Every church is a cult, yes, even Christian churches. Look up the definition of cult. The icky bad meaning is a relatively new entry into the dictionaries.
Yes, I read the definition after you previously posted something about the definition of a cult. But we all know what definition is in play here.
Be that as it may, Christians (some, or even many) of them go wild and wacky all the time. When it's toooo wacky people will say things like, "He's not a true Christian," or "He's not a real Christian," or more bluntly "He's not a Christian at all."
Yet... he is.
No, he's not.
Bring a Christian, while something that isn't apparent (we dont have pointed ears like Vulcans or grow a tail or develop a pattern of freckles or something visible) isn't amorphous or subjective. One is regenerate or one is not.
Alternately, one may depart from the faith, as I suspect of some here. So it is quite possible to be a Christian and then later adopt a heretical position which places one outside of Christendom. Such a person would be one thought of us one of those crazy guys outside of the faith. Think Ted Armstrong or someone like that whose doctrine can't be reconciled with Christian doctrine. That's the case with Warren Jeffs and his group.
There are some outward signs, but they're not visible, physical ones.
But here's the bottom line. Mormonism is not a Christian denomination. It's a cult in the modern sense of the word. Like Jeffs, their doctrine can't be reconciled with Christianity.
Offshoots of mormonism, ones that consider themselves fundamental or orthodox, are not Christian denominations, whether they believe themselves to be or not.
Want to know if a stick is crooked? Place it alongside a straight stick and compare.
If you were to write down every mormon our FLDS doctrine, you'd find some that would be valid and orthodox. You'd find some that would appear to be, but use alternate definitions of terms that change things. And them you'd find a handful that are, on their face, wholly incompatible with essential Christian doctrine.
Christians run the gamut from the "normal" Christians, whatever that is, to some goober quoting God in front of a judge,
It's not so much quoting the Bible in front of a judge that's crazy, though it's probably not a first-rate legal strategy. But there are absolutely ZERO prophets today. Zero. So when a guy stands up and says, "Thus sayeth the Lord," unless he then quotes from scripture, he's departed from the truth. He may be crazy, he may be a charlatan, or he may just be well-intentioned, sincere, and wrong, as are the snake handlers you mention.
But what places this particular loon in the crazy/evil camp are his beliefs or claims (who knows if he sincerely believes them) that God communicates directly through him, and that he occupies a place in which God will essentially send down fire to consume his enemies, and in defense of sin, yet. That's what separates him from someone a Christian who's sincere and merely wrong. Jeffs is either mentally ill if he truly believes what he's saying, or pure evil otherwise. Well, he's already pure evil for molesting those girls, but in regard to his claims of God speaking the warning to the judge through him.
to protesting funerals for fun and profit. When one or more goes bad, they are dismissed as not Christians.
We are told who genuine Christians are. The world can identify Christians by their love, which would preclude the Kansas crazies from being lumped in with us. Christians can identify other Christians by the fruit of the Spirit--specific characteristic evidence that they're changing.
Ironically, the same Christians who so easily dismiss the wild and wacky of the faith will lump all Muslims in with the crazies, because, you know, all Muslims are alike, and they all read the same book. If you so that, then all Christians are alike, for the same reasons. 1234
Well, there's another factor.
Muslims, all of them, have placed a man above Christ. They believe in Christ, but they believe Him to be subordinate to their false prophet and child molester, Mohammed. Hey, he's got something in common with Warren Jeffs! They're both false prophets and child molesters! (Before anyone protests, it's a historical fact that Mohammed married a 6-year-old child and consummated that "marriage" when his victim was nine.)
So the fact that they, as a doctrine of their faith, believe that Christ is subordinate to Mohammed is what lumps them all together. Whether one might be a good neighbor or not might be another matter, but it's hardly important in the grand scheme of things.
When you consider that their religion is evil (subordinating Christ to Mohammed), how can you not lump them together? Whether they all want to blow up an airport pales in comparison.
