Heaven's Gate

[exit_and_how]

qoting Wikipedia:

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"The Heaven's Gate group achieved notoriety in 1997 when one of its founders convinced 38 followers to commit mass suicide. Members reportedly believed themselves to be aliens, awaiting a spaceship that would arrive with Comet Hale-Bopp. The suicide was undertaken in the apparent belief that their souls would be transported onto the spaceship, which they thought was hiding behind the comet. They underwent elaborate preparations for their trip; for a time, group members lived in a darkened house where they would simulate the experience they expected to have during their long journey in outer space. Heaven's Gate surfaced again in 2006 with another group of converts entitled "Heaven's Gate: The New Generation"."
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Does anyone know anything about The New Generation?
Were these the people who got left behind?

 

[Runt]

I hate to say it, but if you're crazy enough to believe that aliens hanging out in the tail of a comet are going to lift you off of this planet and take you away to paradise if you kill yourself, then be my guest. Go, drink that cyanide!

That being said... in response to your question, I'm fairly certain that everyone in the original Heaven's Gate died. And it doesn't surprise me overly much that there is a new group willing to follow in their footsteps; we human beings seem to be slow to learn from our mistakes, and there are always more idiots out there just waiting to earn Darwin Awards.

 

[exit_and_how]

Rant, you knew these people personally then?

and i think it was not cyanide because the Wiki article says:

"In preparing to kill themselves, members of the cult drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their bodies of impurities. The suicide was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbital mixed with vodka, along with plastic bags secured around their heads to induce asphyxiation."

 

[Katzpur]

Rant, you knew these people personally then?

and i think it was not cyanide because the Wiki article says:

"In preparing to kill themselves, members of the cult drank citrus juices to ritually cleanse their bodies of impurities. The suicide was accomplished by ingestion of phenobarbital mixed with vodka, along with plastic bags secured around their heads to induce asphyxiation."

Perhaps Runt was getting these guys mixed up with the Jim Jones group. They were the ones who drank cyanide.

 

[Runt]

You're right, I was mixing them up with the Jim Jones group.

Still though... if you want to kill yourself for some stupid reason like ALIENS ON THE TAIL OF A COMET, then bye-bye. As long as you don't take anyone unwilling with you, I don't particularly care. Humanity is probably better off.

 

[jonny]

You're right, I was mixing them up with the Jim Jones group.

Still though... if you want to kill yourself for some stupid reason like ALIENS ON THE TAIL OF A COMET, then bye-bye. As long as you don't take anyone unwilling with you, I don't particularly care. Humanity is probably better off.

You're laughing now, but you just wait... The truth will come out soon enough.

 

[Runt]

You're laughing now, but you just wait... The truth will come out soon enough.

Yeah... if there really ARE aliens on a comet and they're going to sell me some spiritual Truth, I probably WILL drink the koolaid with cyanide or put a bag over my head and die... :areyoucra

 

[exit_and_how]

if you were taught to respect other's beliefs, perhaps this case is a test for you - perhaps this group is beyond reason or perhaps it surpasses your ability to respect beliefs. Afterall, dying is no easy thing i'm told.

what was interesting to me was the mention of the "New Generation" and the fact that the article's neutrality has been disputed (by someone but i don't know who). it would be interesting to talk to one of these folks...

(and maybe there will be a new koolaid for the new generation - still enough time for the religious authorities to do something about it...JJ :beach

 

[Runt]

if you were taught to respect other's beliefs, perhaps this case is a test for you - perhaps this group is beyond reason or perhaps it surpasses your ability to respect beliefs. Afterall, dying is no easy thing i'm told.

I'm a fairly tolerant person, but there is a limit to how far even I will extend respect for others' beliefs. I have respect for the idea that there might be aliens behind a comet, and that they might take you off to some variety of spiritual paradise. I don't believe it, I find it a little hard to believe that others might believe it, but hey, I respect it. I do not, however, have respect for beliefs that promote suicide. Heaven's Gate was a death cult. There is nothing to respect about killing yourself.

