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Christianity, the
Cults and Other Religions:
'Christian'
Cults
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By 'the Christian cults' we mean those
groups which, though they claim to be Christian, differ from
basic Christianity to the degree that they are regarded as being
in major error and thus heretical. Most of these cults originated
in America.
Members of these groups fall into two general categories.
Some have swallowed the party line completely and have no interest
in listening to other people's views. Others, by contrast, are
fundamentally seeking God and through circumstances have been
drawn into the cult, but their overriding desire is to know and
please the Lord. These are usually much more open to debate and
the weighing of other viewpoints.
We also need to remember that God is a God of grace and responds
to the slightest move on a person's part towards him. For that
reason, while we may completely reject a cult's doctrine as a
system, we must stay open to the fact that some members may be
genuinely saved—in spite of the system rather than because
of it.
Jehovah's Witnesses
This cult was founded by an American, Charles Taze Russell
(1870-1916). The name 'Jehovah's Witnesses' (based on Isaiah
43:10) was not adopted until 1931, the group having previously
been called by several other names: Russellites, Millennial Dawn,
the International Bible Students' Association, and the Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society.
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Typical JW literature |
Jehovah's Witnesses have their
own English translation of the Bible: the New World Translation. Christian
scholars universally recognise it to be unreliable, in places dishonest, and
adapted in line with the group's doctrines. Their
doctrine of Christ is seriously deficient. They deny his deity, believing
him to be a created being, the archangel Michael. His death atoned only for
Adam's sins, not for anyone else's; it merely provides a basis upon which
individuals must work for their own salvation.
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form from the dead. As for his return, they hold that he was crowned as king
in October 1914 and 'returned' secretly and invisibly. At the same time,
Satan and his hosts were thrown out of heaven and came to earth.
As for the Holy Spirit, Jehovah's Witnesses view him as no
more than a vague force.
With no real Saviour, they inevitably end
up in legalism. Salvation has to be earned by door-knocking,
the selling of Watchtower literature and attending meetings and
conferences. There is an 'anointed class' of believers, numbering
144,000, who, if they work hard enough at it, are born again
and will go to heaven, but the last of these places was taken
in 1931. Other believers are in the general class, called the
'other sheep', and they will have to be content with life on
the new earth.
Jehovah's Witnesses take a legalistic view of Genesis 9:4,
on the basis of which they teach it is a sin to accept a blood
transfusion. As a result, many have died who with a transfusion
might have been saved.
Christadelphians
The name comes from two Greek words meaning 'Christian brothers'.
Like Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians are Arians, that is,
they believe Christ to be a created being.
The movement was started by an English medical doctor, John
Thomas (born 1805), who spent much of his life in America.
He became fascinated by the book of Revelation and other prophetic
books of the Bible. Soon he claimed to have the authentic interpretation
of those books, and taught that salvation depended on embracing
his views. The movement developed chiefly in Britain but never
became very large.
Like Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians reject the doctrine
of the Trinity, holding both the Son and the Spirit to be created
by the Father. Jesus' birth was not miraculous, nor was his life
perfect, and there is no atoning value or purpose in his death.
The Holy Spirit is just a vague power. The devil does not exist.
They deny salvation by grace. The Christian life begins, they
hold, with baptism by Christadelphians, after which life is a
period of probation. Depending on the individual's performance,
salvation may or may not be achieved. In other words, salvation
is entirely by works.
Numbers appear to have been shrinking in recent years and
this cult remains small compared with the Jehovah's Witnesses
and Mormons.
Properly called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, this cult traces its roots to an American named Joseph
Smith (1805-1844).
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He was a psychic (Mormons would
say 'prophet') and claimed many 'revelations' that led to the creation of
the Mormon Church. The main one was of an angel called Moroni, who told him
that details of early American history and a fuller revelation of the gospel
were written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics on gold plates hidden under
Cumorah hill. Four
years later he was provided with the 'Urim and Thummim', which
were 'stones' enabling him to decipher the hieroglyphics and
translate the plates. This is the cult's main textbook, the Book
of Mormon, which in theory they give equal status with the
Bible but in practice exalt above it.
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Joseph Smith |
| Early Mormons were polygamists (Smith had
17 wives) and had difficulty finding acceptance in society. Smith's
successor, Brigham Young (at least 26 wives), eventually
led them on a trek to Utah, where they settled and founded Salt
Lake City—still the cult's headquarters. Their doctrine differs from Bible truth in
many points. They believe that God was once a mortal like the
rest of us but advanced to become a god. Christ was the devil's
brother, a polygamist who married both Mary and Martha at the
wedding at Cana. His death has no saving power. He did, however,
rise from the dead and he visited America in AD 34 - a flat contradiction
of Acts 1:8-11. But the Holy Spirit is merely an impersonal force.
Salvation is by being baptised by Mormons, living a good life
and keeping the church's rules. Members can also undergo proxy
baptism on behalf of non-baptised people of bygone ages. Young
men are expected to do a period of missionary service by calling
at people's homes and trying to convert them.
Mormons attract many to their numbers by their emphasis on
family life and wholesome values-and their American funding.
They are also very diligent in looking after their members, providing
support for the needy in both cash and kind so that they have
no need to look to the state for benefits.
Christian
Science
This cult, which is neither Christian nor scientific, was
founded by Mary Baker Eddy (born in New Hampshire, USA,
in 1821). Its proper name is The Church of Christ, Scientist.
Mrs Baker Eddy, three times married, had a very unhappy life
and suffered with poor health. She claimed to have been healed
dramatically on two occasions, leading to the formulation of
her theories, the main one being that sickness and death are
illusions, existing only in the mind. In 1875 she set out her
views in Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures.
She claimed to be God's appointed messenger to this age.
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Though the movement grew in popularity, making
its founder very wealthy, it is now in decline, and its American
newspaper, the Christian Science Monitor, is losing money.
One can still, however, find a Christian Science Reading Room
here and there.
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| The movement disapproves of medical treatment, advocating
instead 'prayer and mental renewal'. Qualified Christian Science
practitioners charge adherents for their services of encouragement
in this. Yet Mrs Baker Eddy is reliably recorded as wearing both
glasses and dentures, as well as receiving regular pain-killing
morphine injections. Christian Science is
pantheistic, that is, it holds that God is the universe and the universe is
God. It thus has no time for the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is Christian
Science, and Jesus, it maintains, was just a Jewish man who lived 2000 years
ago. He is totally separate from Christ—which is the name for the divine
idea. Jesus did not really suffer or die, so there was no resurrection. He
was just a good example to us.
Since sin, evil, and even material things are delusions of
our mortal mind, there is no need for any atonement. 'Salvation' simply
means being saved from wrong ideas.
Christian Scientists believe the Bible to contain many
errors, yet they accept Mrs Baker Eddy's writings as inspired and without
error.
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