Christian Boylove Forum

Cults, sects and Mormons

Submitted by Bonzo on January 25 2000 at 12:05:31
In reply to Mormonism Submitted by Don on January 25 2000 at 00:44:02

Hi Don -- What's a cult? My dictionary says: A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation. Hmmm. Given the history of the Mormons, I'd say that according to this definition they were originally a cult. I view them now as a sect of Christians with peculiar beliefs. They refer to themselves as 'latter-day saints' whereas I'm tempted to characterize them as 'latter-day Gnostics' because they share several important features with the Gnostic sects of early Christian history: They regard their special collection of writings as sacred scripture. They insist that Jesus made appearances after his resurrection in addition to those described in the New Testament. They are accused by their enemies of sexual laxity (in their case because of their practice of polygamy). Jesus warned his disciples about excluding people (see Mark 9:39-40). Of course, he also pointed out that there are false prophets (see Matthew 7:15-16). The only advice I can give is to suggest caution when dealing with anyone who claims that his version of Christianity provides all the answers to the hard questions. -- Bonzo

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