Perhaps the New Generation is different. Perhaps they seek to promote a healthier spirituality. But wouldn't it be better not to associate your new faith with a group of people who committed mass suicide?

Also... apparently (according to the Religious Tolerance website) there were at least a couple surviving members, who have been continuing to "spread the message". Perhaps they are the New Generation of which you speak?

 

[exit_and_how]

would like to simply know how sincere these people are and how much they would stand up and fight for their beliefs if it came to that.

seem like intelligent folk to me - someone had to know about
phenobarbitol.

would also like to know if all the members had major family problems or were their upbringings just like everyone else?

 

[Phillip00001]

why did marshall applewhite call himself Do?

 

[Twilight Hue]

qoting Wikipedia:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Heaven's Gate group achieved notoriety in 1997 when one of its founders convinced 38 followers to commit mass suicide. Members reportedly believed themselves to be aliens, awaiting a spaceship that would arrive with Comet Hale-Bopp. The suicide was undertaken in the apparent belief that their souls would be transported onto the spaceship, which they thought was hiding behind the comet. They underwent elaborate preparations for their trip; for a time, group members lived in a darkened house where they would simulate the experience they expected to have during their long journey in outer space. Heaven's Gate surfaced again in 2006 with another group of converts entitled "Heaven's Gate: The New Generation"."
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Does anyone know anything about The New Generation?
Were these the people who got left behind?

More contestants for the Darwin Awards. -NM-

 

[Rev. White]

I remember one man be interviewed, and he saying that he had been having troubles and left, and how sorry he was that he had been left behind.

 

[The Enlightened One]

seem like intelligent folk to me - someone had to know aboutphenobarbitol.

They seemed intelligent and well well written, however these letters could have just been by Ti and Do.
Heres a link to some of the "students" "exit statements"... It's actually posted on their website...
Earth Exit Statements by Students

 

[The Enlightened One]

Also if you read the statement that was supposed to be issued to the press, Exit Press Release,
the 5th paragraph leaves it open for another "class" to start.
Wonder how it'll end this time.

 

[enchanted_one1975]

Wow this is an old thread, but I do love when the topic if Heaven's Gate comes up. I think it is safe to say that (so far) this was the strangest thing to have happened in my lifetime. I remember seeing all about it on the news. They played videos that the Heaven's Gate members had made, telling everyone what they were doing. They seemed so happy. At the time I thought they were crazy. Now I know they just really believed strongly. That doesn't mean they were right though. They all died wearing matching outfits, right down to the matching gym shoes. They had haircuts that looked like they had been done with a bowie knife and the males had been castrated willingly as well. Investigators said that there were no signs of any struggle, but that many of the suicides were assisted. One member may lay and allow another member to suffocate them. While all that may seem strange, the strangest thing that I remember is that they had planned that they would need to bring exact change for the fare to get on the mother ship. I don't remember exactly how much it was. It was an odd number in the neighborhood of $5USD though. They all had the exact amount, all in quarters, in the pocket of their pants.

 

[Wordcobbler]

Heaven's Gate worked with a set of faulty assumptions which led them into the jaws of insanity:

1. Sci-fi is real - so they believed the report that a UFO was following the Great Comet Hale-Bopp. Star Trek jargon was in the HG manifesto.
2. They took Ascended masters to be a given, in the same way Guy Ballard used Blavatsky's Theosophical speculation and turned into 'I AM" Activity in the 1930's, were UFOs were the transport for these higher forms of life. Millions followed 'I AM", so Heaven's Gate was in good company.
3. They were misanthropic ( like most cult memberships - Jonestown being the worst example) and wanted out.
4. They lived like ascetics, which helped to reinforce a set of bogus assumptions and made it into a belief system to die for, which is what they did.

All in all, a very sad result for 38 people who just hated the world and wanted to justify their suicide.