Interesting Article: The Marks of a Cult

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I found this article to be VERY interesting. If you choose to read this please share your thoughts...

The Marks of a Cult
One must be careful to distinguish between the sociological position of what constitutes a cult (i.e., which states that whatever is normative to a given culture is not cultic) and the theological position (i.e., which states that only those groups that adhere to the Bible as the basis for all theology and practice are considered normative, and thereby, not cultic).

From the theological viewpoint, any group or religious system, whether it calls itself "Christian" or not, that offers other criteria as equal to or superior to the Bible, including but not limited to erroneous and/or exclusive interpretations of Scripture, should be considered a cult. From the theological position, then, a cult can be best defined as:

A system of religious beliefs and rituals with a body of adherents deeply devoted to an extrabiblical person, idea, or thing; it cultivates worship in a religion that, with reference to its basis for man's salvation, is considered to be unorthodox, spurious, or false, thereby insulating its members against true salvation in Christ. And inasmuch as the central doctrine of Biblical Christianity is the sacrificial death of Christ for man's sin (Eph. 2:8,9), all cultic deviations tend to downplay the finished work of Christ and emphasize the importance of earning moral acceptance before God through one's own religious works.

From the theological viewpoint, all the groups/religious systems included in the Cult section of the Notebook are obviously cults. They are all centered in religious beliefs or practices calling for devotion to a religious view centered in false doctrine -- it is nothing less than organized heresy.

To be classified as a cult, not all of the following characteristics have to be present, but in most cases, in one form or another, all of them will be:

1. Extrabiblical Authority: All cults deny what God says in His Word as true. Cults have shifted their theological point of authority away from God's full and final written Word, the Bible, to their own unique, self-promoting opinions about the Bible; they generally will use parts of the Bible but will have their own unique scripture which is considered to be superior to the Bible. While some cult groups give token respect for the Bible and go through the motions of accepting the authority of Scripture, in reality, they honor the group's or leader's novel interpretation of Scripture as normative.

Cults don't value Scripture as final authority. They add their own body of scripture, or a single man's interpretation either as an individual church or organization.

2. Works Salvation/Legalism: Cults teach that eternal life depends upon something other than the Atonement; i.e., faith in the atoning, finished work of Christ on the cross is deemed not to be sufficient (usually replaced with human works and human responsibility). Rather than relying on the grace of God alone for salvation, the salvation message of the cults always boils down to required obedience to, or abstention from, certain obligations and practices (some even including obedience to the Old Testament law).

Cults deny the reality of the atonement, justification by faith, regeneration, adoption, sanctification, as a work of God. Instead salvation is probationary, depending upon how one "obeys, the rules", which are man made standards or standards based on the Law of Moses.

3. No Assurance of Salvation: The issue of a cult member's salvation is never settled, but is constantly affected by the changing circumstances of life; in this way, cult leaders are able to produce continued obligation and spiritual bondage, rather than spiritual freedom.

Salvation is probationary, the believer living in constant fear and uncertainty regarding their position in Christ.

4. Guru-Type Leader/Modern Prophet: The cult leader is looked to as the infallible interpreter of Scripture, specially appointed by God to be a special saint, guru, or contemporary messiah, and thereby, has divine authority that must not be violated. Cultists almost always quote their leader rather than the Bible. The cult's adherents often expound the virtues of the founders and seek to cover the founder's sins and wickedness.

Faith is focused on pleasing the pastor or prophet, not Christ. The prophet's abuses are excused and ignored.

5. Vacillating, Ambiguous Doctrines/Spiritual Deception: In order to gain favor with the public, and thereby aid in the recruitment of new members, cult "doctrine" tends to be characterized by many false or deceptive claims concerning the cult's true spiritual beliefs (e.g., Mormons are not quick to reveal their belief that God was a man, who has now become the God of planet Earth).

Cults hide their errant beliefs from outsiders and reveal them progressively to new converts as they are indoctrinated.

