James Wells writes ...
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"When you are inducted into a cult, a classic pattern is followed each time.

The initial appeal may appear harmless or reasonable. Fellowship. A sense of belonging. Opportunity to get ahead. Joining the winning team. Duty and commitment to service.

Next is immersion into a culture which pulls you away from reality and norms as most of us understand them. Those norms, it is revealed to you, are the instrument of evil Others who have secretly controlled you for your entire lifetime.

Then there comes that fateful moment when you must step beyond the point of no return. It is demanded that you take an action which will forever stop you from returning to normal life. An act so repugnant that it signals your irrevocable commitment to the cause and to its leader. Are you with us or are you with the evil Others?

In spy thrillers, it’s the scene where the agent is told to shoot the prisoner or the innocent bystander. In some cults, it’s a painful or disgusting physical ritual that no person would consider doing under any normal circumstances.

The goal is to get you to commit the literal or figurative act of biting the head off a live chicken at midnight, then using the resulting blood to daub your naked body with satanic symbols. At that point, you belong to them."

I get the point, Dave, but that strikes me as overly generalized and dramatic. Most cultic involvement (and consequent allegiance) is more gradual. But yes, the point is that connections with one's old life (family, previous beliefs and/or religion, nation and/or community, etc.) are severed, and one attaches to, is beholding to, and identifies with the cult, the cult's belief system, and (especially) the cultic leadership.I think exotic rituals are exceptional. Long, LONG assemblies with rote recitation, mass actions (cheers, raised fists, etc.) are probably more common.

If you want to join a cult and have a lot of fun, join the Marines!

Obviously, Caffiend has never been through the Mormon temple.

No, it wasn't a chicken head or chicken blood--it was taking a sacred oath before God that you would slit your own throat, split open your chest, and disembowel yourself. This was done is a word-for-word group chant (I can still hear it in my head) and using your hand, in place of a real knife.

In Mormonism the satanic symbols are on your body for life--every day and every night of the rest of your life.

The Marines don't tell you who to marry, or teach you to be helpless and afraid. The Marines pay people. A cult takes their money. Don't insult the Marines--they offer a valuable service to our Country! No comparison. Mormonism is good for nothing.

I get your point, Mom. You may know that I come out of Christian Science, the "cult for the cultured," which is is very low-key, non-ritualistic, and demands very little in the way overt obedience and conformity. Yet it is extremely cultic, to the point that people deny themselves and their children* medical care when it is obviously needed. They hold to the brainwash that such measures will impede with their "spiritual understanding" that they are not really sick!

I didn't mean to suggest that LDS does not qualify as a cult; simply that such extreme rites are not a requisite for cultic classification.

I myself was a Marine grunt, and (at age 70) will invite any *ssh*le outside who insults the Corps. My inarticulate point was that there is an intense loyalty, "attitude adjustment" as we call it, esprit de corps, and powerful camaraderie in the Corps, things people find appealing in cults. But in the Marines, you get to have all sorts of fun, jumping out of helicopters, climbing mountains, blowing things up, killing bad guys, and get paid for it!

"(The Marines) don't tell you who to marry..." reminds me of an old joke:

A Marine married his girl-back-home after he finished his training, and asked his senior DI to be the best man. At the end of the ceremony, the chaplain said, "You may now kiss the bride."
The Marine executed a snappy right-face towards the DI, and asked, "May I, Sir?"

*To their credit, many Christian Scientists have relaxed on the prohibition (called "radical reliance on Divine Science") regarding children, but the elderly tend to shut themselves away and avoid legitimate geriatric care.

caffiend Wrote:
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> *To their credit, many Christian Scientists have
> relaxed on the prohibition (called "radical
> reliance on Divine Science") regarding children,
> but the elderly tend to shut themselves away and
> avoid legitimate geriatric care.

Some of the elderly may be "relaxing" as well, caffiend. The branch church where I'm a member has quite a few elderly members, and probably the majority of these are receiving some sort of medical care. And they seem to be quite open about it with the rest of the members.

That's encouraging news, (un)Common Gentile. I am sort of out of the CS loop. My recollection was that a fair number of elderly are determined to "know the Truth"* and hold on to Eddy's teachings to the bitter end, OR wait until their reliance on "Mind Science" was demonstrably ** ineffective. They then turn to "materia medica"*** too late for authentic medical science to accomplish much. Then the family blames the doctors for the loved one's death.

Like LDS, Christian Science has lost its unique, original "pzazz," and is shrinking, while the leadership (LDS and CS) hopes that mainstreaming will somehow reverse, or at least delay, the inevitable. Until "ChristianWay" closed up shop, an ex-CS was recording an average drop of 5% per year (branches, societies, practitioners). That can only increase exponentially, especially as the Baby Boomers pass on.

Ezekiel 33.11

* That's a Christian Science euphemism for applying MB Eddy's metaphysical system of "prayer" to a problem like disease: you apply your faith by "knowing the Truth" that the illness is an illusion of the mind.
**pun intended--get it?
*** "Materia medica" was a derogatory term my CSB mother used for conventional medicine.

Can't believe i was in a cult the entire time before i learned about the death oaths. My whole life was a total mindf#ck. I thought it may have been legit because my family thought it was legit so i kept giving it the benefit of the doubt. It explains so much though looking back, i was totally surrounded by cult members and never knew it. My mind still doesn't want to believe that it was a cult the entire time.