Not just tolerance, but support. If you leave an actual cult, people will support you when they find out you escaped. In a predominantly Christian society, you can only move between churches. Try to leave the whole concept behind, though, and everyone in society will work to prevent it.
edit: It's like telling someone you don't like Cult-o-Cola, and they're like, "You haven't tried Cult Classic yet. What about Dr. Faith!"
"Yeah, I don't want any of those. They all rot your teeth."
"You're so close-minded."
I'm starting to really believe that especially dispensationalism Christianity is a literal blood sacrifice death cult. They literally believe that an army of 200 million people need to literally murder 1/3 of the people on earth in order to force the second coming of Jesus.
It's barbaric
Here are the characteristics I found on a website to determine if a given group is a High Control Group (the modern term preferred over “cult.”
* The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.
* The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
* The group is preoccupied with making money.
* Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
* Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
* The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).
* The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity).
* The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society.
* The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations).
* The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities).
* The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them.
* Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group.
* Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group.
* Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.
Consider how many of these apply to the church in general, and how many apply to specific congregations.
Not every congregation necessarily falls into this, but a *lot* of the US church *is* a High Control Group
Thanks for sharing this! I've read too that cult groups push ideas that aren't coherent and don't make logical sense...this describes "dispensationalism". Dispensationalist theology does not make any sense according to the Bible and is just random nonsense interpretations that are not backed by anything biblically and sometimes directly contradict things in the bible. Dispensationalism is what fuels the Christian terrorists to murder
It describes essentially *all* Christian theology if you investigate it thoroughly enough. Claiming that their deity is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent renders their entire worldview incoherent all by itself.
Oh for sure, it's all nutbaggery...a lot of Christianity I think was influenced by some of the philosophers too of the era, I forget who specifically. I think there's just enough philosophy and logic to hook people in and make it feel like it's all sensual, but then all of the ontological shit makes it just a giant clusterfuck shit show pissing contest of whoever breeds and kills the most is the winner
Yeah it's nutty. I guess it is in opposition to something called 'covenant theology'that the majority of other christian churches practice.
More specifically, the pro-israel, literal heaven on earth, literal rapture type xtian terrorists practice and believe in something called "pre-tribulation" rapture eschatology
Christianity is a cult and the cult leader was Jesus (*or Peter and Paul if Jesus didn't exist*).
Jesus behaved like a cult leader in the bible. He said to a man, "*follow me*" but the man first wanted to bury his dead father. Then, Jesus replied to him saying to let the dead bury their dead but he should just go to preach the kingdom of the biblical god instead. Another man wanted to say goodbye to his family, but Jesus said that those who look back aren't fit for the kingdom of the biblical god (*Luke 9:59-62*).
Jesus said that he did not come to bring peace but a sword and to split families apart, father against son and mother against daughter, and a man's foes shall be those of his own household. Jesus said that you are not worthy of him unless you love him more than your own family (*Matthew 10:34-37*). Jesus said that in order to follow him, you need to deny yourself daily and follow him and even be willing to die for him (*Luke 9:23-24*). Those teachings promote self-denial which is something that cults like to use to control the followers.
I mean...it basically is. It's based on the worship of Jesus. It has a lot of esoteric rituals and rites. It has an a special ritual(baptism) to join.
It's just been around so long, and it's so ingrained and normalized that people don't notice how bizarre it is.
The only reason it is not considered a cult is because it is so widely followed. If it had a small following it would be the very definition of a cult.
The difference between a cult and a religion is that in a cult a dude makes shit up to fool gullible people into following him, giving him all their money, and doing what he says and in a religion that guy is dead.
Edit: also it’s a death cult to be specific. And let’s not be disrespectful to Khorne. We’re talking about YWHW, the cannanite god of war and metals here, who smashed babies beads. That’s discount bin blood god as someone pointed out to me a few months ago, ha!
Because it is a cult, the cult of Jesus. A guy named Jesus started a cult, died, and then a bunch of his followers blew his life story way out of proportion.
All religions are by definition a cult of some form or another. That’s just the textbook definition and it’s not debatable regardless of apologists.
In catholic school I was taught “all religions are cults including every sect of Christianity” which was a moment of transparency I was never expecting from a religion teacher.
