Determining A Cult

[Damien the Leper]

I watched the History Channel recently and their documentary Cults: Dangerous Devotion came on. I won't bother with the characteristics and stories of each cult sect. What did get my attention was the determining factors of a cult.

First, I would like to point out NHisMage's (a CARMite) defining factors:

1) New Revelation,

2) Denial of the Sole Authority of the Bible,

3) A Distorted View of God and Jesus, and

4) Denial of Salvation by Grace

These don't look anything like Dr. Robert Jay Lifton's, Prof. of Psychiatry, Harvard University, defining factors:

1) The guru becomes worshipped rather than the broader religious principles.

2) Thought-Reform-Like characteristics prevail

- systematic indoctrination

- public confession

- criticism/Self-Criticism

3) Heavy exploitation from above

- financial

- sexual

Now, I don't claim to know NHisMage's scholastic or professional credentials concerning the subject matter but based on the comparison of the two lists...the former is simply an attack based on opinion and regurgitated teachings.

Furthermore, I will not be so naive to say that the latter list has in no way been expressed in the history of the LDS church but the same can be said for the general Christian church as a whole.

Edited October 27, 2011 by Valentinus

[Freedom]

According to these standards, the protestant movement is a cult

1) New Revelation - they accept the creeds as determining how to interpret the bible. They also accept books of scripture conceived and composed after the tearing of the veil which supposedly signified the ending of revelation and prophets.

2) Denial of the Sole Authority of the Bible - again, they defer to the creeds rather than the bible. And of course, some faith have different books.

3) A Distorted View of God and Jesus - I think that the non-biblical believe in the trinity is a something to consider. A believe, I might add, comes from the creeds.

4) Denial of Salvation by Grace - Many Christians believe that you must first believe and accept Jesus before he can safe you which suggests that God is limited in his ability to save and His grace is not infinite. Thus, any person born into a society where Christianity is not available is beyond God's grasps. Lets hope no children die in infancy in Uzbekistan.

[Sky]

A cult is any religion that evangelicals and mainstream Protestants dislike.