sounds like a cult?

Question

my cousin is a morman and in a year he will be leaving for two years to go door to door and spread the word about their religion or whatever. he wont know where they are placing him until right before he leaves and he's not allowed to tell anyone where he is going. the only contact we will have with him will be through letters that are sent to the same address for everyone in the group thats going. now my question to everyone is this: does this sound like another "jim jones and the people's temple cult" sort of thing? im not knocking the mormon's i just dont understand the reasons behind being so secretive. something just sounds off to me about this. and they call it a "mission" which is even more jim jonesy to me....anyone else see something strange in all this or am i just a little too worried about him?

for the one and only person that thought that i was discouraging the mormon religion.....i have no problem with any religion he chooses! im just worried that something bad might happen to him and no one even knows where he is! and im sure that the family members of the people of jim jones cult felt they were safe too and look what happened! no religion is 100% safe and all i really wanted to know is if i was being too worried. and try putting yourself in my shoes and you'll see where im coming from.

and for the guy who said someone was "feeding me a line of garbage", not true! this is exactly what he and his parent told the rest of our family and they have no reason to lie to us about this so i highly doubt that its a straight forward mormon group. they may call themselves mormon but i think there are really more to their little "group" if those are the curcumstances.

Answer 1

Frankly, you are just in the right position to worry every bit about your cousin. By the looks of it, your cousin's safety is at risk. Doesn't matter if he calls it a religious group or something, the thing here is- "Why wouldn't he (and the others) be allowed to tell others (esp. their families and friends) of their whereabouts thereafter?" To make things worse, your cousin doesn't even have the slightest idea where he'll be brought to.

Seems to me that if he succumbs to these terms of arrangements with that 'group', he's already brainwashed. No 'religious group' should ever hold secrets or even hide things from their members especially if their safety and welfare is at risk. As what you've shared, even the mailed letters will all be sent to one address only. What is the assurance that your cousin will receive them? Would he be able to respond back? All I know, they would only try to manipulate everyone's lives just as what they're doing now.

Get him 'unhooked' as early as now- I don't think he'll be making a wise choice. Be sure to talk things over with him and be calm. It would be important as well if his family is involved, too.

Answer 2

Ok, let me set this straight!

I served a mission. There are nearly 60,000 full time missionaries out in the field right now, and at any given time. Since I served a mission, probably 500,000 men and women have served missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. If the system was run by the way you have described it, there would be an uproar.

I received my mission call THREE MONTHS before I actually left, and was told when I got my call I was going to serve in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. I was never forbidden to tell anyone where I was going. I told all of my family and friends immediately. Missionaries are often given weeks if not months in advance to know where they are going, so they can prepare to buy necessary clothing related to the climate of where they are going, take care of personal affairs, etc.

When they are out in the field, they can receive emails and/or personal letters, and even care packages! Most of the time these items can be directly sent to their place of residence. The church has also set up a pouch system for missionaries serving in third world countries so that money can be sent to them safely, without it being stolen by the mail carriers of other impoverished nations. These letter can be sent to Salt Lake City, which are then sent to the missionaries' home office. My sister tried once to send me a traveler's check through the Brazil mail system and it never got to me. Someone did cash it out though.

Missionaries are also allowed to call home on Christmas and on Mother's Day. They limit calls to those times to help missionaries stay focused on their work, as frequent calling would make them homesick. If medical issues or emergencies arrive, missionaries are also allowed to call home.

It's a very well run system and not "Jim Jonesy" in anyway. It's almost an insult to me to use Jim Jones in the same vicinity of the topic of serving a mission. Yes, I think you are far too worried about him, and I think someone is feeding you a load of garbage.

Here's just another misconception, in a long, long list of misconceptions, about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Do not fear! You will know exactly where he is every step of the way. I was always able to tell my family and friends where I was. The Church is NOT a cult, like many are saying. It is the true church of Jesus Christ.

If the set up IS indeed exactly the way your are describing, then he is either (1) misinformed or misunderstanding the circumstances of going on a mission or (2) is associated with an apostate group--a splinter group--of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and sorry I have no idea what that is like. But then again, the splinter groups do not have an active missionary program as my church to the best of my knowledge.

