Did I join a cult?

[OrionBalls]

We all gathered together and sang a bunch of songs, and there was dancing and jumping, and then some guy spoke for a bit, and then everyone put their arms on each other and spoke really quietly, and a lot of people cried. Then there was more dancing. I got a different pin with a different meaning for every day I was there. They asked me to turn my life over to some Mexican guy. Some people said they would, and got thrown into a swimming pool. I think I might have joined a cult.

 

[卐卐卐]

Yea AA sucks.

 

[dick brain]

I tried a few different AA meetings and they all felt pretty creepy. The last one I went to I stayed after to talk to the facilitator or whatever about how I'm not really able to reconcile myself with the requirement to relinquish agency to something outside myself, religious or otherwise, and he started talking past me about how it didn't have to be a Christian thing, it could be your idealized self or anything you want, and professed that he himself was a satanist.

Now I go to SMART Recovery.

 

[Le b0wski]

The divine leader told me that not all cults are bad, and you should give it a chance and see how it goes.

 

[Pruto]

You're on KF so yes.

 

[Acoustic Virgin]

How do the people in charge act if you want to leave? If they say: "Ok, good luck. You're welcome to come back if you ever change your mind." then you're probably safe. If they pressure, manipulate, or threaten you into staying? That's cult behavior.

 

[OrionBalls]

How do the people in charge act if you want to leave? If they say: "Ok, good luck. You're welcome to come back if you ever change your mind." then you're probably safe. If they pressure, manipulate, or threaten you into staying? That's cult behavior.

"You're free to leave, but you won't be saved. We love you, just as broken as you are." Now that I really think about it, there are a LOT of parallels between AA and boisterous Evangelical worship.