Is your church a cult?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2009
Is your church a cult?
1
Fri, 02-27-2009 - 7:11pm

I was reading

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2009
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 1:50pm

I think you have me on ignore but have you ever seen Lisa Williams perform? Have you seen her TV show? Have you ever had a reading done for yourself?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 1:50pm

There is a memorable quote from L. Ron Hubbard to the effect that the smart business to be in is religion.

It is also interesting how religion and self-help have become entangled, Osteen says he sees himself more as a "life coach" than as a preacher, and that "The Secret" thingy is endorsed by self-help blatherers like John Grey, when in fact it is a bunch of quasi-religious 19th century mythology rehashed as self-help.

This is a cute poem, btw:

A Lottery is a Taxation,
Upon all the Fools in Creation;
And Heav’n be prais’d,
It is easily rais’d,
Credulity’s always in Fashion;
For, Folly’s a Fund,
Will never lose Ground;
While Fools are so rife in the Nation.

Henry Fielding, 1732




Edited 3/14/2009 2:24 pm ET by rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-07-2009
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 1:50pm

So what is he a motivational speaker or a minister?

I do not think there would be any issues with what he says if he were stating himself to be a motivational speaker but he is not, he is stating himself to be a minister and most people have different standards for motivational speakers than they do for ministers.

Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 1:51pm
Well, as long as he stays a "minister" he gets some heavy tax advantages.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-1998
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 2:54pm

That is possible. I am in a denomination (United Methodist) that runs the gamut from very liberal to very conservative, so I do think it's possible for an individual church to stray from the party line, so to speak.


However, nearly all mainstream denominations are under the authority of district superintendants, bishops, etc, who have some oversight, so if a church is seriously off-track, they can be caught. This happened at my parents' UMC in Washington state. Their pastor approved it when some of the youth wanted to march in a neo-nazi parade using the church's banner. (Can you imagine?) His rationale was that as long as they believed in it strongly, who was he to judge? It took a while, but he got sacked.


A cult can really only get going and flourish if people ignore what they are doing, and that's not as likely to happen with a mainstream church.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-1998
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 3:01pm

I think Osteen and all those "prosperity gospel" preachers are charlatans. They may have started off with good intentions--who really knows?--but once that money started coming in, they were really corrupted.


ITA with you about churches that aren't part of a hierarchy of some kind. I know mainstream churches have their problems, but at least we have some oversight. If my pastor is preaching heresy, someone's gonna know sooner or later and kick him out.


And although I firmly believe we can read and interpret the Bible for ourselves, I want my pastor to be seminary-trained.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-27-1998
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 3:17pm

And you've just explained why Osteen is dangerous! He is supposed to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is about eternal life, not earthly wealth, and yet what you and millions of others see is the chance to get rich if you just think positively.


Positive thinking has its benefits, to be sure, but it also has its limits. In Matthew 5:36, Jesus

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 3:49pm
That sums it up pretty nicely.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 4:30pm

You mean like the RCC and the Pope who lives basically in his own country?


PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Sat, 03-14-2009 - 4:35pm

Please provide documentation to support that claim.


PumpkinAngel

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