I realized mormonism was a cult after reading about the endowment ceremony but after reading this article I realize that there were several things that indicated mormonism was a cult but I guess that I was too brainwashed to actually see it.
I think I still feel ashamed for being brainwashed, it's the most difficult thing (for me) to understand, sometimes I just think "You, idiot how did you believe all that crap?".
I will get over it but It will take some time.
At least I'm out of the cult and I'm just 23, so I still have time to enjoy the best years of life :)




http://www.icsahome.com/articles/characteristics

luckylucas Wrote:
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> I think I still feel ashamed for being
> brainwashed, it's the most difficult thing (for
> me) to understand, sometimes I just think "You,
> idiot how did you believe all that crap?".

I can't tell you how many times I repeated that to myself the first 3-5 years I was out.
Hint: it was a lot.

I'm over that. I was "indoctrinated" by everyone I knew, parents, teachers, extended family, etc. -- to just accept it. And once I started thinking for myself, I got out pretty quickly.

But, yeah...once you see the man behind the curtain, you can feel pretty stupid for not noticing earlier. It's OK. You're out now.

Go. Enjoy. Think. Learn. Live.

:)

Indoctrination hides its head. It does not shout out, "Hey, this is what I am doing," nor does it advertise its power. It comes in varying doses depending on say how much you attend church, how early you started church as well as the doses you are dished out by your family and friends.

But even the small doses can be powerful if you are needing a place that promises security and happiness forever.

Do not beat yourself up for not seeing all along what indoctrination was doing. Youth are usually treated very special at church.....so great to see you, are you coming to the camp-out this Friday? etc. etc. Plus, youth are youth. They are naive, trusting and still learning about life.

Brainwashing is a real thing. We found out the hard way. I was 23 too and in it up to my eyeballs. How were we supposed to know? I was taught from birth by those I trusted most to fear the outside world. The only antidote I still know to this day is to believe in yourself, trust yourself. Celebrate that you have, because as they say, anybody who thinks they can't be fooled already has been. Like TBMs for instance.

And masturbation can cause blindness.

("Caffiend" impersonating BYU Boner.Sorry, everybody and BYUB--I couldn't resist!)

caffiend Wrote:
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> And masturbation can cause blindness.

I'd reply to that, but for some reason I can't see what you wrote...

:)

Thanks guys for the help, and caffiend LOL you just make me imagine some dirty but funny things, I think the boner would be proud of you LOL

I always think of the Simpson's episode with the cult. Homer didn't pay attention and, hence, was not brainwashed. I was present but never believed. Guess I was a Homer

I feel like an idiot as well and i am trying hard to fight the brainwashing even now every single day. Its a hard road to get out of a cult that you were born in and surrounded by especially when you were never too sure if it really was a cult or not. I still question myself because my family believes it with all their heart but once i saw the endowment ceremony myself that was the final straw. I could not deny the ugliness that i knew that it was. I had been manipulated my entire life and that reality is super painful and its been hard to adjust to the real world free of the cult. The dreamland is what i should call it. You are lucky you got out young i was never completely sure what the church really was back then.

It's a cult. We were all brainwashed.

It happened to all of us but now we're out. Yay

I'd go back in a heartbeat if I didn't have to attend, pay tithing, home teach, receive home teachers, attend or watch conference, work on a welfare farm or help neighbors move!'

What did I miss? Oh, yeah, subscribe to or read the Ensign...

Haha you just hurt my head by mentioning all those things old dog. But even when you do all that it is still not enough.

And that leaves...?

Funeral taters and jello?

Aaaaaaand best of all cleaning bathrooms.

OK Olddog,

you missed mentioning having a calling, living the word of wisdom, and swearing.... oh opps thats not you its me. Sorry.

Someone should compile a definitive list of the things from which we are now free. And then a list of the positive things that we are now free to do!

And all we had to give up was our shot at ghawdhood, mormon-style. Which for the ladies was not all that much!

That's a great list in the article you linked:

- The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.

- Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

- Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).

- The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (for example, members must get permission to date, change jobs, marry—or leaders prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth).

- The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and its members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).

- The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.

- The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).

- The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members’ participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before they joined the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).

- The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and/or control members. Often, this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.

- Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and to radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before they joined the group.

- The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.

- The group is preoccupied with making money.

- Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.

- Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

- The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or even consider leaving) the group.

Free from internal cliques, in-fighting, jockeying for acceptance and power
Free from quest for mortal perfection in compliance and obedience as a requisite for advancement in kingdom on earth.
Freedom from special anointings, via Patriarchal Blessings, temple privileges, callings galore, and the Second Anointing for privileged folks who toe the line and donate millions to the cult via a special club status of General Authority.
Freedom from worshipping false, wicked Prophets, dead or alive.
Freedom from fear you are worthless unless you sacrifice everything to the building up of Zion.
Freedom from doing endless busy work saving the world.
Freedom from the curses of subjugation and deprivation.