Answer 3

Well let me give you my opinion....Secrets must be kept so that the none believers or the anti-whatevers wont use this info against them. Many people now a days do not think for themselves, they are guided by the power in the majorities. how many times has a person really researched an issue an idea or a "group" before they start bashing them questioning them?? very rare im sure. There are many things going on in life right now, many people have to be lied to in order for them to believe... believe in something, the truth is too real for them-and they play it off as a lie. how many times have you been told the truth about something and it hurts you or angers you?? but we always cry about wanting the truth... honestly, we cant accept-handle the truth. the same goes for the mormons or any other group that holds secrets.... the truth in the wrong hands can be dangerous. dangerous because they wouldnt know what to do with the truth, because they havent researched or educated themselves to understand and accept the truth so they misuse it.

Answer 4

fbjohn117 is correct and explained the mission process very good. I also went on a mission. As he stated, you turn in papers saying you want to go on a mission and then they will tell you in anywhere from 1-3 months where you are going. Once you find out you have about 2-3 months before you usually leave. After I received my first location I started to get ready, then it changed. Both times I told everyone I knew. No where to they ever tell a missionary to keep where they are going a secret. Missionaries then go to a training center to learn teachings and communication skills and to learn more about their faith. They also then learn a language if they've been asked to speak a language. I taught for two years at one of these training centers. Missionaries are encouraged to write their families every week, and that will usually include telling them where they are serving and where they have moved to. As far as sending mail to one place, that is for protecting mail.

It sounds to me like you need to talk a little more about it with your counsin as you have a misunderstanding of the process. There is certainly nothing secretive about it, at all, and therefore wouldn't be reason to classify it as a cult (although I guess you could classify any organized religion as a cult, just based on individual perception). Good luck.

Answer 5

It sounds like a cult b/c it is a cult. Every religion is a cult. And cult isn't nesisarily a bad thing it has jut gotten a bad connotation through the years. 1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies. 2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult. 3. the object of such devotion. 4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc. 5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols. 7. the members of such a religion or sect

Answer 6

Don't worry about him. The reason they are so secretive with contact from family and friends is so he won't be tempted to quit and come home. It's awfully hard for missionaries to stay out in the field with family, friends, and girlfriends telling them they wish they were home. Get a copy of The Book of Mormon, read a bit, and many of your concerns will disappear. You don't have to join or anything, but it will ease your fears to know that the true message of the church is spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Answer 7

that bothers you and we have 900 Islamic centers in the USA that no one other than male muslims can enter?
7 million muslims are in the USA and God only knows what they are doing. So a few young men want to go door to door in their religon to save souls? they don't bother me and i am for freedom of religon and if that is their choice. Give them food and water and send them on their way. How much better than a group of young men called a gang.
Where they are all on drugs. Raping and shooting people.
If they want to be religous and help people I say encourage them to do so. Keep them out of gangs that do drugs and get drunk and kill us on the highway.
I for one smile, give them someting to eat or drink and send them on their way with a your doing a good work.
Old people love them they are perhaps their only visitors.
They read them a scripture pray with them and old people like that and what does it hurt. Don't find a problem where there isn't any. NO, I am not a mormon.
Don't know about their religion but feel we should have freedom of religon.

Answer 8

The first thing that lets you know its a cult is when they separate people from their friends and family and basically the outside world. This leaves room for, for lack of a better term, "brainwashing". When the leaders of a cult can take people away from everything else, they can control them (the leaders may believe they are creating their own little "happy place" by creating a controlled environment, or they may be doing it for their own purposes). There is no reason why he shouldn't tell you where he is going, and I doubt that he will recieve your letters. You should definitely talk to him about it and try to change his mind.

Answer 9

He will receive a letter telling him where he's going about a month or so before he leaves, and he can tell everyone where he's going once he knows. For instance, one young man in our ward (friend to both my sons) just found out that he's going to Toronto, Canada, the end of June. His mom was showing his letter to EVERYONE!

However, depending on where he goes, depends on where you send letters to him. One young man served his mission in the Dominican Republic, and we were told that the only way he would get our letters was to send them with a "packet". If you tried to send them directly, he might not get it and it had nothing to do with the church, but with the D.R. government or something.

Answer 10

If your cousin were to leave for 20 years and do a work for Christ it would be a good things. The problem is that the teachings of the mormons does not go along with the Word of God. Read it and then question him according to his beliefs.