What is a cult?

Question

Define cult. What does it entail?

Answer 1

A cult is a religious belief and practice calling for devotion to a religious view centered in false doctrine. It is an organized heresy.
Virtyally every cult claims a token respect for the Bible. It then quickly adds some kind of subsequent revelation that has the effect of cancelling the teaching of the word in favor of something new from God.
Contemporary cult leaders claim their authority by saying in effect, " God spoke to me, or a spirit told me to tell you..." The cult writings are filled with accounts of some revelation from God apart from the pages of the Scriptures.
Beware of the person who claims that he has a special revelation from God, even if he does it in the name of Christianity. There is no special verbal revelation from God apart from the Bible. The words of the Holy Scriptures are the final words spoken to this world or that He will speak until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Extra Bibical revelation is the first and best-known characteristic of cults.
The cults require obedience from it's followers and practices in order to obtain salvation. Many cults have a presumptuous Messianic leadership. The idea that a contemporary human being has been appointed by God to be a special saint, guru, or messiah. This person represents divine authority that must not be violated. Cult members will almost always call their leader -Father Divine, Prophet Jones, Judge Rutherford, Herbert Armstrong, Baha'i Buddha or Beelzebub -with some kind of final authority. A messianic human leader uses his power of his intelligence or personality to impose his will and directives on the ignorant.
It is possible that many cultic leaders began as humble people but soon came to believe in their own promotion. They stamp their name on everything and make themselves completely indispensable to the faith of their followers. They often cleverly continue to promote the image of external humility while spending millions to keep their name in lights before their starry-eyed followers.
The cults are characterized by an indefinite system of doctrine which often changes with every new wind that blows.
Cults often demand total committment by their converts to an organizational involvement that entangles them in a complicated set of human restrictions. One of the connotations of the word " cultic " is that of passionate and often irrational devotion to a cause. They hope to bring their followers to a place where they think little of themselves except their involvement with the movement and its leader.
The cults imply that money will contributed to the cause will buy gifts, powers and abilities for the follower. The follower is convinced that he can escape the many miseries of this world and the next by investing his money.
The consequence is that conscienceless religious leaders have built themselves massive homes and large holdings in the commercial world.
And that is exactly what a cult is and what it entails!!

Answer 2

cult

cult [kult]
(plural cults)
n
1. religion: a system of religious or spiritual beliefs, especially an informal and transient belief system regarded by others as misguided, unorthodox, extremist, or false, and directed by a charismatic, authoritarian leader
2. religious group: a group of people who share religious or spiritual beliefs, especially beliefs regarded by others as misguided, unorthodox, extremist, or false
3. idolization of somebody or something: an extreme or excessive admiration for a person, philosophy of life, or activity (often used before a noun)
the cult of youth
a cult hero

4. object of idolization: a person, philosophy, or activity regarded with extreme or excessive admiration
5. fad: something popular or fashionable among a devoted group of enthusiasts (often used before a noun)
has taken on cult status

6. cultural anthropology system of supernatural beliefs: a body of organized practices and beliefs supposed to involve interaction with and control over supernatural powers
7. sociology elite group: a self-identified group of people who share a narrowly defined interest or perspective


[Early 17th century. Directly or via French < Latin cultus "worship" < colere "cultivate"]


-cult·ic, , adj
-cult·ish, , adj
-cult·ish·ly, , adv
-cult·ish·ness, , n
-cult·ism, , n
-cult·ist, , n
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Answer 3

The most basic definition of a cult is a group who worships a personality.

There are other considerations, but this one is at the very core and the only aspect that embodies each and every cult.

(Note: Christianity could be considered a cult, as it worships the person(ality), Jesus.)

Answer 4

There are many cults, such as Scientology.

The term, 'cult’ as it relates to Christianity, is used of a group, church or organization whose central teachings and/or practices are claimed to be biblical, but which are in fact unbiblical.

The term can also be applied to groups, organizations or churches whose statement of faith may sound orthodox, but who add aberrant, heterodox, sub-orthodox and/or heretical teachings to such an extend that the essential doctrines of the Christian faith are negatively affected.

It should be noted that in addition to aberrant, unorthodox, and/or heretical doctrines, many - but not all - religious cults also have excessive or abusive sociological characteristics (e.g. authoritarian leadership patterns, strict conformity requirements, manipulative controls, etc.)

"Central doctrines" of the Christian faith are those doctrines that make the Christian faith Christian and not something else.

The Christian faith is a definite system of beliefs with definite content (Jude 3). Certain Christian doctrines constitute the core of the faith.

Central doctrines include the Trinity (One God who eternally exists in three different persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all of whom are fully God, all of whom are equal), the deity of Christ as the second person of the Trinity, the bodily resurrection, the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and salvation by grace through faith. These doctrines so comprise the essence of the Christian faith that to remove any of them is to make the belief system non-Christian.

Scripture teaches that the beliefs mentioned above are of central importance (e.g., Matt. 28:19; John 8:24; 1 Cor. 15; Eph. 2:8-10).

Because these central doctrines define the character of Christianity, one cannot be saved and deny these.

Central doctrines should not be confused with peripheral issues, about which Christians may legitimately disagree. Peripheral (i.e. non-essential) doctrines include such issues as the timing of the tribulation, the method of baptism, or the structure of church government. For example, one can be wrong about the identity of "the spirits in prison" 1 Peter 3:19) or about the timing of the rapture and still go to heaven, but one cannot deny salvation by grace or the deity of Christ (John 8:24) and be saved.

All Christian denominations — whether Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant — agree on the essential core. The relatively minor disagreements between genuinely Christian denominations, then, cannot be used to argue that there is no objectively recognized core of fundamental doctrine which constitutes the Christian faith.

Answer 5

once you're taught an all modern sky being created each and everything in 6 days, made guy from dirt, and female from mans rib, and that female replaced into tempted by utilising a damn speaking snake and ate off a mystical tree that pissed off that sky being so this God sent them out into the genuine international the place they had to pay taxes and replaced into interior the presence of a crimson skinned, horned, pitchfork wielding demon that replaced into additionally this sky beings creation, and then there replaced right into a flood and another crap, then by way of fact the international replaced into crammed with sin, which the sky daddy did not like, he created himself in human form, have been given a virgin pregnant(which looks very not likely) gave delivery to the son of God, he lived informed some crap, did some magic, died on bypass, got here back alive after 3 days, and is likely nevertheless meant back back and take us as much as heaven formerly the top of days. eighty% of u.s. will accept as true with what I merely pronounced, or are meant to by way of fact they think approximately themselves a follower of that cosmic zombie called Jesus. don't get me all started on the different ideals, all religions are cults.

Answer 6

Devoted attachment to, or extravagant admiration for, a person or principle. All religions are cults. They swear that they are not but, they all fit the definition perfectly.

Answer 7

A gang of weirdos,brought together by the King Weirdo,because they got bored & decided to believe everything he had to say,which is mainly used to his advantage such as:
Teaching that you may have sex with multiple women & underaged girls.
You must give him all your money & go out & earn even more for "his" great work for God.
You must give him all your worldly pssessions & live in poverty while he uses your jaccuzzi to have sex with all these women in.
You must give your firstborn virgin daughter to him so he can have sex with her in your jaccuzzi. etc........
This is a cult & cult leader.

Answer 8

A small religion with bad PR.

Answer 9

Christianity....

Answer 10

brainwashing someone into believing your very confused view of life...but the best defense is ephesians chapter six of the holy bible!