Wait, It's A Cult?

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

Did the article refer to any verses from the New Testament to support this definition? I see many NT verses concerning false prophets and how to recognize them, but the only reference I see to a "cult" is the early church. Wasn't the early church referred to as a cult?

Originally Posted by OBW

And there Z goes again. If the word is not used in the scripture it can't be used.

We have had this conversation for years.

ZNP has good reasons to adhere to the scriptures.

My reason for rejecting the C-label for the LC's is simple: Contemporary American semantics indicate that people's lives are at risk in cults. Over 90% of Americans do NOT consider Catholics, Mormons, or JW's to be cults. Branch Davidians, People's Temple, and Hale-Bops yes, but not Christian groups which have existed for decades without any signs of imminent danger.

Like ZNP and the Bible, we Christians should identify False Teachers and Prophets along with their false teachings and prophecies, rather than tagging whole collections of people. We also should expose evil deeds, especially by the leadership, which damage their mostly unsuspecting members, rather than group generalizations which are so easily disproved.

I think that more Americans see Islam as a religious cult than with any of these "mainstream" pseudo-Christian groups like the Mormons. One of them ran for president if you remember. If we "loosen" the cult definition to include all groups like the LC's, then we must include the RCC and every other abusive group.

The Christianity Today article does not describe "cults" per se, but congregations with abusive leaders that lord it over the church of God.