I found this article to be VERY interesting. If you choose to read this please share your thoughts...
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.
This is HUGE! The part I highlighted in red is what I'm currently dealing with, having left after 26 years.
Once men really begin to believe they are hearing straight from God, and can be corrected by no one else, that is when you run.... run... run... as fast as you can .....
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
This is HUGE! The part I highlighted in red is what I'm currently dealing with, having left after 26 years.
Yes, I feel for you. It is like tearing flesh off your very bones.. I still have family in this kind of situation, and it is a helpless feeling to know there is really nothing you can do but pray... God will have to lead them out, just as he led us....
Once men really begin to believe they are hearing straight from God, and can be corrected by no one else, that is when you run.... run... run... as fast as you can .....
I dislike this because I believe we are to be led by the Spirit, and not listen to men. But surely we are having a semantics difference here?
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:
This seems to be contradictory. A group that has an erroneous interpretation of scriptures is still a group that takes it's theolog FROM scriptures. And that said group probably also looks at other groups as having an erroneous interpretation of scriptures.
This is a subjective definition used by a group to label anyone that disagrees with their view as a cult. The word Cult actually originally referred to any religious sect. I have to wonder why these Christians, usually Trinitarians, adopted the word CULT instead of the more accurate and already in use HERESY. Why? My opinion is CULT has more of a negative connotation in the minds of simple people who instantly conjure images of Jonestown, Waco Texas and other mind control groups.
If we go by the definition in the first sentence the a CULT are groups like the JWs who have their other materials that are elevated to the level of Scriptures, Mormons with their other inspired works and Roman Catholicism and their traditions.
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A system of religious beliefs and rituals with a body of adherents deeply devoted to an extrabiblical person, idea, or thing;
Again this is subjective. Trinitarians look at other theologies and since they don't agree with their own theology, the say it is an extra biblical idea.
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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.
Again this is subjective
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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.
Again this is subjective. How? Said group can point to any other group that does not believe like THEY do and say they reject the finished work of Christ and instead emphasize earning moral acceptance. Yet I don't know of any group that rejects the finished work of Christ on the Cross at all. They might interpret how that Finished work is applied or parleyed into salvation but they all look at the Cross as the basis for atonement.
What I find odd though is going by this definition the Catholic churches should all be labeled a cult, but such groups/programs as Christian Research Institute refuse to do that
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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.
Again this is subjective based on ones own doctrine compared to other groups
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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:
To be classified as a cult according to WHO?
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1. Extra biblical 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.
Wow..so the same argument can be made of Evangelicals who go by Luther, Calvin and other leaders interpretation of Scriptures as normative...see how subjective this is? I can claim those men are their leaders as the progenitors of their doctrine
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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).
What about those that base their dependence ON the finished work but feel the finished work is applied when we obey? This may be a wrong view but the fact is those groups do not deny the finished work. Once again this is still subjective. They subjectively decided only THEIR way is the right soteriological view and not any others and so all others are a cult
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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.
Subjective for both reasons above. Only the author of this definition is correct in their own eyes and so everyone else is a cult
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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.
While I agree this is wrong this is still subjective in the context of defining a cult
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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).
This is subjective as before and consider that when Evangelicals try to make converts they don't sit a prospect down and introduce them to every doctrine that group believes. They introduce them first to their core belief, how to be saved etc etc
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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.
The author of this piece just shot himself in the foot. For he/she is in the position of saying "What we believe is the Truth and what YOU believe is not, therefore YOU are a cult and we are not. We are the church and you are not"...This is again subjective
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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).
Special discoveries like Luther discovering what was hidden all those years such as salvation grace through faith? Etc etc...this again proves my point about subjectivity..Im gonna end here as time is out
__________________ Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:
There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
Every sinner must repent of their sins.
That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
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
I bet any person being a member of a baptist church for a generation and leaves for a Oneness church will be treated by those baptists the same way
__________________ Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:
There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
Every sinner must repent of their sins.
That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
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