Is Christianity a Cult?

The scriptures referred to are Acts 11:1-18 and John 13:31-35.

Religious scholars are reluctant to use the word “cult” these days. It's pejorative. And every current religion started as a small group that managed to survive and grow. Scholars joke that the formula for a religion is to take a cult and simply add time. So the preferred term is “new religious movement.” My problem is then how do we refer to such movements when they exhibit the destructive behavior that marks what is commonly called a cult?

People not squeamish about the term define a cult as group following a charismatic leader who speaks with absolute authority and who exercises extreme control over its members' lives and who exploits them. Which means even non-religious groups like NEXIVM and many multi-level marketing companies can be cults. A secular cult's leader portrays himself as a genius who has worked out the secrets of success. In religious cults, the leader has absolute authority because he speaks for God or says he is God. And that gives him the right to exert control over everything in his followers' lives.

Steve Hassan, an ex-cult member who became a clinical psychologist and is an expert on cults, says what makes some cults destructive are the mind control techniques they use. He articulated the BITE model to describe this. The leader and those under him control members' Behavior, and their access to Information, and teach them to control their own Thoughts and Emotions. The behavioral control will be seen in the amount of sleep members are allowed, the amount and types of food they can eat, whether they can marry or have sex and with whom. They may have to work long hours for the cult for little or no pay. The members' access to information about or from the outside world is controlled not only by cutting them off from the media but also from their family and friends if those are outside the group. Only information from the leader or the cult is allowed to be consumed. When members have doubts or troubling questions or negative emotions about the leader or the cult, they are trained to suppress them. Eventually this self-censorship becomes second nature. It helps the members deal with the cognitive dissonance that naturally arises when they perceive that reality is at odds with what they are taught or when they detect hypocrisy in their leader.

Some feel this describes all religions, especially Christianity. So is Christianity a cult?

First off, let's acknowledge that cults have arisen from Christian movements. But let's not confuse them with denominations. These come about when some Christians feel the predominant church is corrupt and/or in error on a matter they feel is crucial to faith or practice. Luther, Calvin and other reformers broke away from the Roman Catholic church over such issues. But though they started new church movements and were considered great theologians, they were never regarded as being on the same level as Moses or Jesus. Nor did they see themselves that way. They were simply preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the early church when factions attached themselves to certain preachers, Paul condemned it: “...each of you is saying, 'I am with Paul,' or 'I am with Apollos,' or 'I am with Cephas,' or 'I am with Christ.' Is Christ divided? Paul wasn't crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?'” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13) As we said last week, what's essential is Jesus. Accept no substitutes.

A group that splits off from the church becomes a cult when the leader claims authority to depart from the teachings and morals of Jesus. In fact cult leaders invariably introduce novel and unbiblical doctrines and unethical rules of behavior. They often do so because they say they are on the same level with Jesus or God, although they usually begin by just saying they speak for God. The revelation of the leader's divine status is usually not disclosed until members are fully incorporated into the group. The leader's special status allows him to break rules that apply to mere mortals.

Well, Jesus did claim to be God. In last week's reading from John, Jesus says, “The Father and I are one.” This does give him absolute authority. And he does make changes in some of the laws of the Old Testament, like those about the Sabbath, and touching lepers, menstruating women and the dead. (Exodus 23:12; Leviticus 13:45-46 and 15:19-27; Numbers 19:14, 16) But he doesn't do this for selfish reasons; he does it so that people can be healed. Cult leaders tend to change moral laws to benefit themselves. Jesus did not use his authority for his own privilege. He did not enrich himself or exploit his followers.

One prerequisite for being a cult leader seems to be having sex with any member you fancy, as was the case with David Koresh, Jim Jones, Keith Raniere, Yogi Bhajan, Serge Benhayon and so on: the list is endless. But there was never a hint of this with Jesus, not even from his detractors. In fact Jesus was apparently celibate. The so-called “Gospel of Jesus' Wife” that made news in 2012 has been shown to be a modern forgery. And then there's that odd saying of Jesus that “there are eunuchs who were that way from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:12) This may have something to do with the fact that, unlike the typical rabbi, Jesus was unmarried, as well as the fact that nowhere in the Bible is there a word for bachelor. Also when Paul, who was celibate, says he could have a wife if he chose, he cites Peter and Jesus' brothers who were married. If Jesus were married, why not point to him as the perfect example? (1 Corinthians 9:5)

And yet neither Jesus nor Paul demand celibacy of Christians, as do some cult leaders. Regarding that saying about eunuchs, Jesus says, “Not everyone can accept this statement, except those to whom it has been given.” (Matthew 19:11) Paul says, “I wish that everyone was as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one this way, another that.” (1 Corinthians 7:7) Unlike a cult, in Christianity people have a choice when it comes to whom they marry or whether they marry.

Cults don't let people have choices because (A) choices go against the absolute control a cult leader demands and (B) choices can lead to unforeseen situations, which again can be hard to control. But in the early church we see that its unity in Christ did not mean uniformity in all things. As we see in today's reading from Acts, they realized not all Christians had to be Jews or circumcised. Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6) Christians also had the freedom to choose to eat meat that could only be purchased from shops attached to pagan temples and which had previously been offered to idols or they could refuse on the grounds of their conscience. Paul said, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon or Sabbath days—these are only the shadow of things to come, but the reality is Christ!” (Colossians 2:16-17) In other words, don't let these other things distract you from the central reality of the faith: Jesus.