6. Exclusivity from/Denunciation of Other Groups: Each cult group, regardless of what other doctrines are taught, will all have this one common idea -- "The Only True Church Syndrome." The members of each specific organization have been taught that their church, organization, or community, is the only true group and that all other groups are false. The group's leaders will explain that it is impossible to serve God without being a member of the specific group. Moreover, when the cult leader announces himself as the true "Messiah," all others are declared to be dishonest, deceitful, and deluded, and must be put down; alternative views are denounced as being satanic and corrupt. Persecution is welcomed, and even glorified in, as "evidence" that they are being persecuted for righteousness sake. Thus, if a member decides to leave the group, they have been told that they are not simply leaving an organization, but rather they are leaving God and His only true organization. Hence, for a member of a cult who has been in a group for any length of time, the action of leaving the group is much more difficult than what most Christians understand. To leave the group is, in the minds of the cult member, tantamount to leaving God.

A cult teaches that their church or their organization IS the kingdom of God.

7. Claims of Special Discoveries/Additional Revelation: Acceptance of new, contemporary, continual revelations that either deny the Bible or are allowed to explain it. The fundamental characteristic of Christianity is that it is historical, not dependent upon private knowledge and secret, unconfirmable relationships, while the almost universal basis of cult religion is the claimed exclusive revelation that one person has supposedly received. Rather than conforming to Biblical rules of evidence (2 Cor. 13:1), cult leader revelations almost always emanate from hallucinations, visions, dreams, private discoveries, etc. These new revelations often become codified as official written "scripture" of the cults (e.g., The Book of Mormon), and are considered as valid as that of the apostles (and even more relevant because they are given in these end times).

Cults believe their visions and revelations trump the Apostolic witness if the Bible

8. Defective Christology: Cults always have a false view of the nature of the Person of Jesus Christ; a cult will usually deny the true deity of Christ, His true humanity, His true origin, or the true union of the two natures in one Person.

Cults often deny the divinity of Christ or His full humanity.

9. Defective "Nature of Man": Most cults do not see man as an immortal being; instead they see him either as an animal without a soul or as a being which is being perfected to the point of becoming a god. They usually do not see man as a spirit clothed in a body of flesh awaiting the redemption of body and soul.

Self explanatory.

10. Out-Of-Context Scripture Use as Proof-Texts/Segmented Biblical Attention: Cults tend to focus on one verse or passage of the Bible to the exclusion of others, and without regard for the context in which Scripture is given (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:29 used by Mormons to justify baptism for the dead). In addition, cults have made an art form out of using Christian terminology, all the while pouring out their own meanings into the words.

Ignore the whole of Scripture.

11. Erroneous Doctrines Concerning Life After Death and Retribution: Covering the gamut from soul sleep to annihilationism to purgatory to universalism to the progression to godhood, cults invariably deny the existence of a final judgment of, and a final "resting" place for, the unrighteous.

Deny eternal punishment. Seek to grasp individual godhood.

12. Entangling Organization Structure: The less truth a movement represents, the more highly it seems to have to organize itself; the absence of truth seems to make necessary the application of the bonds of fear. Cults often demand total commitment by their converts to an organizational involvement that entangles them in a complicated set of human restrictions, giving the impression of passionate and often irrational devotion to a cause.

Cultic organization of men.

13. Financial Exploitation: The cultic practitioner strongly implies that money contributed to the cause will earn the contributor numerous gifts, powers, and abilities, and in many cases, outright salvation.

Greed. Justifies exploitation with the Bible.

14. Pseudomystical/Spiritistic/Occultic Influence: Occult influence is many times found in either the origin of the group and/or in its current practices.

As found @ http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/marksof.htm

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I found this article to be VERY interesting. If you choose to read this please share your thoughts...

The Marks of a Cult
One must be careful to distinguish between the sociological position of what constitutes a cult (i.e., which states that whatever is normative to a given culture is not cultic) and the theological position (i.e., which states that only those groups that adhere to the Bible as the basis for all theology and practice are considered normative, and thereby, not cultic).