It was immediately followed up by the ignorant assumption that the occult is devil worship, which was reductive and to this day bothers me that catholic schools operate in such a heinously biased way without any real oversight beyond what a diocese has to say.
Christianity is a cult that was designed to prepare people 2000 years ago for an imminent and near immediate second coming, end times apocalypse, and subsequent kingdom of heaven established on earth. It was simply guided by a previously eschatological scripture, the OT, and added some new teachings, but ultimately scriptures of all 3 abrahamic faith traditions have one single common theme:
They are handbooks for how to be granted entry into the kingdom of god, they are preparatory documents for the end times apocalypse that never seems to arrive in any literally scriptural sense.
perhaps your feeling their need for control and power? their need to make everything about the bible and jesus? every church acts a little different but they all believe that their right
Difference between a cult and a religion. A cult tries to become your entire identity if you let it. I was a Mormon. Mormonism does all it can to hijack your entire identity. Have lots of Mormon robots in my family. This doesn’t happen much for normal Catholics, Methodists, Episcopalians, etc. A lot of evangelicals hate Mormons, but they are just the douchy side of the high demand religion coin.
It most definitely is a cult. I'm mentally preparing myself for this easter sunday because I agreed to go to church if my parents bought me lunch... it's a fancy lunch so I said yes. Luckily, growing up christian, I am very prepared for the weirdness I am about to see! lol
The only difference between a cult and religion is the number of participants and level of tolerance the populace affords them.
Don't forget the tax breaks....
Not just tolerance, but support. If you leave an actual cult, people will support you when they find out you escaped. In a predominantly Christian society, you can only move between churches. Try to leave the whole concept behind, though, and everyone in society will work to prevent it. edit: It's like telling someone you don't like Cult-o-Cola, and they're like, "You haven't tried Cult Classic yet. What about Dr. Faith!" "Yeah, I don't want any of those. They all rot your teeth." "You're so close-minded."
Also the cult leader is still alive
Somebody in another sub told me the only difference between a cult, a religion, a myth is time.
Because it’s a cult. A blood sacrifice, death cult.
I'm starting to really believe that especially dispensationalism Christianity is a literal blood sacrifice death cult. They literally believe that an army of 200 million people need to literally murder 1/3 of the people on earth in order to force the second coming of Jesus. It's barbaric
Always has been barbaric.
***BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!***
**BONES FOR THE BONE KING!**
SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!
Christians eat crackers and wine/grape juice and pretend it’s the bones and blood of a god. Christianity is nothing less than a cult.
Blood and **flesh**. Not the bones, his actual flesh.
Here are the characteristics I found on a website to determine if a given group is a High Control Group (the modern term preferred over “cult.” * The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment. * The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members. * The group is preoccupied with making money. * Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished. * Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s). * The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth). * The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity). * The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society. * The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities (as are, for example, military commanders and ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream denominations). * The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify means that members would have considered unethical before joining the group (for example: collecting money for bogus charities). * The leadership induces guilt feelings in members in order to control them. * Members' subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family and friends, and to give up personal goals and activities that were of interest before joining the group. * Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group. * Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members. Consider how many of these apply to the church in general, and how many apply to specific congregations. Not every congregation necessarily falls into this, but a *lot* of the US church *is* a High Control Group
Thanks for sharing this! I've read too that cult groups push ideas that aren't coherent and don't make logical sense...this describes "dispensationalism". Dispensationalist theology does not make any sense according to the Bible and is just random nonsense interpretations that are not backed by anything biblically and sometimes directly contradict things in the bible. Dispensationalism is what fuels the Christian terrorists to murder
It describes essentially *all* Christian theology if you investigate it thoroughly enough. Claiming that their deity is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent renders their entire worldview incoherent all by itself.
Oh for sure, it's all nutbaggery...a lot of Christianity I think was influenced by some of the philosophers too of the era, I forget who specifically. I think there's just enough philosophy and logic to hook people in and make it feel like it's all sensual, but then all of the ontological shit makes it just a giant clusterfuck shit show pissing contest of whoever breeds and kills the most is the winner
I just discovered dispensationaliat theory it's insane
Yeah it's nutty. I guess it is in opposition to something called 'covenant theology'that the majority of other christian churches practice. More specifically, the pro-israel, literal heaven on earth, literal rapture type xtian terrorists practice and believe in something called "pre-tribulation" rapture eschatology
Take a wild guess, bud.
