Greg and Amy unpack what a cult actually is and suggest Christians answer the charge that Christianity is a cult by asking questions, correcting misconceptions, and inviting friends to come see the faith for themselves.
Transcript
Amy: The next question comes from Ashley. “Hi, Greg and Amy. How would you respond to someone who thinks Christianity is a cult? I’m having trouble finding reputable sources explaining the hallmarks of a modern-day cult. Thank you for your time.”
Greg: Well, the best question or the direction to go in with a question like this is not to modern-day sources, but to the individual who makes the claim. So, if they’re claiming that Christianity is a cult, well, then there must be some reason that they think that. They have an idea what a cult is and Christianity qualifies. And that’s why I’d want to push back—not even push back, just ask for clarification: “Well, when you say it’s a cult, you mean what?”
It turns out that the word “cult” has multiple definitions. For example, in the Old Testament, they had all kinds of particular practices that were connected to the temple. This is referred to theologically as the “cult of worship.” Now, it’s not a negative term. It’s just saying those practices that are inherent to the enterprise of Judaism—to the official, kind of, religious function of Judaism, the tabernacle, and all that other stuff. So, there’s the cult of worship. This is a benign kind of word.
Well, then you have the word “cult” which is another meaning here, where it’s an offshoot of the standard group. So, you could have, for example, currently now with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—since, though they started out teaching plural marriage, they no longer teach plural marriage, but there were offshoot groups that continue to teach polygamy, and these are considered by LDS—the standard LDS church—as splinter groups, as cults in the sense that “they don’t hold everything that we hold to be true.” And so, “We’re the main deal, and these are kind of like us in some ways, but they have these deviations that make them not us.”
Now, that’s also a term that can be used to describe quasi-Christian groups and classically has been the case. Walter Martin, back in 1965, wrote a book called The Kingdom of the Cults, and he’s talking there about Jehovah’s Witnesses, about LDS, about Christian Science, etc. So, these are groups that carry the name “Christian” in some sense but are not classical Christians. They deviate in some critical way, and so these are considered cults. Ergo, counter-cult ministries. There’s a lot of organizations that have sprung up to deal with these kinds of things.
The problem is, this word has now taken on a very, very negative connotation, and to say “cult” now, you’re talking about, like, these are kind of people who all commit suicide, or you’re all having group sex behind closed doors, or some crazy stuff. I remember during the Jesus Movement—and maybe still around—the Children of God. Moses David was their leader, and that got really, really weird. Then you have the—what was that South American group that committed suicide back in 1978? Jim Jones cult. And you have that group in Texas that were in the compound.
Amy: The Heaven’s Gate.
Greg: Well, that’s another one. The Heaven’s Gate, that was in North San Diego County, and they all committed suicide hoping to catch the comet that was going by. And then you had the group that was in Texas in that compound, and they all got burned out or whatever, and they died. Anyway, so, these are like weirdos. A cult is a bunch of weirdos that believe in weird things.
Amy: It’s a social definition rather than a theological one.
Greg: Yes, that’s right. That’s a good way of putting it. So, the question then is, well, what is it that you mean when you say “cult,” of those three general definitions? Certainly not the first one, but maybe the second. Actually, Christianity was considered a cult of Judaism at the time it sprung up—that is, it’s an offshoot. It’s not what everybody in the main body of that religious enterprise believed to be so. Now, a theological case can be made—we would make it—that this was Judaism—that Christianity was the fulfillment of Old Testament Judaism. But nevertheless, that’s the way Christianity was viewed at the time. And even the term was used to describe them as cultic in that sense. But now, the term is completely useless, I think, for polite conversation, because now when people say “cult,” they mean, like, a Jim Jones–type cult—some suicide cult. Some bizarre—
Amy: Mind-controlling leader.
Greg: So, then the question—if that’s what they think—then the question I would ask is, “What makes you think that Christianity is like that?”
