Goddess

Yes, you are correct. It's partly the powerlessness, partly the guilt and fear of leaving. Lots of people struggle mentally after leaving a cult. And it's hard to find phychologists who truly understand the nature of the mind control. Recovery forums are important - they let you know you're not alone, that you're not crazy and offer real support. Everyone recovers differently - some get very angry at the cult, some just leave and go on with their lives after doing the research and putting the time into healing.

For sure The recovery forum I was on was so helpful for me that I also served on it for quite a few years and I saw the damage first hand to individuals and to families. One of my freinds from there committed suicide because he couldn't deal with the stress of being disfellowshipped (he also had other issues - alcohol being one) I don't have the celebrity power Leah has, so I'm glad she's using it to do this.

That's the sticking point - in watching the Scientology series, Leah keeps saying she wants legislation against this, but I'm not sure governments want to touch that with a ten foot pole. And as I pointed out, the cults will have their own public spin on it, saying that it's the family's "choice" to disconnect from you.

I'm not sure how governments would be able to deal with the disconnecting or disfellowshipping thing....Jw's tell the public that it is the family's "choice" to stop associating with you and that the disfellowshipped person makes the "choice" to cut off from family. But that's not the reality. There are sanctions in the church for associating with a disfellowshipped person, same as in Scientology.

It was extremely difficult. I left with nothing but what I could carry in my truck and about $600. I learned that they only have power over you if you give it to them. They can't force you to attend any disciplinary or judicial meetings. You can say No and it's okay, nothing bad happens. And I learned that "worldly" people are actually pretty nice and for the first time in my life, I made real freinds. Yes, my kids and I are much happier. Except we lost all our family, which is sometimes still difficult.

I just basically up and left - there were so many things that were bothering me about the religion (the hypocrasy, the isolation, etc.). They tracked me down to another province, two elders sat in their car all night watching the house where I lived to be sure I was there, then they knocked on the door one night and told me they were disfellowshipping me. I was panicked at first and felt I needed to get back. I decided to use the time to research some of the things that bothered me - not to prove them wrong, but to prove them right. Well, it opened Pandora's box. I joined a forum for JW's recovering from leaving and got in contact with Steven Hassan.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/12/23/berlin-market-suspect-shot-dead-by-police-in-milan.html ISIS released a video of him swearing allegiance to their cause.

For anyone who's interested, Steven Hassan has written some really great books on cults, the techniques they use to keep people trapped and how to break free from the mind control. Being mentally free of the cult is the hardest part.

That's a bit of a difference from the group I was in. For us, there was no way to be "saved" and you could never do enough, so there was always a sort of *panic* feeling that was with you.

That's them. They are so similar to Scientology in so many ways. I wonder if any of the JWs have watched the show. Likely they are not allowed or discouraged from watching it. Or they will be just too afraid to watch it.

I was involved in a very similar cult for most of my life, only got out with my children about 10 years ago. I'm surprised (surprisednotsurprised) at the similarities between Scientology and the cult I was in. From the show, they use the same brainwashing, thought control and "keep them busy" techniques as the one I was in. The same "disconnecting", and very much the same superior attitudes. They are also about the same size world wide as the group I was in and I'm really hoping that this shines a light on other groups.

Is anyone else watching this?

5 and 6 year old girls "choose" to wear it?

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/first-berlin-victim-a-pole-who-fought-for-his-life/ar-BBxnbuY?li=AAggFp5 Apparently they killed the driver of the truck and then used it to plow through the market.

No.

This is a concern of mine. That Canada is letting in exteremists and it will damage our relationship with the US.

Are you seriously equating wanting our immigration policies to address the number of people we take in from a violent religion, to wanting to actually KILL those people? Seriously?

If an atheist commits a crime it is not motivated by their lack of belief in any gods. They are not committing crimes in the name of atheism. This is the point you refuse to understand - you are being willfully ignorant. An overwhelming amount of blood has been shed IN THE NAME OF RELIGION, particularly your's at this moment in history. None have been explicitly fought in the name of atheism. An atheist who kills someone for money is doing it for GREED, not because of atheism. If you want to blame atheism for any crime committed by an atheist, you have to blame religion for any crime committed by a theist. Oviously this is not true, as religion is not to blame for ALL crimes.

It's not their "inferior characteristics" or because they're mad at Turkey. It's because of all the Islamic extremists. http://www.protectmyholiday.com/news-articles.aspx 11 Nov, 2016 Turkish Airlines lossNews reports state that Turkish Airlines reported a net loss of $463 million for the first nine months of the year compared to a net profit of $877 million a year ago. In a statement the Turkish flag carrier blamed political and economic instability in Europe and Middle East as well as the increased perception of global and regional risks which caused negative impact on aviation demand and placed pressure on yields. Moreover, increased capacity, led by low fuel prices and increased competition, also affected ticket prices and total revenue. Only Africa and the USA maintained revenue levels for both passenger and cargo traffic During the nine-month period, the carrier transported 48.3 million passengers, up 4%, on 357,000 flights. ASKs increased 14%; RPKs were up 8.2% and load factor was down to 74.5% from 79% last year. 22 Jul, 2016 Lufthansa shares plunge on profit warning affected by Terrorist attacks on bookingsNew reports state that German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG warned that a series of terrorist attacks have caused passengers to scrap travel plans, leading to an expected decline in full-year earnings. Europe has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks. which can depress bookings. Last week, a truck driver in Nice killed at least 84 people when he plowed into revelers. A few weeks earlier, Istanbul's Atatü rk Airport was hit by a terrorist attack. Both incidents were linked to Islamic State sympathizers. The Islamic State also claimed responsibility for an ax attack on train passengers in Germany this week. A terrorist attack against Brussels airport in March caused Lufthansa to delay plans to take over Brussels Airlines.

Because I don't listen to criminals and madmen. It makes sense not to listen to criminals and madmen to a point....but if someone says they committed murder/bombings, etc. in the name of a religion, why would you not believe them? I can understand that when someone kills their daughter/wife as an honour killing that "could" be a cultural thing, but isn't it also religious? Some of the Christian killings noted above were not necessarily for religious reasons. But it seems that all Muslim terrorists who are bombing and driving trucks into crowds are doing it in the name of Islam.

She's probably safer in prison now, than risking being honour killed by the father.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/muslim-student-filed-bias-crime-report-to-avoid-curfew-punishment/ar-AAlBhXq Quite a few of these stories have proven to be hoaxes. While I don't doubt that these things are going on, I don't understand how filing false claims is helping Muslims out...what are they thinking??

@Benz My sister used to have a beagle - they are wonderful dogs.

This is Whiskey who I lost in the Fort Mac fires. I miss him desperately most days. He ski doo'ed for the first time last year and loved it! He would try to crawl into the backpack before I could even get it ready. I adopted him when I was living in teh US and he first saw snow two years ago. He walked off the back step into a huge snowdrift and didn't know what to do. I had to put my boots on and go outside to perform a rescue mission. His resting face always looked sad, but he was always very happy.

Very handsome dogs! And they look so happy!