Forbidden Fruit Cult Behavior

The history surrounding cults is not as simple as one might think. Cults raise a

The wars of religion, which were disputes between Catholics and Protestants about the religion of a territory, took place in Germany, France, and England from 1500-1628. These arguments consisted of several disagreements between the leaders of a particular country and its people. In all three countries a law or settlement was passed that was intended to serve as beneficial to religious minorities, mostly of which were Protestant. However, after these laws were passed to help the Protestants there were residual issues. These issues were either due to the fact that the Catholics, or the majority, were upset because they lost too much religious power or that the Protestants, the minorities, were still unhappy about “sharing” religious territory with the Catholics.

One historical conflict that arose between upholding religious freedom and the tactics used to control religious groups was The Philadelphia Bible Riots. Anti-Catholic groups protested “the use of the Catholic Bible in public schools.” (Koppleman, 2014, p. 143) Violence ensued, ending with fifty-eight deaths, forty-five homes, two Catholic Churches and a Catholic School being burned down.

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged” Matthew 7:13 KJV. Mrs. Turpin in the short story “Revelation” is full of judgment. “Revelation” written by Flannery O’Connor (1964) is about a lady who deems herself as clean and Christian.

Ever since we were little, our parents, guardians, or even ourselves grew up to know the difference in between was would be considered peversive and what isn’t. Many people find it difficult to understand how people can be so devoted to a religion or something that can’t be scientifically proven, but the real question is how can a normal resident be allured by cults. A religious cult may be well known to us as a religious imposter who claims to lead the way to salvation and a lifespan of well being filled with blessings and free of the damnation a disease may bring, only because he or maybe even she may claim that he was sent from the heavens to the filthy earth. People who are believers in a omipitent kind believe this to be a ludicrous idea ,

In the time of the Bubonic Plague, the Muslims and Christians were at each other's throats. One may think this plague should have brought everyone together to battle against it, but it actually tore the Christian churches apart. Many

Humans through-out life will have thoughts and experiences that may take their judgment away from what their chosen God guided them to do. For example, in the Christian religion suicide is frowned upon by God. However, many faithful Christians have experienced things in their life that troubled and shook their faith in God to fix their problems to the point of going against him and taking their own life. There is also people that will defend their God’s beliefs with all of their ability; even when they feel no one else is on their side. For example, same sex marriage was legalized all across America. However, according to the Christian religion that is a sin in the eyes of God and it is people that voice their beliefs and feel that they are

The word “Cult” has not always had such a negative connotation attached to it. Many religions would’ve been considered cults when they first began. By the end of the 19th century many visionaries had revealed radically new religious systems, claiming immunity to the impurities of the old ones (Powers, 1997). These were no more than a group of people organizing themselves in worship and devotion for a person, object, or movement. They practiced rituals different to other “mainstream” religions, and were therefore considered cults.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines cult as: "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also: its body of adherents." Indeed, any religion involving unconditional worship and unquestioning obedience to God could be labeled as a cult (using the derogatory suggestion of the word), since such a religion would have that high level of dependency, obedience, and unwavering compliance ascribed to cults by definition. Many mainstream religions still require their members to believe in God unquestioningly, to have faith that he is good and that what he does is good, to consider one's own wants and needs as unimportant while accepting the will of God as paramount. All of these are certainly characteristics commonly attributed to cults, but while it would not be unreasonable to apply this definition of a cult to any dogmatic religion that requires strict compliance with God's word and will as a condition of membership, the notion of applying the word "cult" to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any other major world religion today is considered absurd. There are those who make this very claim: that those who worship God fit the classic depiction of cult members in their dogmatism, unswerving

Cults have existed throughout history since the beginning of time. A cult is defined in Webster’s dictionary as a “system of religious worship with a devoted attachment to a person, principle, etc.” Over the past thirty years numerous religious cults have caused “ tens of thousands to abandon their families, friends, education’s, and careers to follow the teaching of a leader they will never meet”(Beck 78).

It's interesting that throughout Christian history, the founders of false movements have used the very same tactics. (1) They merge their

     Some believed that since God’s righteousness is made evident when people commit unrighteousness, God would not be able to punish people for their sins because their sin showed God’s righteousness. Paul argued that if this was so, God could not judge the world (3:5-7). Some went so far as to allege that Paul taught that people should sin to bring about good (3:8).

Good and evil similarly co-exist in the local church, which underscores the "for all people" aspect Church. However, problems arise when error receives equal voice to the Truth. The Truth shakes up the Church. Only Christ (The Word of Truth) can separate wheat from tares, truth from falsehood, and fact from fiction. Like an ox, threshing grain tied to a millstone, the worshiping church must circle God's Truth threshing out disciples. "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain" (1 Cor 9: 9), St Paul warns. In other words, do not hinder or silence those who are doing Christ's work.

I’m sure this has happened (based on my couple of years living in the “Bible Belt”), but I personally have never seen this: someone who is pro-building sit down with someone who’s not and calmly, kindly, and lovingly share with them from Scripture that they should meet in a church building (not be in a ministry or be with other people, but the actual building) because it’s what Jesus wants them to do. After reading and studying about the church, I can only imagine the kind of reasons and arguments the person would give them. But, I’ll say it again (and probably many more times), if you truly have a conviction from God to be in a church building and can see from Scripture that that’s where you need to be, by all means do it and stay there! I can also see this situation in reverse where a person who is pro-house (or anything other than a building) sits down with a pro-building person and tries to argue their point from Scripture. Yes, granted, there is a lot more Scripture evidence that believers in Paul’s day met in houses, but is either a point to fight over and say that either could be sin?

Many of the ancient and historical conflicts are believed to be connected to religion in a various ways and proven that religion can be used as an excuse for violence. For instance, The Crusade Wars ended in the brutality of both Christians and Muslims during the mass dispute (Burton 1984). The Jews have perpetrated massacres through nations for the solitary reason to attain their belief. During the reformation of Christians thousands of people were killed because of their religion. In Yugoslavia, the war in 1991 pitted Orthodox Christians, Muslims, and Catholics against each other in a brutal combat (Avalos 2005). Also, thousands of monks were being persecuted in Burma