Is it a cult, or are you just hurt? (Long post)

PIMQ. Looking for an unbiased comprehensive response. I understand that some of you have went through very traumatic experiences in the congregation and that is so terrible, and im sorry that happened to you.

On the other hand, some tend to call the borg a cult and say that the people manipulate you. But they are calling it that only after being DF or DA. We all know the "consequences" of both, so why do many act surprised when they have received the bad end of the stick due to their actions?

If I fornicate and get caught, it would be incredibly hypocritical for me to say "they ruined my life" when I chose that course of action and knew what would happen if others find out.

When those individuals who wanted to get baptized stood in front of the crowd and said "yes", you all did so voluntarily. We also stay in the borg or leave voluntarily. (In these cases I am speaking for adults, not those who felt pressured to get baptized young, but even after adulthood you had a choice to stay or leave)

I've been in this group for months searching and questioning just to see if it was enough to make me leave. I've read hundreds of testimonies, and so far most of them are people directing their hate for the borg because they got DF and are giving emotional reasons as to why its the worst cult they've ever been in.

Many call it a cult because their hearts are filled with hate after feeling the consequences of their actions when they went against the standard they agreed to and got caught. They say that the borg is controlling, manipulative, liars, thieves, and that you've been forced to believe or live the jw lifestyle.

My standpoint of this is that overall I dont see that as being true. We all had free will from the beginning, and as adults had the choice to stay or leave. No elder/bro can come into your home and make you read your Bible or do anything, unless you straight up let them. And the whole thing about children being forced to adopt this religion is nonsense to me as well. Because across different culters parents tend to steer children to mimic the way of life they already are in, whether its religion or not. Ex.) Farmers raise their kids teaching them farming methods and how to grow their own food, yet people dont calm them "restrictive" or "manipulating" them into the farmer lifestyle. Thats just what you do when you have children, you decide for them the main/big things that they need to be doing in life because as a parent you have that authority to do so. But when they become adults the choice of what they do is completely up to them.

I do believe however that individual elder bodies or stuck in the past witnesses have the attitude of "its us vs them" or that "if you dont follow this rule you'll be destroyed". But that is due to their human error and them choosing not to be more progressive, and those same flaws cannot be applied to witnesses overall. Just like the saying "one bad apple can spoil a bunch", imagine if there were 9 million of those apples 🤣 alot of them would be spoiled. But all you have to do is remove the bad one and keep the good ones. One spoiled apple isn't going to make you completely stop eating apples.

I am not excusing their actions but I am simply pointing out that flawed humans do that. And if its not law you can simply ignore them, its not gonna kill you. In Acts 15:1-12 we see how early Christians made such a big deal about whether or not a dude had his dick cut (like how would they even know if he was circumcised or not lol) but that lesson in itself taught me that in the Christian faith, there are going to be believers who are just straight up bots.

But Jesus showed that we can just let them continue to be bots, and just keep doing what we are doing according to the law of love.

The congregation I was in has been with some of the most loving bros/sisters I've seen. Some of them are bots, others are genuine. And so i let the bots be bots and i continue to love my life based on love, not rules. And if there is a manmade rule that I don't believe is scriptural, i simlly don't follow it. And if a bot brings it up i say "am i gonna get dissfellowshipped for it". If the answer is no i go on minding my business.

One elder told me that everything we do is voluntary, so if I want to extract work for the borg (pioneer, LDC, Bethel) then I can do so if that is my desire, and if I have the means to do it.

He told me about the difference in congregations in California vs where we are. In California the brothers eat edibles and have gatherings all the time, but in my area that would be looked down upon.

So overall this just shows me the level of free will we really have. But many bots in the borg, which unfortunately some of which have become elders, will tell you to do something that is complete nonsense. I just stay uncovered and keep serving my creator, just as Jesus did. People only have as much control as you give them. And you give them and inch THEY WILL take a mile.

And so all I do nowadays is avoid doing any serious sin listed in the Bible, outside of that imma do whatever I want. Whether kts going to university, working on the military base, getting my hair braided. All of those things I can do without being dissfellowshipped or shunned. Just gotta be unbothered....

Many bad things that are done in the borg are the fault of bad humans with bad intentions. It was never the fault of the creator, nor is it the overall goal of the borg.

So is it really a cult, or did you give it so much power to where it made you bothered instead of unbothered?

Sorry for the long post, and going back reading what I said I can see that for some, this post may seem biased in a way, but I tried my best not to be. I'm being as logical as I can while being fair.