From the theological viewpoint, any group or religious system, whether it calls itself "Christian" or not, that offers other criteria as equal to or superior to the Bible, including but not limited to erroneous and/or exclusive interpretations of Scripture, should be considered a cult. From the theological position, then, a cult can be best defined as:

A system of religious beliefs and rituals with a body of adherents deeply devoted to an extrabiblical person, idea, or thing; it cultivates worship in a religion that, with reference to its basis for man's salvation, is considered to be unorthodox, spurious, or false, thereby insulating its members against true salvation in Christ. And inasmuch as the central doctrine of Biblical Christianity is the sacrificial death of Christ for man's sin (Eph. 2:8,9), all cultic deviations tend to downplay the finished work of Christ and emphasize the importance of earning moral acceptance before God through one's own religious works.

From the theological viewpoint, all the groups/religious systems included in the Cult section of the Notebook are obviously cults. They are all centered in religious beliefs or practices calling for devotion to a religious view centered in false doctrine -- it is nothing less than organized heresy.

To be classified as a cult, not all of the following characteristics have to be present, but in most cases, in one form or another, all of them will be:

1. Extrabiblical Authority: All cults deny what God says in His Word as true. Cults have shifted their theological point of authority away from God's full and final written Word, the Bible, to their own unique, self-promoting opinions about the Bible; they generally will use parts of the Bible but will have their own unique scripture which is considered to be superior to the Bible. While some cult groups give token respect for the Bible and go through the motions of accepting the authority of Scripture, in reality, they honor the group's or leader's novel interpretation of Scripture as normative.

Cults don't value Scripture as final authority. They add their own body of scripture, or a single man's interpretation either as an individual church or organization.

2. Works Salvation/Legalism: Cults teach that eternal life depends upon something other than the Atonement; i.e., faith in the atoning, finished work of Christ on the cross is deemed not to be sufficient (usually replaced with human works and human responsibility). Rather than relying on the grace of God alone for salvation, the salvation message of the cults always boils down to required obedience to, or abstention from, certain obligations and practices (some even including obedience to the Old Testament law).

Cults deny the reality of the atonement, justification by faith, regeneration, adoption, sanctification, as a work of God. Instead salvation is probationary, depending upon how one "obeys, the rules", which are man made standards or standards based on the Law of Moses.

3. No Assurance of Salvation: The issue of a cult member's salvation is never settled, but is constantly affected by the changing circumstances of life; in this way, cult leaders are able to produce continued obligation and spiritual bondage, rather than spiritual freedom.

Salvation is probationary, the believer living in constant fear and uncertainty regarding their position in Christ.

4. Guru-Type Leader/Modern Prophet: The cult leader is looked to as the infallible interpreter of Scripture, specially appointed by God to be a special saint, guru, or contemporary messiah, and thereby, has divine authority that must not be violated. Cultists almost always quote their leader rather than the Bible. The cult's adherents often expound the virtues of the founders and seek to cover the founder's sins and wickedness.

Faith is focused on pleasing the pastor or prophet, not Christ. The prophet's abuses are excused and ignored.

5. Vacillating, Ambiguous Doctrines/Spiritual Deception: In order to gain favor with the public, and thereby aid in the recruitment of new members, cult "doctrine" tends to be characterized by many false or deceptive claims concerning the cult's true spiritual beliefs (e.g., Mormons are not quick to reveal their belief that God was a man, who has now become the God of planet Earth).

Cults hide their errant beliefs from outsiders and reveal them progressively to new converts as they are indoctrinated.

