by Nickolas 46 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Every Religion is a Cult except godrulz's cult.......... get what a surprise
Oh I like this one 'Our faith is in the person of Jehovah God in christ (Jesus is YHWH), not a man' See this is where you come up with 171/2 different versions of Jesus just within Orthodox Christianity.
But he's not in a Cult...really
Nikolas - if the Watchtower is a cult, as so many people in here believe, is Christianity itself a cult?
I believe that Steve Hassan answers your question in "Combatting Cult Mind Control". It depends on how one defines a cult. Cults can be religious, business, etc. Christians have done a lot of bad things for the last 2,000 years, so have people, who are not religious, and so have governments. Organizations are composed of people, so why not ask, "Why do people form mind controlling cults?" or "Why do people join mind controlling cults?"
People can choose to blame Our Father, Jesus Chris, and the Holy Spirit or they can look in the mirror and remind themselves that Jesus Christ did warn mankind about false prophets and now individuals are responsible for taking appropriate actions. I like Benjamin Franklin Gates' dialogue in National Treasure about interpreting a passage in the Declaration of Independence, "If there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action." It is always easier to blame someone else instead of taking responsibilities for one's own actions or lack of action.
Mt 7:15-23 (NIV 2008) 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
ABS-
Like Nicholas suggested Christians like to pass the Buck, they did exactly what they read in the Bible, and if Jesus had any power at all and let over a Billion humans suffer and be massacred by his Followers and did nothing to stop it then he deserves all of the scorn we can heap at him.
Is Christianity a cult? Yes, it's a cult/sect of Judaism.
The stories about Jesus in the Bible also portray him as being a prototypical cult leader.
designs: Biblical, historical, orthodox Christianity affirms trinity and Deity of Christ. Modalism is a minority heresy that still affirms the Deity of Christ. JW Arianism is heretical and not Christian in any sense. So, countless Christians and denominations have the same Christology, even Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant/Evangelical. It is false to say that Christians are divided on this issue. Our divisions are over peripheral things. Mormonism and JWs are pseudo-Christian cults especially on their defective doctrine of God/Christology.
Resistance: you have semantical issues and wrongly assume any similarity proves identical. Jesus was a servant leader, God Himself. Jim Jones was an egomaniacal, possessed fleshly fraud. You lack discernment and wisdom. Christianity is also progressive revelation on the foundation of Judaism. It is not a splinter sect that is false or contrary to it.
godrulz: What church are you member of?
Happily, not the Church of Satan. I consider myself an evangelical Christian (which is actually broad), born again, biblical Christian, disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ (YHWH in the flesh, the God-Man). I am classical Pentecostal by denomination and experience (speak in tongues, etc.) because I believe it is closest to biblical practice and belief (though there is a large spectrum of beliefs within Pentecostalism and I personally have non-traditional beliefs like Open Theism). The local church I fellowship with is part of Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (statement of beliefs under tab about us what we believe), sister organization to Assemblies of God in the U.S.
godrulz- You see when you use terms like 'heretic' it really has no meaning other than to get across your narrow views to the exclusion of other thinkers on what it means to believe in this Jesus of the NT. What history records is the large scale slaughter of innocent people by Believers who held Orthodox Christian views. I know its tough to swallow but hey if you are going to kick the Watchtower and JW Beliefs you better have stronger replys for your own Cult's horrible behavior.
Yes, OUTLAW, that would take the thing up a notch or two to be sure.
You know, RayPublisher, it's just a simple, unemotional question. Neither hate nor ridicule involved, and how does one make fun of something that has caused so much misery in the world? No, I don't think it's funny at all. One of the things about being in a cult is not knowing or believing that you're in a cult and it is invariably those who are in a cult who are its greatest apologists. My avatar? Just an acknowledgement of the lowly place from which I come, and how insignificant and unimportant I really am.
Cult is no longer a neutral, denotive term. It is a social judgment. Christianity is an off-shoot of Judaism and the major religious tradition in the West. It certainly started as a cult, Indeed, it was clearly a cult during its formative years.
I am proud to belong to the cult of Christianity. Because I don't agree with your assumptions. Christians are not Christians b/c of historical accident. We proclaim the Risen Christ who is present to us in a real sense at the present moment. Christians have acknowledged and celebrated this presence since the resurrection of an individual known as Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus is only a good teacher or prophet, like so many before and since, in your view. Christians don't worship good works. We worship the incarnate God who will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Otherwise, only historians, anthropoligists, etc. would be interested in a religious tradition.
