MK forum

Please add your own points or discussions.

Is it Cult-Like If:

People-- not at the top-- are not allowed to offer suggestions/ comments/ ideas/ their experience of several or many years in the org.

Secrets are kept at the top.

Some secrets are so old and involve such “important” figures that even the abused who still suffer today or younger family members cannot bear to bring these out in the open.

Assessments from outside are shunned.

People perceive their own abuse as something out-of-the-ordinary when the truth is that many, many have experienced the same things.

People who have been marginalized/ abused emotionally, verbally, spiritually/ otherwise harrassed and moved around in the org. without their fore-knowledge not only once, but TWICE still seek another “job” in the org!

Third generation workers cannot stand up to their parents and grandparents with the truth.

Third generation people, who now have nothing to do with the org., cannot stand up to their parents and grandparents with the truth.

The “ministry” of a pedophile is more important than the ministries of the parents of abused children or even and especially than the abused children themselves!

Help!
Will someone please bold the topic?
I still don't know how to do it.

BTW--does everyone know that when a member decides to leave and take his/her posts off
the next poster on the topic becomes the "founder" of the topic.
That leads to some funny coincidences......
Or not so funny.....

I see the word is "author"
Not "founder."

So we will not have anymore discussions of humility
On FE.
It is automatic
And comes with the territory.

To deliver a verdict on the "Cult like" status of any group is bound to raise controversy and probably offend more than a few people in the process.

It does come down to perspective and experience. Obviously there is a sliding scale of opinion. At one end there are those who believe NTM is ordained by God Himself and the only true path to doing His work. Therefore to call NTM a cult would be offensive and anyone who did would be labeled "of the devil", "out of fellowship" e.t.c. At the other end of the spectrum are those who look from the outside in and see a totally different picture, either based on objective observations of the worst elements or on personal involvement with some aspect that has created a negative impression.
Most of us sit somewhere between the two ends of the spectrum.

Yes, yes Bemused the masses say, that is just stating the obvious, so what do you personally think?

The one thing that has kept me from labeling NTM as a cult is the number of good people who are involved still in NTM. Not those who are just blindly carrying on, pretending this is not their problem or that they don't know what happened, but a few who are actively trying to sort this mess out from within and who do act with genuine compassion. I do have respect for their efforts and appreciate the personal communication that goes on behind the scenes.

On the other side of the ledger, my lot is to be an MK living at the bottom of the globe where ex NTMers, MKs and current Crossview Australia members are engaging in a range of activities from naively ignoring the past to deliberately obstructing the path of justice. The state of MKs in NZ is woeful and our parents choice to back NTM above their own childrens welfare is despicable. The reason they choose to do this is a) they are brainwashed, b) they don't want their own past looked into or c) there are financial implications. For the ex NTMers, option C can be ruled out as most are taken care of by the government pension scheme.
Kiwis tend to be tough independent people, which did cause some problems in an organisation that prefered not to have people who questioned. Kiwi missionaries in PNG (and now it turns out other fields) were treated abysmally, yet even when they were stripped of their homes, possessions and dignitiy, they still keep backing the organisation that did this to them. It makes no logical sense, unless they are still under some sort of control.
My own parents have been threatened numerous times for not towing the line. These are not idle threats, they come with real consequences. Yet they still sing the praises of NTM. My father is fully aware of the abuse that occured (I told him point blank, and I suspect he already knew long before that), yet he says he doesn't care. So is my father a rogue extremist? It would appear not, he is just a more extreme version of the ex NTMers in this part of the world.
Therefore my personal opinion is that what my parents and other MKs parents I know well were involved with was a cult that has lead them to a point that they are destroying the very thing they maintain they stand for by their actions and lack of them. What other logical explanation is there for a group of people who know what happened to their children and their "friends" children have allowed themselves to reach a point where they will not do a thing to sort out the mess and will even go as far as to lie and cheat to cover up the past?

"Therefore my personal opinion is that what my parents and other MKs parents I know well were involved with was a cult that has lead them to a point that they are destroying the very thing they maintain they stand for by their actions and lack of them. What other logical explanation is there for a group of people who know what happened to their children and their "friends" children have allowed themselves to reach a point where they will not do a thing to sort out the mess and will even go as far as to lie and cheat to cover up the past?" --Bemused

Thank you, Bemused.
I just said "cult-like"
but everyone is entitled
to their own opinion.

It was a cult when I was in it. no doubt in my mind. as of know I don't know.

Yes it is a cult, because it did so much damage and the people in it do not think for themselfs. They do not listen, but demand that they be listened to. Bemused is to polite to say what most people know is true and he just calls it his opinion. His thinking makes sense to me.
Cult like or cult, who cares, it is bad either way.

Most people formulate their opinions on their own experiences. For me it is 8 years of being in NTM and then 30 years of watching the lives of people I know well crumble and then find out that those who knew why this happened covered it up and/or did nothing.

Yes I am entitled to an opinion on the matter and I have no objection to others disagreeing with my opinion. It remains an opinion because I don't believe in telling others what to think. I do however believe in encouraging others to stop and think for themselves about the evidence put in front of them.

So I'm quite prepared to go out on a limb with a written opinion, then we all know where Bemused sits and it isn't on the fence.