Sgt. Pepper
All you need is love.
I was an evangelical for 30 years, and now I consider evangelical Christianity to be cult-like, especially in recent years involving politics.
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ever encountered a cult?
- Thread starter Eddi
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I was an evangelical for 30 years, and now I consider evangelical Christianity to be cult-like, especially in recent years involving politics.
Viker
Häxan
I was involved with Southern Baptists and loosely affiliated "Independent" Baptists for a few years as a child and the growing Evangelical movement at the time. Originally the Evangelical movement seemed harmless to me. Baptists did the most damage. Instead of getting help they seemed to break me down even more. I was already a traumatized child...they certainly never helped.
Given that some have posted about cults with implied definions I disagree with, here is what I'm using to answer the question with "no": Six Sociological Characteristics of Cults
[1] Authoritarian Leadership
[2] Exclusivism
[3] Isolationism
[4] Opposition to Independent Thinking
[5] Fear of Being “Disfellowshiped”
[6] Threats of Satanic Attack
Or just watch this from the Simpson's "Joy of Sect"
[1] Authoritarian Leadership
[2] Exclusivism
[3] Isolationism
[4] Opposition to Independent Thinking
[5] Fear of Being “Disfellowshiped”
[6] Threats of Satanic Attack
Or just watch this from the Simpson's "Joy of Sect"
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Viker
Häxan
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber
My education, upbringing and Church hit the points on "cult check lists" all over the place. The threats, the censorship, us vs the world mentalities, rigid Biblical truth, discouraging questioning the Bible and critically thinking about it, and lots and lots of shame and guilt amd threats of eternal punishment to coerce people into "desired" beliefs and keep them in line.
A Christian cult is any group of Christians who claim that only they are Christians and not other Christians or not that Christian. A group can also imply this without directly saying it. "He is not the Lord's!" is an anti christ statement. It is judgment, and it must be dropped and repentance performed that the person may take communion. Each person enters into the communion under condition of forgiveness and non-judgment. If they judge, then they are calling judgment upon themselves. In judging others they have failed to discern the body of Christ. That is the most basic root of any and all Christian cults. If the members of any cult were to repent of this one thing they could not be called a cult with any sort of rigor. Any such accusation would be baseless and would be nothing but empty jargon.
A lot of this arises from worrying and paranoia, and there are people who take advantage of this worry and take advantage of this paranoia. They are styled 'Ravening wolves' in the NT. They find ways to use it, to work it in threads into tapestries to control others. They are everywhere, cutting up the body of Christ or binding it like spiders and eating it alive. There is no belief behind this worry, no trust that God can overcome. It is simply people not wanting to deal with other people, and if they can't love other people that they can see how can they claim to love God who is invisible? The problem arises from fear and paranoia, but perfect love drives out fear.
Exaltist Ethan
Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
I agree with all five of these points.
This is maybe a bit too specific for me. "Satan" is pretty exclusively Christian and religions inspired by Christianity. Plus there are Satanists out there, both atheist and theistic, that are anything but cults, some of them even actively advocating for ego-theism ("self deification"). Maybe if it were re-written as, "Threats of spiritual attacks" I could agree with six. Satan is just too specific for general concept like cults.
Love "Joy of Sect" btw, very good Simpsons episode. I also like the Simpsons episode which Lisa becomes a Buddhist, "She of Little Faith".
Heyo
Veteran Member
InChrist
Free4ever
A cult demands surrender of mind and conscience to a leader, group, or organization. A Christian cult is one that twists the biblical scriptures in an attempt to make their adherents dependent (and controlled) upon them as the mediator between the person and God, rather than Jesus Christ Alone; the only Mediator between humanity and God
(1 Timothy 2:4).
I had this kind of cult experience in Catholicism and Mormonism. I almost became involved with another pseudo Christian cult, but was saved by Christ and His sufficiency for all that I needed for this life and eternity.
Sirona
Hindu Wannabe
If I remember correctly, a couple of days ago somebody warned against alcohol as the possibly deadliest poison on Earth. They may have done this because they are teetotalers and may have an unconscious desire to consume alcoholic beverages. I think cult hysteria may be similar. The biggest enemies of a cult are usually those who believe something similar but not exactly the same as cult members. Perhaps they are secretly fascinated by cult content but don't want to admit it, so they make it out that the cult is a "threat" to them.
Sorry, but this just does not work for any meaningful distinction between cults and "non-cults". Nor between Christians and non-Christians, nor honest vs. dishonest people or movements.
Even taking for granted for the sake of argument that there is some sort of divine purpose for the Christian scriptures that is distinct and distinguishable from other goals and ends, the fact remains that we have no clear way of making that distinction.
Similarly, sincerity and honest intent are by no means rare within cults, even going by particularly judgemental and strict understandings of that word. Many of the members of the most destructive and misguided cults are very sincere indeed.
