Catholics Belong To A Cult

[Anna]

"[b]President of Alabama’s Christian Coalition converts to Catholicism[/b]

MONTGOMERY, USA, May. 25 (CNA) - It was a long journey. But after six years, the president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, John Giles, and his wife, Deborah, were confirmed and welcomed into the Roman Catholic Church at St. Peter's Parish in Montgomery this past Easter.

In an interview, Giles told The Associated Press that when he first sat in on a Catholic mass six years ago, he couldn’t really follow it, but he was reduced to tears and he didn’t know why.

He pursued this new interest and became fascinated by the Catholic Church’s history and ritual. He continued to learn about the faith, visiting Israel and Rome, and learning always more, until finally realizing that many of his past beliefs about the Catholic Church and its teachings had been wrong.

Unlike most people, Giles conversion to Catholicism has not been a private affair, but he understands the public interest given his job as president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama.

Most people seem to want to know why he converted, Giles told AP, and he has tried to answer all of these questions and explain his reasoning in an eight-page letter. Giles said he relates to their questioning since, as a Protestant he, too, had misperceptions about Catholicism.

[color=red]He illustrated this point in recounting an experience that he had at a friend’s house one evening in Florida. There he met a lady, who was teaching a Sunday School class on cults. When describing her class, her list of cults included Catholicism.[/color]
Giles admits that his decision to convert from Protestantism to Catholicism is not a popular one in the majority Protestant state of Alabama, but he hopes that it will help in building bridges between Christian groups where there were none before. He hopes that his constituents will keep an open mind."

I think in several fundamentalist denominations, the sentiment in red above is a widely held belief!

[Ellenita]

[quote]I think in several fundamentalist denominations, the sentiment in red above is a widely held belief!  [/quote]

Sadly Anna, believe you are right! Even in the UK, where as I've posted in another thread, religion is often regarded as a personal matter and therefore not commented on in general conversation, it can happen. My neice and nephew go to a children's club run by a fundamentalist protestant group and were told by someone there that I wasn't a Christian because I was 'becoming' catholic! I don't know what they were told in entirety but it was enough to scare them into having a very concerned conversation with my family!

[homeschoolmom]

sad, but true. While not all evangelical protestants believe that Catholicism is a cult, many do.

And those that don't, probably believe it can be cult-like...

[Brother Adam]

Interesting. Is this group associated with the NEA?

[Kilroy the Ninja]

Part of the problem here is the word "cult". In and of itself the definition of the word "cult" means a devotion to, or a devotional group. It's the current [i]conotation[/i] of the word that has everyone up in arms. Right now, in our modern society we have made the word "cult" a bad thing. We have, many times, mistakenly lumped it together with "occult" which is an entirely different thing.

There are cults within the Catholic Church. For example, the Cult of Mary - those who are devoted to Mary. But the Catholic church itself is not a cult.

When the word cult is used now in modernity, we should re-examine what the true reason behind using that word. More than likely we should be using the word "sect" which by definition means a religious denomination, especially one deviating from a generally accepted tradition.

Of course, I think as people we should all try to be a little more thoughtful about the words we choose to use. They are meaningful!

[hopeful1]

i remember in my senior religion class, my teacher said that all religions are "cults" but necessarily with the connotation that "cult" has in modern society (ex. The Heaven's Gate cult a few years ago where everybody committed suicide, i don' remember all of it but it had something to do with the Hale-bob comet, or the moonies). there are cults which are socially acceptable, and then there are cults who are out there like the ones i mentioned.

just expanding on what Kilroy said.

[Anna]

The lady mentioned in the article was preparing a presentation on cults [b]for her protestant Sunday school class[/b], teaching that Catholicism is a cult -- in other words, teaching that Catholics are not Christians. I expect that a Sunday school teacher is selected by the pastor and/or church elders to instruct their youth in the beliefs of their denomination. Therefore, teaching their youth about "cults," and including Catholicism in that category, must reflect the beliefs of the adults in that denomination.

The modern-day loose definition of 'cult' distinguishes between Christians and non-Christians; any group that is non-Christian is classified as a 'cult'. Many Evangelical and Fundamentalist denominations put Catholics in the "non-Christian" category.


A Sunday school teacher calling the Catholic Church a cult is to lumps the Catholic Faith (from which her own religion sprang!) with Jehovah's Witnesses, Moonies, Mormons, Heaven's Gate, Spiritism, the Theosophic Society, and others listed in "The Kingdom of the Cults," by Dr. Walter Martin. (BTW, the Catholic Church is not among the 'cults' Dr. Martin, a Protestant, identified.)

[Quietfire]

Sadly, it's true. You are all in a cult.
Get over it. Just admit it, pick up your 'beads' and statues and be happy.

Just kidding. he,he.

Actually, (on a more serious note.)

I was at a Christian website doing some research on a particular cult and as I scrolled down the list,
there it was....
Catholicism-Roman.

I nearly burst out laughing. it was 2 am so I didnt.

I thought I had mistakenly gone onto the 'accepted Christain' belief list but I double checked and sure enough....you be a cult.

I dont think I've been back to that website since.
After all, it didnt list Born again, Presbyterian, Methodist, Luthernan, or any other Christian denomination except Catholicism (which isnt a 'denomination'.. it's a way of life. )


Peace.

Edited May 29, 2004 by Quietfire

[Dave]

Sadly, I too have heard Catholicism described as a cult. Back when I was Presbyterian yet felt attracted to Catholicism, a man at my church at the time said Catholicism was a cult. I really had to bite my tongue, as it wasn't really the time or the place to tell im off!

