Any survivors of religious "cults" here ?

[nov1509]

Any survivors of religious cults here ? I was brought up as one of these :

[img](removed)] *

Todays H.Ks are a completely different thing than those of the past.
Most HKs don't even wear the robes and shave their heads.
Living in the HKs, you were isolated from society.
No TV , radio , newspaper. You didn't speak to 'karmi' ( non HK ) people.
Even your family, such as grandparents were cosidered evil and to be avoided.
You didn't go to schools outside of the HKs.
You were seperated from your parents and put into a sort of boys home ( gurukula ) at the age of six or younger.
I was able to see my parents for thirty minutes a week. Other times my mother would be gone for months selling stuff for the group.
You never left the 'compound ' ( as the media calls it in cases like the Waco cult )
When you did venture out into society, ( such as for doing things like you see in this picture - its called sankurtan ( converting people and begging for money ) - you were laughed at by everyone around you. This made you very self concious at an early age )
I still haven't recovered, and I have been out for years.





( *I don't know who owns this image. I just did a search for images and this one came up.)


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[nov1509]

This is a link to a YouTube video segment of a show that I saw the other day.

This portion is the one that has the most thought provoking discussion.

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The show has some of the same questions that I remember asking when my aunt tried to 'convert' me.

It's strange how that big religions call little religions 'cults', yet it's all the same crap.

How can so many people in this world turn a blind eye to a 'god' entity that is so obviously evil ?

[nov1509]

Well....I guess I am alone here as well. I thought there might be someone here on this forum that has had a similar upbringing to mine.
At least I share something with some of you.
We're f'ed in the head.

[nov1509]

` My father seems to be getting more and more into that same religious crap that I was brought up in.
I forwarded him the video that is posted above.
His response was predictable. When confronted with questions that paint god in a negative light, he tries to avoid the issue and make me feel guilty for having a doubting mind. " You cannot explain god " "We are like germs to think that we can make sense out of god "
To put this into more human terms, I am reminded of when people are not supposed to doubt the king, the pope, or a 'holy' swami, because they are 'holy'.
Even if what they say make absolutely no sense, or is something that you know to be wrong, you are not supposed to question them and think for yourself. How is it any different just because god is not human ? It seems like a cop out to just say that anything bad that god does has a devine explaination which makes it good ( because we want it to be good )

My dad seems to becoming more and more 'brainwashed'. I guess all of you guys think I am the one that is brainwashed though because I question the actions of god. At what point can a person know if they are indeed brainwashed ?

I think people have a need to believe in a god.We want to feel like that there will always be someone to take care of us. After our parents are gone, we like to think that there is still something that exists to fall back on.
This is why I want to believe in a god.

Something that I found amusing was when my dad explained how that his swami would occasionally " go into devine extacy " and bang his head on the musical instrument used in the 'service' ( bajan ). As he is singing ( sounding drunk ) you hear him collapse onto the piano type instrument ( harmoniom ) with a loud 'thunk'.
Everyone keeps singing, thinking he is on some devine trip, when really the dude is most likely drunk. I feel helpless as I see my dad so enamered by this guy. How can people just ignore what seems obvious ?

[navrark (deleted)]

Well I joined a church in 2005 that turned out to be a cult. It was a church with house groups located around the world. I never met the "Overseer" so I never experienced the crap that we found out he was doing.

The people in my house group were great people and when they found out what was happening, they notified me and we all agreed that we had to leave. They were in the church much longer than I and had experienced some abuse, though not the major nasty stuff. Mostly financial abuse.

After reading the OP's story I must say I hardly feel as though the church I was in compares to his experience. Sorry, I can't help much with your experience except to say that it doesn't surprise me that you would have problems after that.

So don't feel ashamed because anyone would have difficulties if they grew up in an environment like that.

[nov1509]

` Narark good to see you got out of that religion.
What drew you into the 'cult' ?


I don't know if I mentioned it somewhere else, but one of my earliest memories was being stipped naked, placed in a batroom stall and being 'initiated' by having a bucket of cow crap and urine slowly poured and smeared over me while everyone chanted.
The other adults were all around me in the tight stall ( the door was also open ) and both my parents were there as I'm shaking and sobbing wondering what the hell was going on .
I have to wonder just what it takes for a person to become so controlled that they would join a cult and subject their kids to something like this.

Just what draws a person in ?

[navrark (deleted)]

nov1509 wrote: ` Narark good to see you got out of that religion.
What drew you into the 'cult' ?


I don't know if I mentioned it somewhere else, but one of my earliest memories was being stipped naked, placed in a batroom stall and being 'initiated' by having a bucket of cow crap and urine slowly poured and smeared over me while everyone chanted.
The other adults were all around me in the tight stall ( the door was also open ) and both my parents were there as I'm shaking and sobbing wondering what the hell was going on .
I have to wonder just what it takes for a person to become so controlled that they would join a cult and subject their kids to something like this.

Just what draws a person in ?



What happened to you is unimaginable! I'm very sorry to hear that you had to grow up in those circumstances.

Well, I was drawn into the "cult" by the most amazing friends I have ever made. They were just doing what they thought was right, and they really loved me.

It's only them mainly that call the church a cult, because they had been in it much longer and had been in Scotland and Russia and the like. I had just been with them, and they were great people.

Like I said it was just the Overseer and a few others in power in Australia who corrupted themselves and made the church a cult. They just twisted the Bible around enough in order to give themselves power and to eliminate any questioning about how they did things. Also they stole from the church treasury and there was also s----l abuse. No one that I knew suffered it however.

The Overseer has been arrested but many are still in the church. One girl and her sister that I was close to have been split as one left and the other stayed in the church.

The most important thing is that we don't blame God for what these evil people do. God will pay them back for what they did to you, we just have to wait until that day.

Take care!

Navrark