Is Christianity a cult?

It's an interesting situation. Our history is certainly built off of (I was going to write J C for Jude's Christian, but I think that JC is only more confusing) Ju-Ch underpinnings, and the majority of our populous is of that ilk, so in that regard you certainly could call the American Culture one driven by Ju-Ch philosophy. However, I have a couple problems with that.

First, from a purely emotional standpoint, I have fear of religion taking hold of our secular institutions. As an atheist certainly, but also and primarily a a Jew. Living in a society that is mostly dominated by another religion, and having story after story of my relatives passing from the Nazi regime, I understand that religion can be manipulated to cause great devastation.

Secondly, so many of the pillars of Ju-Ch thinking are absent in our society, and I think that's a positive thing. The first commandment of no other gods is not law, and in fact is specifically one of the reasons for separation. The secon commandment is no graven images, and that isn't part of law or even societal norms. And we could continue down this path with the sabbath or with taking the lords name in vain.

So what I'm saying is that yes there is a great amount of influence, but society is more than a saying on a coin. And our society is influenced by, but a not Judeo-Christian society.

 

I find it fascinating. Also, I don't get to discuss these issues with my friends often because most are not practicing Christians. You don't believe in Obama, but I see you post about him frequently.

 

Nothing good, heh? If you could hear me the other day after he intimated that parochial schools is like going back to days of slavery. Then the dude says the call to prayer is one of the most beautiful sounds on earth, from his days in a Muslem school in Indonesia.
Well I don't know what the bugger is but I wish he knew what a Natural Born Citizen is.

 

Marzy, great point about our country founded on Christianity. I believe that's how the country got so strong. God blessed those that praise him.

The moment the United States omits "in God we trust" or "one nation under God"; is when this country will turn to shit.

As the country becomes more atheist (agnostic is a type of thinking; atheism is the faith); the ramifications will be devastating.

 

You can already see the results of the trend. We need all voices to be heard, now is not the time to lay back and hope for better days.

 

I just don't see it getting any better. I think our country is turning their backs on God and eventually we will look around and ask "what the hell happened?"

All good things on this planet come to an end...

 

Actually Mags, I wish they had left the pledge of allegiance alone. Congress stuck the "under God in there in 1954. The purpose of the original
line in the pledge, one Nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, was a pledge to the concept of the 48 states with individual difference
held together in one nation by the common Constitution. Adding god in there sort of confused people as to what you are pledging fealty.

Now we are losing the understanding of usefulness of the Constitution. Not by this change alone of course but now the pledge is sort of obscure to say the least.

 

I think we might be very close to seeing where we are going with a great deal more clarity. Within a few years.

 

*None of these establish a Christian philosophy per se, or that Christianity is a philosophy. Rather they are (in general) attempts at applying the rigors of philosophical inquiry to various problematic aspects of Christianity (the religion). So ... that's, like, three strikes, buddy. (kidding)

However, the term philosophy does have a very watered down meaning which essentially means 'one's general approach to something' as in: Question) What's your philosophy of life? Answer) Live and let live. In that respect, a Christian philosophy might be anything anyone uses that can be traced to Christianity, as in 'Love thy neighbor ... unless he's gay, but do not love his wife, etc.' But this isn't much different than saying that in our society, there are enough ideas that are understood as having come from the Tradition, and that as free thinkers we are free to adopt or discard them at will. But even with this understanding, it isn't clear that one (so called) Christian philosophy would be the same as another (so called) Christian philosophy. In philosophy, differences typically mean a lot ... so this latter formulation is problematic too.

*Note, I did not read "Introduction to philosophy a Christian Perspective" because 1) the title seems self explanatory and 2) the favorable reviews I read support the title. That is, it's an introduction to some aspects of Philosophy proper with special emphasis geared toward the special interest a Christian might have as a novice in the ways methods and projects of Philosophy as a discipline.

 

Regarding the notion that the United States is founded on Christianity and the related idea that the founding fathers were Christian, this page offers a lot of contradictory evidence: http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

I think it's an ugly page, but the information is serviceable.

 

Clearly it WAS a cult (some prefer sect) of Judaism. But in serious religious study, the word cult rarely has the pejorative understanding indicated by so many of those responding to this thread. Maybe you would have done better to present the definition of cult from, say, a philosophy of religion source.

I seem to recall the Discovery Channel airing a documentary on this subject. Did you happen to see it?

 

Soren Kierkegaard, Christian and philosopher expressed a similar understanding. The faithful in a desire to live a Christian life should seek in the very living of it, to become transparent to the truth that is Christ. One's transparency to this light (no, not the light one sees on acid), this truth, then was the real test (of one's credibility of one's claim to be a genuine Christian). Not likely to fly today, but during his time, there was actually a concern for authenticity. I am of course paraphrasing SK.

 

They go hand-in-hand. To praise/glorify God includes being a good steward of all He has entrusted us with.

 

I really like this concept.

 

I agree to a point; but I truly believe the communication with God is more important. Like a father speaks with his child. We need to have constant communication. We choose to follow God's laws, not because we have to; but because we love him and are grateful of his grace.

I would say I agree with sly in this regard. He gave us these blessings because he loves us; not because there are strings attached.

 

Awww...that media.

I attended Mars Hill for years. Trust me, it's no cult. For various reasons, I never joined the membership.....certainly not because the doctrine wasn't sound, though.

Shoot, read some of the epistles of Paul if you wanna see many, many examples of somebody holding the church accountable!

 

You just don't like that the leader makes fun of people who believe in a "Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ... a neutered and limp-wristed popular SkyPokerDog Fairy."