[Anna]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='May 29 2004, 12:24 PM'] Interesting. Is this group associated with the NEA? [/quote]
Brother Adam, I'm not ignoring this question. I just don't know what you are talking about!
Are you asking if the Christian Coalition is affiliated with the National Education Association?????
The Alabama Christian Coalition is a state branch of the national organization, established by Pat Robertson. It is basically a lobbying organization that seeks to unite Christians to influence our elected officials to keep our country's laws in conformity with God's laws...(Well, that's my definition...you could read their mission statement!)

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

National Evangelical Association.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='May 29 2004, 10:24 AM'] Interesting. Is this group associated with the NEA? [/quote]
NEA= National Education Association
NAE= National Association of Evangelicals

[Anna]

Oh.

Well how would I know?

I belong to a non-Christian cult!!!

[hopeful1]

[quote name='thedude' date='May 29 2004, 09:00 PM'] National Evangelical Association. [/quote]
i believe Intervarisity is involved with them. What is the NAE about?

[MorphRC]

Pax Iesus

[quote]I think in several fundamentalist denominations, the sentiment in red above is a widely held belief![/quote]

The majority of heretics believe this. Pentacostals, Mainstream Protestants, even certain Lutherans, Some Anglicans, 95% of ALL Ministrial sects, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers etc those types. Baptists believe it, then the split off's from Baptists believe it, but more stauchly, 7th DA's do for sure, JW's, Easily the 85% of heretical sects do, btw thats probably a understatement!

Pax Iesus Christi
Paul.

[Crusader_4]

Everytime i hear about this sort of Cult like thing i am always reminded of this famous article by Chesterton about why people see Catholicsm as a cult and such check it out its awesome

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/CONVERSI.TXT"]http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/CONVERSI.TXT[/url]

[Crusader_4]

I know the article is very lenghty but it explains VERY well why people see it as a cult definatly worth reading!

[BeenaBobba]

[quote name='MorphRC' date='May 30 2004, 01:01 AM']
The majority of heretics believe this. Pentacostals, Mainstream Protestants, even certain Lutherans, Some Anglicans, 95% of ALL Ministrial sects, Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers etc those types. Baptists believe it, then the split off's from Baptists believe it, but more stauchly, 7th DA's do for sure, JW's, Easily the 85% of heretical sects do, btw thats probably a understatement!

Pax Iesus Christi
Paul. [/quote]
Hi Paul,

I think that's a bit unfair. Not all of them believe that. Surely, [b]some[/b] of them do. Many Protestants that visit this site were offended that we'd think that all Protestants hate Catholics. If you go to Dave Armstrong's blog, you'll see that he has a list of quotations praising his work, and some of the praise is from non-Catholics. (Yes, he also gets a fair amount of bashing as well.)

I certainly don't feel comfortable saying that the majority of Protestants think Catholics belong to a cult. (Of course, they all think Catholicism is wrong to some degree or another, but that's different, I think, from calling it a cult.) I just don't have the evidence to make so bold a statement.

Take care,

Jennifer

[BeenaBobba]

[quote name='Kilroy the Ninja' date='May 29 2004, 12:33 PM'] Part of the problem here is the word "cult". In and of itself the definition of the word "cult" means a devotion to, or a devotional group. It's the current [i]conotation[/i] of the word that has everyone up in arms. Right now, in our modern society we have made the word "cult" a bad thing. We have, many times, mistakenly lumped it together with "occult" which is an entirely different thing.

There are cults within the Catholic Church. For example, the Cult of Mary - those who are devoted to Mary. But the Catholic church itself is not a cult.

When the word cult is used now in modernity, we should re-examine what the true reason behind using that word. More than likely we should be using the word "sect" which by definition means a religious denomination, especially one deviating from a generally accepted tradition.

Of course, I think as people we should all try to be a little more thoughtful about the words we choose to use. They are meaningful! [/quote]
Hi Kilroy,

It's good that you explained the semantics of the word because I have a feeling that it's often unknown by many people. A lot of debates can be avoided or shortened (leaving the way for debates on more important things) if the the specific way a person is using a word is known right from the beginning.

God bless,

Jennifer

[Quietfire]

[quote]Part of the problem here is the word "cult". In and of itself the definition of the word "cult" means a devotion to, or a devotional group. It's the current conotation of the word that has everyone up in arms. Right now, in our modern society we have made the word "cult" a bad thing. We have, many times, mistakenly lumped it together with "occult" which is an entirely different thing.[/quote]

The word 'cult' changed in our modern world to something equivalent as evil.

This happened in the 1970's after the Jim Jones incident, where he had his followers evetually drink poisoned red kool-aid and shot those who attempted to escape.
The press, for some reason, grabbed ahold of this word and started throwing it around in an negative way.
As a result, some who had any dislike for the Church 'started to notice' the word was used in devotional groups within the Church and thereby came to think that Catholicism as a whole was nothing more than one large cult.

Cult has nothing to do with 'occult' as Kilroy pointed out. The two have two very different meanings.

This is the problem when people dont think, when they refuse to do the proper groundwork on any study. This is the problem when people fail to distinguish what is the basis for elementary understanding. People are ignorant and turn to the media for their education. I am not blasting all media, but there are many who fail to take the responsibility for their actions.
All too often parents choose the t.v. for babysitting, education, and religion. Without knowing where the content is coming from or promoting, they simply sit in front of the idiot box and become a member of the parrot society.

Again, I am not against television or media. But I have always been under the impression that most things need to be taken with 'grain of salt'.(my mom's southern wit)
Dont believe everything that is pushed in your face. Do the homework, ask the questions. Or you turn into a parrot.

Peace :peace: