From: aaron@binah.cc.brandeis.edu (Scott Aaron) Subject: Re: Latest on Branch Davidians Reply-To: aaron@binah.cc.brandeis.edu Organization: Brandeis University Lines: 36 In article , conditt@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Paul Conditt) wrote: > > > I think it's really sad that so many people put their faith in a mere > man, even if he did claim to be the son of God, and/or a prophet. I'll pose a question here that's got me thinking: what distinguishes "true" religion from cults (I'm speaking generally here, not specifially about Christianity)? Jerry Falwell was on Good Morning America on Tuesday ostensibly to answer this question. Basically, he said that true religion follows a message whereas a cult follows a person. But, then, Christianity is a cult because the message of Christianity IS the person of Jesus. So what distinguishes, for example, the Branch Davidian "cult" from the Presbyterian "church"? Doctrinal differences don't answer the question, IMHO, so don't use them as an answer. -- Scott at Brandeis "But God demonstrates His "The Lord bless you, and keep you; own love for us, in that the Lord make His face shine on you, while we were yet sinners, and be gracious to you; Christ died for us." the Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace." -- Romans 5:8 [NASB] -- Numbers 6:24-26 [NASB] [There have been some attempts to characterize "cult". Most commonly it uses characteristics involving high pressure, brainwashing techniques, etc. But some people characterize it by doctrinal error. In the end I'm afraid it becomes a term with no precise meaning that's used primarily to dismiss groups as not worthy of serious consideration. That doesn't mean that there aren't groups that do highly irresponsible things and have serious doctrinal errors. But past discussions have not suggested to me that "cult" is a very helpful term. --clh]