Whether you believe Jehovah’s Witnesses are God’s chosen people, the only ‘true’ Christians, just another religion, a high level control group, or a cult, the fact is conscientiously or not, the practices and methods of Jehovah’s Witnesses incorporate usage of the BITE model found and employed within high level control groups and cults.
The BITE model describes various controls over human behavior, information, thought and emotion.
In a series of postings to this blog, eight points will be briefly highlighted – one per post - concerning errant beliefs in respects to cult and high level control group involvement.
POINT ONE: "Why Should I Do Anything? He Says He's Happy!"
Many people say this regarding not helping a loved one escape a cult. Members of the Heaven's Gate cult each made videotaped farewell statements that explained why they had decided to leave their vehicles-i.e., their bodies- and commit suicide. All of them claimed that they were exercising their own free will, and that they were happy to die.
It is unwise to accept at face value a cult member's words that he is happy. In a cult, happiness is often redefined as sacrifice or suffering. Happiness in Heaven's Gate was overcoming individuality and human nature and suicide was redefined as advancing to the next level. Ingesting fatal pills with applesauce and vodka, and placing plastic bags over their heads was seen as a necessary stage of the metamorphosis. The cult identity was happy to die. But, this cult identity was deliberately concocted to suit someone else’s aims. It does not represent the whole individual. You might tell those who are taken in by the cult identity to look behind the smiling mask. When the member says he is happy, the cult self is doing what it has been taught to do.
Source: Chapter 5 - "Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs" by Steven Hassan.