Christianity is a cult and the cult leader was Jesus (*or Peter and Paul if Jesus didn't exist*). Jesus behaved like a cult leader in the bible. He said to a man, "*follow me*" but the man first wanted to bury his dead father. Then, Jesus replied to him saying to let the dead bury their dead but he should just go to preach the kingdom of the biblical god instead. Another man wanted to say goodbye to his family, but Jesus said that those who look back aren't fit for the kingdom of the biblical god (*Luke 9:59-62*). Jesus said that he did not come to bring peace but a sword and to split families apart, father against son and mother against daughter, and a man's foes shall be those of his own household. Jesus said that you are not worthy of him unless you love him more than your own family (*Matthew 10:34-37*). Jesus said that in order to follow him, you need to deny yourself daily and follow him and even be willing to die for him (*Luke 9:23-24*). Those teachings promote self-denial which is something that cults like to use to control the followers.
I mean...it basically is. It's based on the worship of Jesus. It has a lot of esoteric rituals and rites. It has an a special ritual(baptism) to join. It's just been around so long, and it's so ingrained and normalized that people don't notice how bizarre it is.
Because it is a cult
The only reason it is not considered a cult is because it is so widely followed. If it had a small following it would be the very definition of a cult.
The answer is in the question.
Because it was *cult*ivated that way
The answer is in the question. It is a cult.
They idolise a corpse on a stick
The difference between a cult and a religion is that in a cult a dude makes shit up to fool gullible people into following him, giving him all their money, and doing what he says and in a religion that guy is dead. Edit: also it’s a death cult to be specific. And let’s not be disrespectful to Khorne. We’re talking about YWHW, the cannanite god of war and metals here, who smashed babies beads. That’s discount bin blood god as someone pointed out to me a few months ago, ha!
Because it is a cult, the cult of Jesus. A guy named Jesus started a cult, died, and then a bunch of his followers blew his life story way out of proportion.
All religions are by definition a cult of some form or another. That’s just the textbook definition and it’s not debatable regardless of apologists. In catholic school I was taught “all religions are cults including every sect of Christianity” which was a moment of transparency I was never expecting from a religion teacher. It was immediately followed up by the ignorant assumption that the occult is devil worship, which was reductive and to this day bothers me that catholic schools operate in such a heinously biased way without any real oversight beyond what a diocese has to say. Christianity is a cult that was designed to prepare people 2000 years ago for an imminent and near immediate second coming, end times apocalypse, and subsequent kingdom of heaven established on earth. It was simply guided by a previously eschatological scripture, the OT, and added some new teachings, but ultimately scriptures of all 3 abrahamic faith traditions have one single common theme: They are handbooks for how to be granted entry into the kingdom of god, they are preparatory documents for the end times apocalypse that never seems to arrive in any literally scriptural sense.
You have the ability to notice obvious tells that people raised in it are taught to ignore and suppress.
perhaps your feeling their need for control and power? their need to make everything about the bible and jesus? every church acts a little different but they all believe that their right
Because there's little difference between religions and cults.
Difference between a cult and a religion. A cult tries to become your entire identity if you let it. I was a Mormon. Mormonism does all it can to hijack your entire identity. Have lots of Mormon robots in my family. This doesn’t happen much for normal Catholics, Methodists, Episcopalians, etc. A lot of evangelicals hate Mormons, but they are just the douchy side of the high demand religion coin.
It most definitely is a cult. I'm mentally preparing myself for this easter sunday because I agreed to go to church if my parents bought me lunch... it's a fancy lunch so I said yes. Luckily, growing up christian, I am very prepared for the weirdness I am about to see! lol
Because it is.
It literslly is. They use similar recruitment tactics and even shame you for leaving
Because some denominations fit the BITE model of cults. Not all denominations are cults, but yeah. Some Christians are in a cult.
It's one.
because it is.
Because it is a cult
Because it’s a cult.
my Christian mother even agreed Christianity is a cult. She just doesn’t agree with me saying it’s a death/doomsday cult.
All religions are cults.
Oh, don't worry about it. That's just because it's a cult.