Church or Cult?

[Sky Dancer]

Is Westboro Baptist Church a church or a cult? What about the Florida church burning the Q'uran? Is it a church or a cult?

What's the difference between a church and a cult?

 

[Ragnar]

Do you mean like a "cult following" or as in "following a cult"?

 

[uscitizen]

The only difference between a religion and a cult is the acceptance society put on the cult/religion or not.

Jesus started out as a cult leader.

 

[Sky Dancer]

I started this thread because divecon referred to the Florida Christian church that's burning copies of the Q'uran as a cult, he also said the Westboro Baptist Church is a cult.

 

[Sky Dancer]

The only difference between a religion and a cult is the acceptance society put on the cult/religion or not.

Jesus started out as a cult leader.

See now i would assume a cult has to have some extreme behavior, like the self-flagellating of Opus Dei.

 

[Mr Natural]

To an outsider like myself, they're all cults.

 

[Ragnar]

The only difference between a religion and a cult is the acceptance society put on the cult/religion or not.

Jesus started out as a cult leader.

See now i would assume a cult has to have some extreme behavior, like the self-flagellating of Opus Dei.

There are a wide variety of meanings to both words.

Just trying to cultivate some understanding.

 

[Sky Dancer]

I am too. I was surprised that divecon referred to the Westboro Baptist Church as a cult.

 

[syrenn]

Is Westboro Baptist Church a church or a cult? What about the Florida church burning the Q'uran? Is it a church or a cult?

What's the difference between a church and a cult?

ALL churches are cults.

 

[Ragnar]

I am too. I was surprised that divecon referred to the Westboro Baptist Church as a cult.

Actually I was trying my hand at a bad pun.

It's only a guess but I'd hazzard that divecon was refering to the size of the organization wich plays a part in some definitions of the word "cult".

 

[Sky Dancer]

You better watch out syrenn you're gonna tick off the Christians.

 

[uscitizen]

The only difference between a religion and a cult is the acceptance society put on the cult/religion or not.

Jesus started out as a cult leader.

See now i would assume a cult has to have some extreme behavior, like the self-flagellating of Opus Dei.

to the church at the time Jesus's followers did exhibit extreme behaviour.

Jesus was a liberal progressive for his time.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Are you saying Christians are cultists and proud of it?

 

[uscitizen]

Are you saying Christians are cultists and proud of it?

Naah, they just were that for the first couple of hundred years.
Constantine smoothed all that out into one religion.

 

[Ragnar]

Cult - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Main Entry: cult
Pronunciation: \ˈkəlt\
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate — more at wheel
Date: 1617
1 : formal religious veneration : worship
2 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad b : the object of such devotion c : a usually small group of people characterized

 

[uscitizen]

So sports fanatics are cultists?
LOL who would have guessed.

 

[Madeline]

There's clearly a difference between a WBC member and your average Methodist. I have watched a few tv segments on the WBC an they are VERY disturbing. I'm not sure where the line is...mebbe when you feel pressured to exclude all who do not belong to your church from your life?

 

[Sky Dancer]

I think burning Q'urans are a bit extreme for a Christian church calling itself the DOVE WORLD OUTREACH CENTER.

 

[uscitizen]

I think preaching any kind of hatred from the pulpit is not what Jesus would do.

 

[Sky Dancer]

So sports fanatics are cultists?
LOL who would have guessed.

Cops are in sort of a cult.