Whats the differences between religion and a cult?

whats the differences between religion and a cult?

In a cult there's a guy at the very top who knows it's all bullshit.
In a religion that guy is dead.

are there any?

/thread

Religion has history.
Cult is Apple

/thread

Cults are more fun I think. You get to fuck all the good looking women and your daughters and then you kill everybody just before they realise that you are full of shit.

one has a movie with mew

Sigh, here we go again...

In Judaism, you can read the Tanakh and the Torah for yourself, and use your mind to decide what they mean. You are free to interact with non-Jews, and if you decide to leave Judaism, they'll be disappointed. Judaism is a RELIGION.

In Scientology, the truth is kept from you and parceled out by higherups who tell you how to think. You may not interact with persons who are not Scientologists, and if you try to leave the CoS you'll be targeted for destruction. Scientology is a CULT.

Has nothing to do with size or age of belief system.

fpbp tbh

By definition, all religions are cults.

...

I am a pussy cat and i dance and i dance and i dance.

number of followers

Oh I'm not Jewish, I'm an evangelical. I just picked a RELIGION. Here's a short, nom-exhaustive list:

RELIGION:
the three Abrahamics
Hinduism
Animism
Jainism
Satanism (LaVeyan)
Buddhism

BORDERLINE:
Mormon

CULT:
Jehova's Witnesses
Scientology
Heaven's Gate
People's Temple
Branch Davidianism

How is Jehova's Witness a cult?

Time + believers - our ability to accurately document the era = religion/cult

There's gotta be a mathematical way to break this down.

A religion is a cult that has grown large enough to assimilate into the larger culture and be accepted.
Up until that point fringe belief systems are considered cults.

You forgot Zoroastrianism under religion.

A religion and a cult are very similar.
For a cult to become a religion it must contain a miracle. that's what I remember them teaching me after they fucked my arse. :^)

So, do you honestly think that if we had the technology to document things back then, that there would be evidence of all of the supernatural bullshit?

Cult is a way of life, a religion is organised spirituality.

Heh, they are a high control group who will keep your family away from you until you return. I am/was currently one
>10/10 Mosdef a cult

They're not mutually exclusive

They're not mutually same either.

wut

Cult = organized way of life, based on mental constructs
Religion = same

Yes I do. That's one of the main reasons I believe. I find the evidence for the recorded miraculous occurrences to be compelling. What may surprise you is that I don't automatically discount other faiths' claims to the supernatural either, I just find Christ's resurrection to be the linchpin, and thus I'm evangelical.

Wasn't intended to be an exhaustive list.

>Yes I do. That's one of the main reasons I believe.
K. It's called tradition + wishful thinking.

There's a difference?

A religion has enough followers not to be considered a cult.

A couple hundred years and traditionally government acceptance.

Same thing.

A cult is a small, unpopular religion.
A religion is a large, popular cult.

That's literally it.

Scientology has a lot of followers. Jews themselves only make up 2 percent of the country with the second largest population of them, and of the two countries where the majority of Jews live it barely comes in second for total population.

Well done

>A cult is a small, unpopular religion.
>A religion is a large, popular cult.
>That's literally it.

I'll quibble a little bit, cults don't have to be religious, and unpopularity is not enough either. A cult is any small group of people having religious beliefs or practices (OR IF NOT RELIGIOUS, THEN ORGANIZED IN SUCH A WAY AS TO SHOW DEVOTION TO A PARTICULAR LEADER OR LEADERSHIP GROUP IN WAYS GENERALLY REGARDED AS SIMILAR TO THE SORT OF VENERATION SHOWN BY RELIGIOUS DEVOTEES), regarded by others as strange or sinister, AND said group generally has values or priorities that, in significant ways, deviate from or are even opposed to, certain widely accepted values in the broader society they function in.

a religion is a cult that succeeded

sad, the ugliness toward Jews, a tiny fraction of the population. In all probability you have had almost zero interaction with Jews in your day to day life.

Tax exempt status.

So the pope is dead?

Islam is the only true religion

Two percent of the population of the united States. A rather successful people.

That reminds me that I need a lamb shank bone for the 10th.

Try leaving a traditionalist or Hasidic community as a woman. Are those sects cults?

I was raised reform but that's not the whole of Judaism.

DELET THIS

they are rather cultish, but so what.

I too was raised Reform, and people calling themselves reform or unaffiliated with a sect, is probably above 70% of Jews today. Conservative and Orthodox make up most of the rest, with a few cultlike offspring here and there . . . I agree those Kiryas Joel people are fucking crazy. I identify more with Scientologists than them. They wouldn't think of you and me as Jews to begin with. Crazy, I tell you!

Success.

They may be organised the same but they are not based on the same concepts. Religion has withthood over 9000 years. A cult lasts like 10

If they're successful enough, cults eventually become religions, son.

what you just wrote has no logic, see why?

Only difference between a cult and a religion is a thousand years.

That's like saying billions of years of evolutionary success has no relevancy

Work with an ex JW. If you leave you are disfellowshipped and can't contact your JW friends or family, at least in theory.

Because God is Omnipotent, everything that happens is the Will of God
Everything we know(the universe) is the Will of God
The Will of God is the Logos
The Logos is God
God is everything.
I am God.

- Christianity

the pope doesn't know it's bullshit, he believes it

"success" is relative.

Not much

First post best post

Then so is our knowledge and why are we arguing over this.

Because maybe it has relevancy

catholic priests don't believe the bullshit themselves are preaching.