Christians, why are some many of us offended by cults?

Question

I'm a Christian, and I often see the term "cult" used to offend people. In the days of Noah, we were less than a cult, and right after Jesus left, we were a cult.

Answer 1

The word cult has come to be associated with strange off-shoots of mainstream religions rather than the original meaning which was something more like sect.

Answer 2

Cult has an intensely negative connotation- one of brainwashing and exploitation. So Christianity began as a "cult" within Judaism but this use of the word "cult" has a different meaning than the modern use. In modern cults there is often a loss of money, family, and normal life on the part of the adherants and a gain of power and money for an unscrupulous leader or group of leaders such as in Scientology. While the early Christians may have been fanatical it was a different situation. For one thing they were already an oppressed people, for another thing they had little to gain and everything to lose and finally they were all very poor, including the leaders.

Answer 3

I think most people misunderstand the meaning of the word "cult" and use it as an insult. There is a evaluation frame used by psychologists and others to help define if a group is a cult or not. It's called the Bonewits Cult evaluation frame. Interestingly enough the Religious Right seems to meet more of the criteria than any group they criticize

Answer 4

Your thoughts about cults concern me since you are a Christian. What I am about to write may seem offensive to you. I don't mean it to be.

In these days, tolerance of others may be construed to mean acceptance of their beliefs. That is quite dangerous. You say that Christians were a cult. If we look at the dictionary definition of the word, that may be. But when I, as a Christian, use the word cult, I mean a group that has beliefs that depart from historical Christianity.* Please consider the following:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."

Cults offend me because they are offended by Jesus. They either have a teaching in out and out opposition to the word of God or they have a doctrine that negates what the word of God says. So yes, a cult is offensive to a Christian in the sense that it demeans the very God we worship.

And beware, Christian, who accepts cults as okay. An apostasy is coming. Acceptance of cults and their beliefs in order to be tolerant will hasten its coming.

Answer 5

Because cults alter the word of God, or add too the books written by God. We may have been considered a cult by Jews, but our religion was created by Jews, who saw the truth in their own books, that the prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled. Todays cults have no reason for existing other than swindling money off people. They develop new books, and call the old Bible wrong. Christians never discredited the Jewish Torah, but they brought it along as a guideline for the new covenant.

Answer 6

I personally prefer the scholastic term, NRMs (New Religious Movements) over "cults", which is a loaded word these days. The word "cult", until fairly recently, simply meant a group of believers. As for labeling other people's religions as cults, I would hesitate to do so. I am not offended by people whose beliefs differ from mine.

Answer 7

To me the word "cult" implies evil or negativity. Wikapedia says this about them.
"Its status may come about either due to its novel belief system, its idiosyncratic practices, its perceived harmful effects on members, or because its perceived opposition to the interests of the mainstream culture.
In common usage "cult" has a negative connotation and is generally applied to a group by opponents for a variety of reasons."
The world may view us as a cult because we don't follow the mainstream evil ways of the world but in the eyes of God we are not a cult.

Answer 8

Cults brainwash people into doing things they would not otherwise do. Really the only difference between religions and cults are that religions think they belong in the world.

Answer 9

Often we mis-use the word "cult".

From a Christian standpoint, a cult is considered any organization that places itself between Christ and the believer, and requires participation with their organization to gain access to God.

In short, a cult assumes the place of mediator between man and God.

Answer 10

As a Christian, we are called to not be "offended" by anyone. Those people who get "offended" for WHATEVER reason, need to be worrying about where their faith is first, never mind anything about cults.