Posts by ILoveTTATT2

22

I have a theory related to the cult spectrum

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

translating jwfacts into spanish has made me critically analyze pretty much everything paul has written.

i would say paul is right 90%+ of the time.

some things are just things that are outdated, on other occasions, things are partially right and just need to be tweaked.anyhow... one of the articles is "where else would i go"?since i am an atheist, ideally, for me, the answer would be "become at least agnostic, if not atheist, and lead an evidence-based life".

ILoveTTATT2

Translating jwfacts into Spanish has made me critically analyze pretty much everything Paul has written. I would say Paul is right 90%+ of the time. Some things are just things that are outdated, on other occasions, things are partially right and just need to be tweaked.

Anyhow... One of the articles is "where else would I go"?

Since I am an atheist, ideally, for me, the answer would be "become at least agnostic, if not atheist, and lead an evidence-based life". But not everyone is ready to make that jump.

I have no problems in recommending Christianity to people, at least in the anglo world, there are plenty of healthy churches that provide what most people really are looking for when they go to church: a social environment where they worship God together.

That's all right, but the problem is this:

Jehovah's Witnesses's beliefs are very non-mainstream Christianity:

No trinity
No celebrating Christmas (as in, not celebrating Christ's birth)
No immortality of the soul
No hell
Afterlife/resurrection options are: Heaven/paradise on Earth forever / die forever
Cross is a false symbol, Jesus died on a "tree".

For many newly awakened exJW's who want to still have a religion, going to a church that teaches:

The trinity
Celebrating Christmas
The soul is immortal...

Etc...

Would be anathema.

But then here is the problem:

EVERY SINGLE KNOWN CHRISTIAN RELIGION THAT TEACHES NON-MAINSTREAM CHRISTIANITY IS A CULT, NOT BY THE RELIGIOUS CULT DEFINITION, BUT BY STEVEN HASSAN'S DEFINITION!

Christadelphians? Cult.
JW's? Cult
Mormons? Cult
SDA's? If they are strict, Cult.
Bible Students? Cult
Iglesia Ni Cristo? Cult
Two-By-Two's? Cult
Christian Scientists? Cult
Worldwide Church of God? Cult

On the other hand:

Typical Catholic? Healthy church (In that it does NOT have the level of control over people's lives such as a BITE model cult)
Typical Anglican? Healthy
Typical (insert mayor Christianity branch): in general, healthy.
Worldwide Church of God, now Grace International: Healthy, but now is mainstream Christian.

So my theory is:

Cults become cults in the BITE model sense because they are different and "persecuted". Once they become mainstream, they let go of the cult characteristics and become a healthy church, but at the cost of losing their "non-mainstream" views.

Could you think of any christian denomination that teaches non-mainstream stuff and is NOT a cult in the BITE model sense?