6. Exclusivity from/Denunciation of Other Groups: Each cult group, regardless of what other doctrines are taught, will all have this one common idea -- "The Only True Church Syndrome." The members of each specific organization have been taught that their church, organization, or community, is the only true group and that all other groups are false. The group's leaders will explain that it is impossible to serve God without being a member of the specific group. Moreover, when the cult leader announces himself as the true "Messiah," all others are declared to be dishonest, deceitful, and deluded, and must be put down; alternative views are denounced as being satanic and corrupt. Persecution is welcomed, and even glorified in, as "evidence" that they are being persecuted for righteousness sake. Thus, if a member decides to leave the group, they have been told that they are not simply leaving an organization, but rather they are leaving God and His only true organization. Hence, for a member of a cult who has been in a group for any length of time, the action of leaving the group is much more difficult than what most Christians understand. To leave the group is, in the minds of the cult member, tantamount to leaving God.

A cult teaches that their church or their organization IS the kingdom of God.

7. Claims of Special Discoveries/Additional Revelation: Acceptance of new, contemporary, continual revelations that either deny the Bible or are allowed to explain it. The fundamental characteristic of Christianity is that it is historical, not dependent upon private knowledge and secret, unconfirmable relationships, while the almost universal basis of cult religion is the claimed exclusive revelation that one person has supposedly received. Rather than conforming to Biblical rules of evidence (2 Cor. 13:1), cult leader revelations almost always emanate from hallucinations, visions, dreams, private discoveries, etc. These new revelations often become codified as official written "scripture" of the cults (e.g., The Book of Mormon), and are considered as valid as that of the apostles (and even more relevant because they are given in these end times).

Cults believe their visions and revelations trump the Apostolic witness if the Bible

8. Defective Christology: Cults always have a false view of the nature of the Person of Jesus Christ; a cult will usually deny the true deity of Christ, His true humanity, His true origin, or the true union of the two natures in one Person.

Cults often deny the divinity of Christ or His full humanity.

9. Defective "Nature of Man": Most cults do not see man as an immortal being; instead they see him either as an animal without a soul or as a being which is being perfected to the point of becoming a god. They usually do not see man as a spirit clothed in a body of flesh awaiting the redemption of body and soul.

Self explanatory.

10. Out-Of-Context Scripture Use as Proof-Texts/Segmented Biblical Attention: Cults tend to focus on one verse or passage of the Bible to the exclusion of others, and without regard for the context in which Scripture is given (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:29 used by Mormons to justify baptism for the dead). In addition, cults have made an art form out of using Christian terminology, all the while pouring out their own meanings into the words.

Ignore the whole of Scripture.

11. Erroneous Doctrines Concerning Life After Death and Retribution: Covering the gamut from soul sleep to annihilationism to purgatory to universalism to the progression to godhood, cults invariably deny the existence of a final judgment of, and a final "resting" place for, the unrighteous.

Deny eternal punishment. Seek to grasp individual godhood.

12. Entangling Organization Structure: The less truth a movement represents, the more highly it seems to have to organize itself; the absence of truth seems to make necessary the application of the bonds of fear. Cults often demand total commitment by their converts to an organizational involvement that entangles them in a complicated set of human restrictions, giving the impression of passionate and often irrational devotion to a cause.

Cultic organization of men.

13. Financial Exploitation: The cultic practitioner strongly implies that money contributed to the cause will earn the contributor numerous gifts, powers, and abilities, and in many cases, outright salvation.

Greed. Justifies exploitation with the Bible.

14. Pseudomystical/Spiritistic/Occultic Influence: Occult influence is many times found in either the origin of the group and/or in its current practices.

As found @ http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Cults/marksof.htm

Holy magic hair.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Cults don't value Scripture as final authority. They add their own body of scripture, or a single man's interpretation either as an individual church or organization.



Cults deny the reality of the atonement, justification by faith, regeneration, adoption, sanctification, as a work of God. Instead salvation is probationary, depending upon how one "obeys, the rules", which are man made standards or standards based on the Law of Moses.



Salvation is probationary, the believer living in constant fear and uncertainty regarding their position in Christ.