As it happens, I adhered to a cult-like environment quite involuntarily for about 20 years, and to another that somewhat countered the first one's harm by accident.
The former was my so-called family of birth. They had elements of military repression, Brazilian mid-class anxiety, fairly typical Brazilian nominal Catholicism with the contradictions and hypocrisy that come with it and, in later years, unhealthy attachment to Kardecist Spiritist beliefs.
The later was SAW Gnosticism. I was actually directed to it by my unsuspecting biological mother, who then went aggro and had an outbreak of violent behavior when I stood my ground. She was a rather unsophisticated person and simply assumed that anything that I learned would somehow direct me towards Kardecism, and that just would never happen.
SAW Gnosticism isn't a healthy doctrine, but my exposure to it did teach me - albeit accidentally - that diversity of belief and commitment are real and worthy things, even if it took me years to properly unravel the implications and will take all of my remaining lifetime to attempt to fix the received damage.
The former was my so-called family of birth. They had elements of military repression, Brazilian mid-class anxiety, fairly typical Brazilian nominal Catholicism with the contradictions and hypocrisy that come with it and, in later years, unhealthy attachment to Kardecist Spiritist beliefs.
The later was SAW Gnosticism. I was actually directed to it by my unsuspecting biological mother, who then went aggro and had an outbreak of violent behavior when I stood my ground. She was a rather unsophisticated person and simply assumed that anything that I learned would somehow direct me towards Kardecism, and that just would never happen.
SAW Gnosticism isn't a healthy doctrine, but my exposure to it did teach me - albeit accidentally - that diversity of belief and commitment are real and worthy things, even if it took me years to properly unravel the implications and will take all of my remaining lifetime to attempt to fix the received damage.
GardenLady
Active Member
As many others have noted, there is a large measure of perception in classifying a religious group as a cult.
A roommate I had in college joined a church over winter break one year. I would consider it a cult; others would not. It was a Oneness Pentecostal church that denied the Trinity, with lots of prepared prooftext while dismissing others. They claimed those who were trinitarians would not be saved. Those who did not speak in tongues would not be saved--lots of prooftexts for that too. They were extremely legalistic in matters of personal dress and appearance, emphasized very heavily for women, who were not to cut their hair, nor wear pants, nor wear shirts or dresses that showed their arms, nor wear dresses or skirts above the bottom of the knee, nor wear make up, nor wear jewelry other than a plain watch and plain wedding band. No photographs of of people on the walls of their homes. No music but religious music, no dancing, no alcohol. Members were required to attend church at least Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday (IIRC) evening. Big emphasis on recruiting others. Frequently talked about the RCC being the anti-Christ and the Rapture coming imminently "unless the Lord tarries." Used KJV type language in every day conversation about religious matters. What struck me is that those I met among her church did not only express the same concepts, they repeated them over and over and used virtually the same words.
Someone raised in a Pentecostal or Holiness church might not find this cult-like. I did.
Edited to add: I saw several of the hallmarks of a cult listed previously but my exposure wasn't extensive enough to see them all.
A roommate I had in college joined a church over winter break one year. I would consider it a cult; others would not. It was a Oneness Pentecostal church that denied the Trinity, with lots of prepared prooftext while dismissing others. They claimed those who were trinitarians would not be saved. Those who did not speak in tongues would not be saved--lots of prooftexts for that too. They were extremely legalistic in matters of personal dress and appearance, emphasized very heavily for women, who were not to cut their hair, nor wear pants, nor wear shirts or dresses that showed their arms, nor wear dresses or skirts above the bottom of the knee, nor wear make up, nor wear jewelry other than a plain watch and plain wedding band. No photographs of of people on the walls of their homes. No music but religious music, no dancing, no alcohol. Members were required to attend church at least Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday (IIRC) evening. Big emphasis on recruiting others. Frequently talked about the RCC being the anti-Christ and the Rapture coming imminently "unless the Lord tarries." Used KJV type language in every day conversation about religious matters. What struck me is that those I met among her church did not only express the same concepts, they repeated them over and over and used virtually the same words.
Someone raised in a Pentecostal or Holiness church might not find this cult-like. I did.
Edited to add: I saw several of the hallmarks of a cult listed previously but my exposure wasn't extensive enough to see them all.
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Dude, they tried to brainwash me into believing an elderly Korean woman is God
I'm sorry but that is a cult
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
Oh, I see, Catholicism and the Church of Christ of the Latter-Day Saints aren't truly Christian.
Alien826
No religious beliefs
That's interesting, though I'm not sure how many of the boxes have to be checked to qualify as a cult. I saw something in there that could identify pretty much any religion as a cult, if it were to be taken in isolation.
In general though I agree it's about control. I also agree with previous posters that note that once a religion gets to a certain size it tends to get a pass, cult-like though it may be.
I must say cults fall into the "I know one when I see one" category for me.
I did not devise that system!
RestlessSoul
Well-Known Member
Whenever I’m at work, I’m surrounded by cu…
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