Same s**t, different cult

zed is dead

Mormons aren't allowed to think on their own either:

http://news.yahoo.com/mormon-outspoken-blog-posts-church-says-may-face-031620312.html

zed

Recovery

Oops. The early Christians weren't allowed to think on their own either..

Galatians 1:8, 9 "However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said above, I also now say again, Whoever it is that is declaring to YOU as good news something beyond what YOU accepted, let him be accursed"..

Wow, everyone who teaches something contrary to what Paul and his apostle buddies have to say, is accursed. He only wants everyone to believe his version of the good news. Even if an angel from heaven declares something different they are not supposed to believe him. Who does Paul think he is? Some self-appointed apostle to the nations who is higher than God's angels?

Philippians 2:2 " 2 make my joy full in that YOU are of the same mind and have the same love, being joined together in soul, holding the one thought in mind..."

Look at that. What a cult. Everyone thinking the same thoughts. No divisions or room for anyone to believe someone different. No wonder everyone hated the first century Christian-cult known as 'The Way'. I find great pleasure in devoting every day of my life to exposing 'The Way about the Way'

talesin

Yes, Xtianity is a cult - as are all religions. We just use the term in a different way nowadays, to define a religion that is extremely controlling of its members.

Just look at the Reformation in England - thousands were executed for choosing to deny Henry VIII as the head of the Church.

As Xtianity swept Europe, millions of pagans were slaughtered. The wise women of the villages were put to death as witches, in order to have them replaced by a priest as the 'go to' person for guidance.

What's your point?

MC RubberMallet

Recovery - you are a cherry picker.

WTWizard

The Jehovah's Witlesses are what happens when you take it to the extreme. Scientologists, Mormons, Moonies, Seventh Day Adventists, and the Boston Movement (all xian cults or xian-based cults) also carry the no-thinking rubbish to the extreme. However, all Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions do it to a certain extent. The stricter ones are also more repressive and miserable to live under, and the consequences of thinking are harsher.

The only paradigms where free thinking are actively allowed are atheism (no God to do your thinking, so you are on your own) and spiritual Satanism (Satan actually wants you to do your own research, as stupidity is the only major sin in Satanism).

Londo111

True Christian unity is based on love, not uniformity of belief and practice. Love is the "perfect bond of union."

The motto of many mainstream Christian denominations is: In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, love.

The essentials are rather simple: Jesus Christ is Lord, the Son of God, who became a man, died for humanity's sins, and was raised up on the third day and was seated at God's right hand--through this we are saved by grace. As Paul said, "for I decided not to know any thing among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified".

Everything else is details and no reason to divide off from one another, no grounds to shun family and friends. And Christian Freedom means each person has an individual responsibility in their relationship with God. It is none of our business what somebody else does, we need to keep the finger pointed at ourselves at all times.

Romans 14:4, 5 says, "You--who are you that are judging another's domestic? to his own master he does stand or fall; and he shall be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One does judge one day above another, and another does judge every day [alike]; let each in his own mind be fully assured."

Thus, the first century Christians had wide latitude in belief and practice, but they were unified by love. You can have love and yet have different viewpoints.

Read the context of Galatians, the entire book. It is about Christian Freedom. There were those sneaking into the brethren, who were trying to load them down, to enslave them, to make their yoke heavy. The Good News was simple. It was about Christ setting them free.

Note who Paul was in verse 1, "an apostle -- not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ". Jesus directly appointed them, not through an organization or hierarchy. So when he talked about the good news "we declared", he is talking about apostolic authority. One can read the good news that the apostles declared: Jesus is the Christ, he died for their sins, and now they can gain a relationship with God through him. They were not any longer under a legalistic system of law and works, but under Grace which is all about "love operating through faith". The Spirit can do infinitely more to guard them from wrongdoing than any written code and system of human punishments.

So the question is: who has declared a form of 'good news' that is beyond what the Apostles declared? Who has set up a legalistic system of law and works that have to be subscribed to in order to gain salvation? Who has taken away Christian Freedom? It is those that Paul says in 2:4 were "brought in unawares, who did come in privily to spy out our liberty that we have in Christ Jesus, that us they might bring under bondage."

It was those false brothers and their good news that were to be accursed.

Galatians 5:1 says, "In the freedom, then, with which Christ did make you free -- stand you, and be not held fast again by a yoke of servitude."

The lesson is as pertinent today as it was then, or in the time of Martin Luther.

NewChapter

Yep, all of Chrisitanity can be classified as a cult, because the characteristics are there. However, we tend to use that word to measure the degree of control a particular religion exerts over its members, not the belief structure itself. So the bible may have some things to say about independent thinking or original thought (no-nos) How such is enforced is what makes us decide that some are cults.

JW, Mormons, Scientologists etc. all use whatever powers they have to force members to stay put and not think. They regulate information, association, opinion, and behavior. They don't trust their members to take what they need and leave the rest, but they micromanage their lives. And pissing them off means losing everyone you love. So there IS a difference.

Cults are still stoning in a symbolic sense, although I'm pretty confident if it were still legal, they'd do so in a physical sense.

MC RubberMallet

The conditions with and periods the Bible was copied makes you think hmmm.... was it repressing thought to keep people in line?

Same s**t, different cult

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