Now, of course, one characteristic of these groups is that they are the only way. Their little sliver of religious practice is the only way. But Christianity is not a little sliver of religious practice. It’s huge, like we were talking about on another show—the largest religion in the world if you just look at raw population and people who claim to be Christian. And alternately, every person who is part of any enterprise—religious or not—who has a belief system about these kinds of things thinks they’re right, too, and that everybody that agrees with them are correct. So, it isn’t unusual to think that you’re correct. It isn’t a sign of something amiss. But when you have a splinter group that is smaller and has a charismatic leader and is dissing everybody else, and they’re the only thing—that’s a bad sign. That’s cultic in this sociological sense, kind of teaching or behavior, and those things are dangerous.
But if anybody’s going to accuse Christianity writ large as a cult, then they’re going to have to defend that point. “How did you come to that conclusion?” Our second Columbo question. “What makes you think that Christianity is a cult?”
Amy: Yeah, I actually agree with you that it doesn’t matter what the actual definition of “cult” is because what you don’t want to do is end up arguing over the definition of “cult,” because that’s not going to get you anywhere. The simplest thing to do is just what you said: “What do you mean by ‘cult’? What do you actually mean by that, so that we can actually look at what your objections are to Christianity?”
I’m not exactly sure what they would say—maybe thinking you’re right, and then we’re back to the previous question about it being narrow-minded. Because I have no problem—if someone wants to call me a cult, but they have an accurate view of what Christianity is, okay.
Greg: Call me what you want.
Amy: I don’t care if you call me a cult. But I just want to make sure you understand, and maybe you have a misunderstanding about what Christianity is or how it works or how controlling the leaders are. I mean, it’s funny, because we recently had questions about “There are so many denominations; they believe different things.” And now it’s a cult, which kind of implies some sort of leader who’s controlling everybody within it. So, you can’t really have both of those.
Greg: Yeah, it’s almost a universally negative word now. And that’s the way people intend to be using it, I think, in almost virtually every case. It wouldn’t be brought up in this kind of conversation unless they’re thinking of it in a negative sense. It’s an accusation. And there are groups within the broader Christian family, so to speak, that demonstrate cultish behavior, and usually those groups have unorthodox, heterodox Christian views. Look at the Bethel movement, the New Apostolic Reformation, the NAR. There’s an example of a larger group that is cultish in the sociological sense. And that’s dangerous, because that kind of heavy-handed oversight and control is not something justified by the New Testament.
So, we do see cultic kind of behavior even in groups that are, generally speaking—and, you know what, I want to be careful, because I don’t want to characterize New Apostolic Reformation as, kind of, within the pale. I think they are borderline (depending on who you talk to) off the reservation. But these things, kind of, grow. They start out kind of normal and ordinary, and then all of a sudden—especially when you have leadership that’s hearing from God and getting directives from God and becoming the apostles, etc.—then these things get weirder and weirder and weirder and take on these cultic (in a sociological sense) dimensions. And it’s important for all of us to be aware of that.
Amy: Yeah. As soon as you do have one leader who claims to be getting special information just for them, that is a danger sign, and that is how cults form. But I think if you can just get their understanding of what a cult is, a lot of times it may be that you can apply what they said to things they believe.
So, again, help them realize that what we’re doing is not different from what everyone does. So, for example, let’s say their problem is that, “Well, they tell you what’s right and wrong.” Okay, but so does our government, and our government actually punishes people. Would you say that our government is a cult? No, because it’s legitimate, what they are doing.
Greg: In some measure.
Amy: Yeah. But what I’m saying is, it’s legitimate for a government to have a jail and punish people for doing what’s wrong. So, if leaders of church are exercising some sort of church discipline, that doesn’t necessarily automatically make it a cult if it’s legitimate. So, you have to know if it’s true or not before you can even know if it’s true and legitimate for them to exercise some sort of discipline. I mean, even in families, people exercise discipline. So, it’s not necessarily a cult. So, hopefully that can help you explain these things and help them think about it a little bit more and take away some of their fear.
I mean, think about it. I would say nearly every movie, TV show, whatever it is, if a Christian shows up, the Christian’s probably the murderer or the psycho or the evil, bad person. And there are people out there, that’s all they know about Christians. They see that day in and day out. So, whatever you can do to help them. Maybe you could even invite them to church. “Hey, nobody will make you do anything weird. Just come with me and see what you think. See if you thinks it’s a cult, and we can talk about what you saw, and I can explain it, and you can see if it’s a cult.” So, there are different ways to go at this, I think.