• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Should I Join a Cult?

Everyone here should be sending me all your worldly belongings if you wish to remain part of "The Trekkers". In return you shall all become part of "The Canon" and live into perpetuity.
 
I've often considered starting my own cult. I say a lot of profound things-- I deserve to lay around in a toga, surrounded by naked female acolytes.
Of course. That else would you do during afternoon?

As far as I can see, the only differences between a cult and a religion are numbers, social acceptability, and influence. After all, wasn't Christianity originally a Jewish cult that followed a heretic Jew who said he was the Messiah?
I don't really think you got what I was saying. It's one thing to follow a god, as it's legitimate. It's another thing entirely to follow some hooey that disguises itself as religion and brainwashes people into thinking it's a true religion, and then tries to get the person disassociated with anyone who doesn't believe in it.
So, exactly like any other religion. :p
 
According to this site( http://www.rickross.com/ ) these are 10 most popular cults...

1. Benny Hinn
2. Joyce Meyer
3. Landmark Education
4. Polygamist Groups
5. Abusive and Controlling Relationships
6. Scientology
7. Amway
8. Jonestown
9. Kabbalah Centre aka Philip S. Berg
10. Executive Success Programs (ESP)

Then there is Apple. Read HERE.

:lol:
 
^ Does this mean I don't get any sex orgies? :(
You can, but you have to join my cult. How much money do you have?

I've often considered starting my own cult. I say a lot of profound things-- I deserve to lay around in a toga, surrounded by naked female acolytes.
Of course. That else would you do during afternoon?
I can't do anything else. I must live up to my responsibilities as cult leader. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.
 
I've often considered starting my own cult. I say a lot of profound things-- I deserve to lay around in a toga, surrounded by naked female acolytes.
Of course. That else would you do during afternoon?

As far as I can see, the only differences between a cult and a religion are numbers, social acceptability, and influence. After all, wasn't Christianity originally a Jewish cult that followed a heretic Jew who said he was the Messiah?
I don't really think you got what I was saying. It's one thing to follow a god, as it's legitimate. It's another thing entirely to follow some hooey that disguises itself as religion and brainwashes people into thinking it's a true religion, and then tries to get the person disassociated with anyone who doesn't believe in it.
So, exactly like any other religion. :p

Maybe with that description. Ok, how's this. Religion has spiritual leanings, cults do not.
 
As far as I can see, the only differences between a cult and a religion are numbers, social acceptability, and influence. After all, wasn't Christianity originally a Jewish cult that followed a heretic Jew who said he was the Messiah?
I don't really think you got what I was saying. It's one thing to follow a god, as it's legitimate. It's another thing entirely to follow some hooey that disguises itself as religion and brainwashes people into thinking it's a true religion, and then tries to get the person disassociated with anyone who doesn't believe in it.
So, exactly like any other religion. :p

For me, the difference between a cult and a religion can boil down to this - a cult demands that the individual completely submit himself/herself to the demands of the cult leader to the exclusion of everything and everyone else, and a religion does not.

For example, I'm a practicing Roman Catholic, but I've never been told by a priest that in order to be a good Catholic that I have to completely emmerse myself in the desires of the Pope. I've never been pressured to give the Church complete, 100% control of my finances (they encourage donations and monetary support of the Church, sure, but that's somewhat different than being threatened with excommunication for failure to put money into the collection trays). I've never been told that I shouldn't have personal relationships, even intimate relationships, with non-Catholics. I've never been told that I have to support unquestioningly any decision or teaching that the Pope or any priest advances (in fact, every priest I've known personally has done nothing but encourage me to think for myself and remain true to my own ideals). And, I've never been told that I have to have sex with priests in order to be a good Catholic.

Now, of course, there is room for corruption in religion. But, when it exists, it's a miniscule minority of the whole. In fact, as devastating and abhorrent as the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church was, less than 1% of U.S. priests were involved.
 
^^ That's because the "charismatic leader" of Christianity in general is not a priest or a pope; it's Jesus Christ. Although there are certainly sub-sects within Christianity that fit the popular definition of cult, like those nuts who protest at funerals and so forth. Technically, there is no difference between a religion and a cult; in general usage, a cult just refers to a small religion that is considered odd according to current fashion.
 
In my experience much of the time when people use the word cult they simply mean "I don't like/hate that other religion/church". My sister's ex-husbands family has referred to the Catholic church as a cult for instance. Their evangelical Lutherans IIRC. Yeah, there are legitimate cults out there but a lot of the time it's a word thrown out to insult members of religions not your own that for whatever reasons you hate.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top