Comments on Ambassador Watch: Is it a Cult?

Yes, one name, true. That is generally indicative...

2016-05-30T09:59:03.094+12:00

Yes, one name, true. That is generally indicative of a personality cult. This has been ongoing for quite some time, and includes the Millerites, and the Waldenses. These groups also seem to feel as if they are special, and protected from everything except persecution. Oh, and Satan. They cite him as if that's one of the proofs that they are called and sealed. Funny thing is, their imagination has even been programmed, and they don't even know it!

It is just terrible when a violent mass shooting occurs in a congregation, or there is a suicide. Those things don't compute with the members, because they are some of the evils they are taught happens to people who leave "God's" church.

BB

Toxic cults , almost universally, can be identifie...

2016-05-30T06:53:10.442+12:00

Toxic cults , almost universally, can be identified with a human surname attached to it. IE, Armstrong, Pack, Flurry, Meredith, Moon, Hubbard, Jones, Koresh.

All religions are cults. Some are just more extre...

2016-05-30T00:58:03.076+12:00

All religions are cults. Some are just more extreme than others. Some are relatively benign while others are more harmful. All do their members some good and some harm. In my view, the harm outweighs the good. Sometimes by a little, often by a lot.

The word "cult" means religion, so then ...

2016-05-29T21:48:13.434+12:00

The word "cult" means religion, so then it's true that "the only difference between a cult and a religion is a million members", as all religions believe in 'Magic Stuff'.

Meaning of words change. Only in the US the word c...

2016-05-29T21:46:11.093+12:00

Meaning of words change. Only in the US the word cult bears a negative connotation.

I will not go into a discussion to what is "deviant" to contemporaries.

99% of all arguments I heard on all anti "armstrongist" websites, all center on arguments that go for any belief in any belief system. Being socialist, lutheran or moonie. Everything human has happened in any organization, albeit with different percentages to be expected.

The belief in anything that is supreme to ourselves originates with the consciousness and this belief is what has propelled us to great accomplishments and catastroph.

And yes the organization that organises my holiday is more benign than any church although it offers no solution for grief of a lost one or answers to the meaning of life, only temporary solace on an individual basis. Unless you group travel.

Man has come to the realisation that we are all on a group travel through space. Astronauts on planet earth, the only planet in the universe that harbors life.

And don't try to convince me with your mathematical calculation on chance of life being elsewhere. The moment you do that you are in the realm of religion and to me a cult leader.

nck

What the term "cult" means varies. A Ca...

2016-05-29T15:30:48.284+12:00

What the term "cult" means varies. A Calvinist website referred to Arminians as a cult. Hence, millions of Methodists, by this reckoning, are cult members, if we were to take the Calvinist view seriously. Evangelicals typically refer to the LDS Church and the Jehovah's Witness Church as cults.

My viewpoint: There is some point at which an organization ceases to be "just another religion" and becomes a cult. And this is from the perspective of another group. Anybody has the right to make up a religion where religious freedom exists. The adherents can worship oak trees and decorate themselves with acorns, for instance. Its nobody's business as long as they don't break civil or public policy laws.

But there is the special case where an organization claims to be Christian but has a deviant theology. (Considering the broadness of Christianity, the theology has to be significantly different on defining points.) And as Byker and TM pointed out, the cult organizations engage in various forms of psychological oppression of members and forms of exploitation of members. So there are two elements: a deviant theology and social and communal pathology. Armstrongism qualifies as a cult by both standards.

But don't trust me on this. I believe Calvinists are a cult. In my mind, Calvinism is a blatantly deviant theology.

Since I started thinking about it, which was about...

2016-05-29T14:36:17.006+12:00

Since I started thinking about it, which was about 1995, I have said that a cult is where the followers turn their minds over to the leader and let him do their thinking for them. In the case of Armstrongism in its later years, that would be the people who believed HWA when he said God revealed truth through one man and that was him. With this definition, it was a cult for some and not for others. The others stayed in because they got some benefit from it and were willing to live under all the requirements.

There are cults, and then there are toxic cults. ...

2016-05-29T11:46:59.247+12:00

There are cults, and then there are toxic cults. Most cults are cultures unto themselves. If a cult's prevailing culture leaves a higher than average negative impression, most likely it is toxic. There really are not too many Armstrongites who have left their churches and either feel ambivalent or neutral about them, or were left with a lasting positive impression. Generally, unless individuals are on a downward spiral, they will leave one philosophy for another that they consider to be better or more enlightened.

One thing is certain. If you tell someone that you believe they might be in a cult, they most certainly are not going to respond with, "Wow, you are right! I never realized that. Maybe I'd better leave!" They're going to go back, dive into their studies with a renewed vigor, and become more deeply convinced that they are on the right track. I've seen this happen time and time again. We as former members can realize that we were once part of a toxic cult, but the people still on the inside mostly believe they are in God's true church, where they will remain until it stops working for them.

BB