Comment Re:Catholicism a Cult? (Score 1) 328
People are put in physically or emotionally distressing situations;
Early Christian followers were threatened, beaten, etc.
Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which is repeatedly emphasized;
Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Gee, I'm glad that you were able to sum up all of the Catechism and Scripture into that one line of the Beatitudes. You know, maybe Thomas Aquinas would have written a lot less had he realized that the entirety of Christian thought could be summed up in this one line. Or perhaps you are trying to shoehorn something here.
They receive unconditional love, acceptance, and attention from a charismatic leader;
Jesus is said to have unconditional love for all people.
Seriously? You are honestly comparing the love bombing that goes on in cults to the Atonement?
They get a new identity based on the group;
Followers of Jesus are no longer Jews, Pagans, etc... They are known as Christians.
So then I guess all countries are cults as well, considering that a Frenchman who gained citizenship in Canada would become a Canadian. The horrors!
They are subject to entrapment (isolation from friends, relatives, and the mainstream culture) and their access to information is severely controlled.
The 4 gospels were all pretty much copied from the same source (and long after Jesus died). Each one has a different audience, but the content is largely the same. In this sense, followers have restricted access to information. The Catholic church also regulates which scriptures form the Bible (and which do not). Not all writings of the Dead Sea scrolls made it into the Bible. Throughout time, religion have been used as a means to divide people. In the past, those who have questioned the religious leadership have been excommunicated, or worse...
Hmm, that's strange. When I went through RCIA no one ever isolated me from my friends, family, and work. (unless, of course, you're referring to the hour a week we went to classes). No one bothered to come to my house and remove all the comparative religious texts I have as well. No one tried to circumvent my web browsing by sending me a program that would block sites critical of the Catholic Church. No one cajoled me into installing software that would block any emails critical of my faith.The program I went through must have been defective. Of course, you could be just shoehorning again.
Even today, try being a Catholic and marrying a non-Catholic in a Church. It is not allowed!
So after all this study you never heard of a dispensation?
The meaning of "Catholic" (as welcoming) only applies to their Cathechism school!
No, Katholikos (which is a Greek word, pardon the Latinization) means "universal". As to your argument, it defies logic - especially when the proper definition is known.
From everything I've read about and seen of Scientolgists and Scientology, they do all of those things.
From everything I have read and know about Catholicism, they do and/or have done all those things.
quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur
