clubs had joined to try to recruit members that fall. Everything I heard about the church was orthodox when I visited their table near the campus bookstore. I was also grateful that I might become part of a like-minded community of my age peers and older, wise, and committed campus leaders who also loved Jesus. That would change quickly and I just didn’t see it fully until I spent about a year there.
About two months after the outreach event, I attended my first service in mid-November of that year. Before that service, I conversed briefly with one of the campus leaders about my spiritual journey and what I sought in a church. I also stated I was in between churches and explained why I left my high school church. She expressed surprise when I said I was between churches, which I could understand until she questioned my commitment to my faith and spiritual stability. Stunned, I wanted to ask her, a near-stranger, who she was to call me unstable. I already felt the pressure that cult leaders would apply to potential members to join their cults. I chose instead to give her the benefit of the doubt, replying simply that I intended to discern where God was leading me next and I trusted Him. She accepted my response and I wondered whether I should run silently. Since she was a campus leader and had been involved with the church for about a decade, I kept quiet, enjoyed the service, and became acquainted with some of my age peers who also loved Jesus.
I talked with my family the Tuesday after that first service about what I experienced. I also expressed concern about the leader’s remark that I might be spiritually unstable because I was not yet committed to a new church altogether. I admitted I wondered if I could have done anything else to mitigate the obvious tension that I had felt that day. My family expressed alarm and warned me that I might be in a cult. I conceded that that was fair, but I would also give the leader grace since I hadn’t seen anything else concerning. I also understood her commitment, given her long-term involvement and position within the church. I almost wish I had walked away as soon as that conversation had ended and kept searching. I don’t regret it now because I love my current church community, its theology is entirely orthodox, and other, more personal reasons come to mind. I’m grateful that my time in the cult had some benefit!
All that said, I realized by January that I still knew little about the church and the community- especially the leadership! They knew a lot about me, though, which unsettled me vaguely. I wasn’t surprised, though, as I’m an “open book” unless I have reason not to be. I also considered that I spent more time with them than I did my loved ones outside of the church.
Friends beginning to leave for both innocuous and shocking reasons ultimately spurred me on to leave, though. By March, two close friends said “it wasn’t for them,” which I understood since I knew they had been raised in other faith traditions. Another friend whom I considered an older brother by then left in mid-June after his campus leaders humiliated him for missing a leadership meeting. Shockingly, they did this knowing and approving of his missing the meeting for a long-planned commitment. I began seeing I was most likely in a cult and prayed for guidance.
Finally, that December, another dear friend was condemned and shunned for his questions about student leadership, etc. I finally left after praying for guidance on leaving for three more weeks. I do believe most of the members are sincere Christians still, but I will never go back there, either!
Final score:
11points
#12
. I saw this documentary on Netflix called keep sweet, pray, and obey. It was about the FLDS, a polygamist group. Amd then this dude named Warren Jeffs showed up and made things a lot worse. As if the 14 yo marrying grown men wasn't enough. The women never got sex ed. This girl in a the documentary said "He started doing these things to me and I was uncomfortable and scared." Btw, as the girls were marrying older men, the young boys got kicked out. Lots of young boys. On the streets. Just because this 80 yo dude wanted his 78th wife. Eventually, Warren is serving life in prison for rape as an accomplice and just full on raping A 12 YEAR OLD GIRL. Sadly, the FLDS still exists today and lots of people are in it. Warren is controlling the religion from behind bars. I recond you go ahead on watch it. It's on Netflix for a limted amount of time, it might not be there anymore. Just find it. I find it depressing that these things had happened, amd still are today. Keep Sweet, Pray, and Obey.
Final score:
9points
#13
I got involved with such a church in my college days after I had left my church in high school for personal reasons. I have no doubt that most of the people within the church I mention have a sincere Christian faith like I do. However, they were very kind to me at first when I joined and then became less so, as I started to notice some very disturbing hallmarks of what may indeed have been a cult.
For example, one of the leaders questioned the consistency of my faith when I first joined. I asked a lot of questions about what the church believed, and admitted that I was still looking for a church in response to her curiosity. She saw my being between churches as an issue of consistency and stability. I saw it as trusting God to lead me where He wanted me to be at that point in my life. I gave her the benefit of the doubt and considered that she was a leader, and had been in the church for a long time, so was simply concerned. I found out the hard way that not all of the leader thought if she did as I got more involved with the church.
Within three months’ time, I realized that they knew a lot more about me than I knew about them. I also noticed that they could be cliquey. Members who were not leaders forming close friendships with anyone outside of their church campus seemed to be viewed with suspicion. (The church had several neighboring campuses within each of their divisions, both domestic and international.). Members were encouraged to bring people into their church, too, but fellowshipping with other Christians at their churches, etc., was essentially forbidden. At the very least, it was discouraged subtly.
I begin to have a lot of questions as my family and friends outside of the church noticed that the leader ship seem to expect me to devote almost all of my free time to spending time at my campus
Final score:
6points
Michelle C (Submission author) 1 year ago
Oops! #12 is the one I meant to submit. Does anyone know if there is a way to delete previous submissions?
#14
The orange skinned guy tried to overthrow the government and my friends went to jail (jk)
Final score:
6points
#15
You can’t go to the high school events because there will be secular music.
Final score:
5points
#16
Cult of The Spoon - My friend made up this cult in 4th Grade called Cult of the Spoon. (Spoon = better than all other utensils). Eventually, it got so big that an entire Subreddit was made, and it spread to at least 4-5 other states. I can't remember exactly where it is now. (I'll ask them tomorrow. Maybe I can get the link to the Sub.) I'm its 434th member :)
Final score:
5points
#17
I actually started the cult... It was fun while it lasted
Final score:
4points
censorshipsucks 1 year ago
oh come on, we need more deets. Was it like an aliens are coming to take us cult, or a jesus variant, or a sex cult, or what??
#18
When I found out I was meeting a 'fortune teller' in the alley behind the corner store XD
Final score:
4points
What do you think ?
oddly_informed_raven 1 year ago
my friends and I started a Cult of the Long Furby (all hail our lord and savior Long John) and then ANOTHER cult that foretold the Babypocalypse
Sarah Grace Bennett 1 year ago
Have you heard about our Lord Jerry? (Check my post on this page, lol)
Load More Replies...
Greenmantle 1 year ago
When I was told to "Praise The Lord!" By some stupid visiting preacher the same day my friend (fellow church member) had committed suicide. The death was widely known among the congregation.
oddly_informed_raven 1 year ago
my friends and I started a Cult of the Long Furby (all hail our lord and savior Long John) and then ANOTHER cult that foretold the Babypocalypse
Sarah Grace Bennett 1 year ago
Have you heard about our Lord Jerry? (Check my post on this page, lol)
Load More Replies... Greenmantle 1 year ago
When I was told to "Praise The Lord!" By some stupid visiting preacher the same day my friend (fellow church member) had committed suicide. The death was widely known among the congregation.
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