The Son of God:

lol, christianity easily falls within your definition of a cult. It's false, unorthodox relative to those who aren't a part of it, obviously extremist, all the members live outside of society - christianity is in addition to, not the basis of any society - and these people blindly follow charismatic leaders. There are rights and ceremonies as well, grace at dinner, all religious based holidays and events like christmas, baptisms etc.

Just because a religion is widely tolerated, rather than say scientology, doesn't mean it isn't in the exact same boat as any other less popular cult.

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

unorthodox relative to those who aren't a part of it

Circular logic isn't logical. To believers, regardless of their specific religion or denomination, non-believers are "unorthodox".

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

all the members live outside of society

Again, circular logic. From an article in 2012, 84% of the world believes in God. Guess that makes you the outcast, "unorthodox" party.

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

christianity is in addition to, not the basis of any society

History disagrees with your view point. Sorry, that's just the way it is. I have no interest in trying to defend the obvious of this argument, even if you choose to be blind to it. :-)

Your argument boils down to because there are so many people believing in the bs it somehow validates that bs compared to less popular bs. That's not true, especially from the perspective of whomever believer in whatever else.

I love how christians etc think just because there are a lot of believers that makes them more right, it just means more people are wrong.

Also I wasn't using circular logic I was using relative logic. If you considered a perspective outside christianity - which many people hold - my arguments make perfect sense.

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

I love how christians etc think just because there are a lot of believers that makes them more right, it just means more people are wrong.

Straw man. I don't believe that. And faith isn't about being "right", it's about being free from worrying about that in the first place.

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cipher_nemo wrote:

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

I love how christians etc think just because there are a lot of believers that makes them more right, it just means more people are wrong.

Straw man. I don't believe that. And faith isn't about being "right", it's about being free from worrying about that in the first place.

Consider this statement from the perspective of someone who doesn't have 'faith'. This effectively says to me 'I feel the need to firmly believe in an all powerful imaginary friend to reduce my burden of stress due to the uncertain, uncaring and sometimes cruel nature of reality'

Makes me wonder why believers need to have that imaginary friend to cope with life and how they sustain that belief.

I wasn't exposed to any kind of religion when I was younger and when I would hang out with friends and go with them to church or whatever I literally felt like every person was pretending and they treated me like I was crazy for not only not believing in god but it not even occurring to me that I should.

Makes me think faith and religion has nothing to do with the validity of the religion relative to the true nature of reality but simply a given person's perspective of that religion, also occam's razor.

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CarriorWarri0r wrote:

no i don't want to be apart of your cult

EDIT: So many people into religion, without looking can any of you tell me the difference between Satan, Satanael, Satanichia, Lucifer and Beelzebub?

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

Consider this statement from the perspective of someone who doesn't have 'faith'. This effectively says to me 'I feel the need to firmly believe in an all powerful imaginary friend to reduce my burden of stress due to the uncertain, uncaring and sometimes cruel nature of reality'

I understand your viewpoint. Perfectly valid. For me, as is with many Christians, it was never about a "need" but rather a result.

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GeorgAnatoly wrote:

I wasn't exposed to any kind of religion when I was younger and when I would hang out with friends and go with them to church or whatever I literally felt like every person was pretending and they treated me like I was crazy for not only not believing in god but it not even occurring to me that I should.

You're not crazy, you're just human. :-) Many "born-again" Christians have similar experiences.

I was agnostic decades ago, and wanted nothing to do with Christianity. Yet my faith now is a result of how God worked in my life. From your viewpoint you could easily say that's from my own will, my own mind, etc. working in my life. I would understand that viewpoint. But for me personally, I *know* it was not me alone. At 28, back around the turn of the millennia, I completely changed. It wasn't me wanting to have faith or a belief, and it wasn't others trying to convert me, it was God working in my life.

After reading some input: do you realize that believe in god and be christian are two different things?

Another story for example is: goal of practitioner of christianity is to achieve redemption/salvation while many simply take christianity as submissive in exchange for protection?

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Disrupted wrote:

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CarriorWarri0r wrote:

no i don't want to be apart of your cult

EDIT: So many people into religion, without looking can any of you tell me the difference between Satan, Satanael, Satanichia, Lucifer and Beelzebub?

Tip but not explanation: those are powers like love, hate or personifications like Aphoridiete, Horus, Heracles; nevertheless what those "really" are, is hidden by your own study, experience and imagination.

:)

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cipher_nemo wrote:

Christianity as a whole is not "outside of conventional society". And there is no single "charismatic leader" unless you consider Jesus filling that role, in which case that leader is no longer in the flesh.

Jesus is present "in the flesh" in every Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church, year round.
Only new age Christians have abandoned the teachings of Jesus and his Apostles concerning the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.