Paul says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourself be subject again to the yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) No cult allows people any latitude or freedom in how they do things. Small infractions are usually severely punished, often physically, and no one is free to just leave. People leaving Scientology get harassed. That's a written policy coming from founder L. Ron Hubbard himself. People who left the Nation of Yahweh in Miami were murdered. In fact their leader, who tellingly called himself Yahweh ben Yahweh, was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in connection to the deaths of 14 people as well as 2 attempted murders.

In contrast Jesus said, “...love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45) Sun and rain are both good things in an agricultural society. Most cult leaders think being like God means having the power of life and death over others. Jesus says being like God is showing love and mercy to all.

As we've said, cult leaders are intolerant of those who are not part of their group. But when some of his disciples went to Jesus and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not a disciple along with us,” Jesus replied, “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.” (Luke 9:49-50) Unlike cult leaders, Jesus wasn't jealous of others helping people in his name and he didn't promote rivalry with similar or split-off groups.

Cult leaders separate people from family members outside the group. And cult leaders will use the threat of cutting off those who leave from family members who stay in the group. Some justify the practice by referring to the passage where Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have come not to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. Whoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:34-37) Taken out of context it seems to justify splitting up families in the name of religion. But the context is Jesus sending out the disciples into Galilee and warning them how people will react to their kin becoming his followers. The part of about division is descriptive, not prescriptive. He is saying this will just happen naturally; he is not telling his disciples to make this happen intentionally. Jesus lived in a society in which his fellow Jews were divided into rival groups like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Essenes and the Zealots. Jesus is not naive. He knew that, people being what they are, they would not tolerate another Jewish movement, unlike the way Jesus tolerated the man outside his group doing healings in his name.

As for the second part of this passage, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, Jesus is not saying we should love our family members less. He is saying we should love Jesus more. It's a matter of priorities. But surely nothing is more important than family? In our Revolutionary War and in our Civil War, families were divided on the issues of independence and slavery. Were those issues not as important as keeping the peace in the family? Ben Franklin's son, the royal governor of New Jersey, after being removed from office, worked with a group that tracked down and killed patriots during the Revolutionary War. Father and son never reconciled after that. The same thing no doubt happened in Germany in World War 2. If your brother was a Nazi, would that be less important than having argument-free Sunday dinners? Ma Barker loved her sons more than the lives of those they killed. David Kaczynski loved his brother Ted but when he realized he was the Unibomber he turned him in. At times, loyalty to what is right is more important than loyalty to family.

Cult leaders usually try to isolate their followers from the rest of the world, supposedly to keep them pure, but really to keep control of them and of the information they receive. But Jesus when praying for the church said, “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one.” (John 17:15) And of course, in the Great Commission, he sends us out into the world to teach and make disciples and baptize others. So should we separate ourselves from the world or not?

The safest place for a boat is on one of those racks on land in a boat yard. But that's not what a boat is for. It's made to go out into the water. The trick is to get the boat into the water but not get the water into the boat. For instance, Corinth was the Sin City of the ancient world, even in the eyes of pagans. On the hilltop above this port city was a temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. And every day the temple prostitutes would come down the hillside looking for “worshipers.” Being a follower of Jesus was hard in that environment. Paul said to the church there, “I wrote in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone calling himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-11) Imagine how many scandals the church would have avoided if it had followed his advice when it came to predatory priests or greedy pastors or con artist evangelists or bullying leaders? We should not be covering up for the same kind of people bringing notoriety to Hollywood and corporations and governments. Again, we are to be in the world but not of the world.

Christianity, as exemplified by Jesus and practiced by Paul, is not a cult. The fact that such groups exist in the church reveals a deficiency in following our ideals. But that doesn't mean we should throw out Biblical Christianity any more than abuses in our government would mean throwing out our Constitution. One way to define evil is as a misuse, abuse or neglect of what is good. Cults arise when charismatic leaders alternately distort and discard the good things found in Christianity for their own selfish ends. They claim to be all about purifying, or restoring the church. They use the urgency of apocalyptic revelations to justify their extremism. They love talking about the imminent end of the world, ignoring Jesus' words that wars and disasters are no reason to panic. He said, “All these things are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8)

Another thing Jesus said is, “Watch out that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ.'...Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe him. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Remember, I have told you ahead of time.” (Matthew 24:4-5, 23-25) Cults do not just happen. They are deliberately started by would-be messiahs, usually narcissistic psychopaths. And cults reflect the personality of their leader. They are manipulative, duplicitous, self-serving, and hypocritical.

Real Christianity reflects Jesus Christ, who lived a self-sacrificial life, healing and helping and forgiving and welcoming others. He didn't ask anything of his disciples he was not willing to do himself. He didn't exploit them sexually or financially. When his enemies came for him, he did not throw his followers under the bus. (John 18:8) He didn't tell them to fight for him nor to kill themselves. (Matthew 26:51-52) Instead he told them to love each other as he loved them. And he said the world would know that they really were his disciples by their Christlike love.