Faith is focused on pleasing the pastor or prophet, not Christ. The prophet's abuses are excused and ignored.



Cults hide their errant beliefs from outsiders and reveal them progressively to new converts as they are indoctrinated.



A cult teaches that their church or their organization IS the kingdom of God.



Cults believe their visions and revelations trump the Apostolic witness if the Bible



Cults often deny the divinity of Christ or His full humanity.



Self explanatory.



Ignore the whole of Scripture.



Deny eternal punishment. Seek to grasp individual godhood.



Cultic organization of men.



Greed. Justifies exploitation with the Bible.

All subjective. Anyone can make their own list and include beliefs that are not their own

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

All subjective. Anyone can make their own list and include beliefs that are not their own

You know that it appears that you agree with these cultic methods don't you? If you don't, please share with us the things you do believe constitutes a cult.

Please note...any of these indicators of a "cult" can be found in any denomination. Even those deemed "orthodox" by mainstream Christians.

Spiritual abuse isn't "subjective" Bro. Prax. For many it's a painful reality.

The reader should note that no specific Christology was mentioned. The full deity and humanity of Christ was.

[Titus2woman]

I think that with all the cultic religions out there recruiting (Mormons, JWs, etc.) that it is good to have a benchmark of what constitutes a cult and this one is as good as any.

While I am not in 100% agreement, personally not believing in an immortal soul or eternal punishment, I still see the value of the list.

Many are being drawn into faiths that put extra biblical teaching above the word of God or make strange interpretations of scripture. They are not healthy and exercise complete control over those who get involved. If this list helps even one person and keeps them from being snared, it has done it's job IMO.

[bbyrd009]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

This perfectly describes the Protestant Church. Thousands of "Apologetics" sites litter the internet bearing witness of this. Unless you believe in Trinitarianism they declare you deceived.

Unless you believe in their false "Christ did it all once saved always saved theology" you are counted as a legalist works preaching cultist.

We are supposed to bring our doctrine to Protestants and allow them to judge by their standards whether we are a cult? WHAT?

What about rightly dividing the word of truth?

The most dangerous cult for seekers of Christ is the mainstream Protestant Churches.

Well, I totally agree--but you seem to be now agreeing with this list?
Plus a reminder that semantics often intrude, and we easily read things "our way" sometimes rather than what is meant.

So, I believe Christ is my all-in-all, but also your posts above (and the ones around it, nice.)

[bbyrd009]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

because it's contrived and subjective? That's all (I) know? Do people really talk like this! No?

Ah, well, no argument there, I guess; it is somewhat subjective. Note Michael pointing out inaccuracies, while apparently mostly agreeing with the list, and just changing the "targets?" (To the ones I had assumed, lol : )

Do people really talk like in this list, you mean? I miss your point there. Could you guys like name a step in the list you have an objection to, and then rephrase the step to your liking? Sans the page and a half of explanation?
Which I don't mean to be mean, but your point gets lost, ty.

[bbyrd009]

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

I think that with all the cultic religions out there recruiting (Mormons, JWs, etc.) that it is good to have a benchmark of what constitutes a cult and this one is as good as any.

While I am not in 100% agreement, personally not believing in an immortal soul or eternal punishment, I still see the value of the list.

Many are being drawn into faiths that put extra biblical teaching above the word of God or make strange interpretations of scripture. They are not healthy and exercise complete control over those who get involved. If this list helps even one person and keeps them from being snared, it has done it's job IMO.

Ya, what she said. I wouldn't deny that it might be made more objective, but feel most of these arguments are semantics? Or please, clarify a step, BAM.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by bbyrd009

Ya, what she said. I wouldn't deny that it might be made more objective, but feel most of these arguments are semantics? Or please, clarify a step, BAM.

Hey byrd... been meaning to ask you what is BAM?

In my work it is Breast Augmentation Mammoplasty... certainly not what you are meaning but I keep seeing it. Definition please?

[bbyrd009]

"By All Means," sorry!