He talks about serious health issues on his mission that required surgery and how his family wasn't notified. The guilt-tripping and personal boundary invasions screamed cult. There was no one to advocate for this 19-year-old boy, just pressure to get back to tracking door-to-door.

If there were any doubts about TSCC being a cult, mission rules certainly get rid of those. Always with a companion, encouragement to snitch, no phone calls home except Christmas and Mothers Day, no humanitarian service--just sales pitches, layers of "authority," no media exposure, sitting for long hours day after day at the MTC for nonstop indoctrination. All designed to break down sense of self and thwart self-advocacy. Dress the same down to the underwear, talk the same jargon.

Then, that gets coupled with these grandiose promises of god's richest "blessings." Chosen seed. Very elect. Gods in the making--all predicated upon conformity to rules that are designed to subjugate individuals to make a wealthy organization even more so.

RJ suffered from PTSD after his mission that was exacerbated by a callous and cruel reception at home because of an early mission release. Example of putting the "needs" of an organization first, and in the process, forfeiting any humanity and compassion and not addressing actual human need.

Why is it that even after leaving moism, some can't bring themselves to call TSCC what it is - a cult? How bad does something need to get in someone's mind before it qualifies?

I wish raptor still posted to this board. He was a favorite.

Ya. Mine too. I don't think I've ever laughed so much reading a book. There's something therapeutic and sane about the obscenity when it's directed at an institution that has demanded my reverence all these years. I've never been on a mission, but so much of what he talked about, I could relate to. I enjoyed the way RJ called it just as he saw it. I appreciate that he didn't pull his punches.