So whats in a cult?
How do you understand what is a cult?
Us committed christians know many cults.
The Masons...would you consider them a cult of dark men with many secrets?
The JW's and the Mormons have both altered the King James version of the Holy Bible (i.e. the book of Mormon and the New World Translations) adding what they pleased and taking out what they pleased.
And that despite the warning at the end of Revelation not to alter anything in that book...christians taking it to be anything in ALL of The Great Book, Old or New Testament.
Who is a cult to you? Why so?
What do we teach the children about cults ...getting tangled up in sites or with groups that obsess the spirit.
How do we warn the children about selling out the norm of home life to a cult?
Are there now so many cults that we no longer recognise a cult.
Who wants your children?
A priest once said "if we get them for the first seven years, we've got them for life".
How many groups or corps have that attitude toward the children?

Cults have nothing to do with WHAT you teach, but rather with HOW you teach.

If you observe that members are pressured not to access teachings and resources outside what they receive within their group, then you should suspect the group to be a cult.

Gibo: "the warning at the end of Revelation not to alter anything in that book.."

God needs to claim copyright? Poor bugger must be doing it tough.

"What do we teach the children about cults ...getting tangled up in sites or with groups that obsess the spirit. "

Both my children are atheist, so no worries here, thanks for asking. I've made sure they realise religion is nothing but a con designed to maintain control (and funding) for a few at the expense of the many.

Dear Yuyutsu..

A cult is defined by both what and how it teaches.

Generally, there is a major consensus which is termed 'orthodox' then, deviations from that are called 'cults'... but there's more to it.

Usually, a 'cult' will be characterized by some feature(s) which differ seriously from the message of the foundation documents of orthodoxy.
Generally, to identify a cult, one should look for the following.

1/ Power.. who controls it.
2/ Money.. who has it.
3/ Sex.. does the founder take advantage of the above to expand, enhance, enjoy this as 'part of the package'

Having a theological basis for your cult which advances any of the above interests is usually a sure sign that one's motives come from 'the flesh' rather than 'the Spirit'.

UNORTHODOX THEOLOGY. In line with the above objectives, you can look at the many many early heresies around the early Church. The list is rather long.
Mormons, for example believe:
1/ Satan and Jesus were brothers.
2/ Plurality of gods. Elohim, of the Bible, was once a man like us but was exhalted to godhood by other gods.

Not unsurprisingly, Joseph Smith had many wives and much personal power.

A 'cult' will take one section of scripture and then run with that to the exclusion of others which give the full picture. Or,they will invent 'new' scriptures to support the founders personal goals in life.

Islam is a cult. All the characteristics in the list are present in Mohammad and he invented new scriptures to fit his goals.

-The world belongs to Allah AND He(Mohammad) himself.
-He (alone) can have as many wives as offer themselves to him.
-He was to receive 1/5 of all war booty.
-Taking of war booty is authorized.
-War booty includes human beings where the females are available as sex slaves for the whim of the master.
-Arabic language is the only language God speaks.

Jehovah's witnesses are a cult. They believe that a person must 'earn' their way to heaven by good works. (Hence the work so hard door 2 door)

Boazy: "Islam is a cult"

Yeah right Boazy. And your Brethren isn't, no doubt?

With all this talk of UFOs and the end of days, I am considering joining the Scientologists. They seem to know a lot more about UFOs and all that and as Tom Cruise says, "These are the times now people. OK?" and "These are the times we will all remember. Were you there? What did you do?". They also oppose psychiatry and psychology, which seems to be a big plus!

It's either that or join a UFO mystic exorcism group that battles demons and believes in prophesies that China is going to invade any day now. Those guys seem pretty on the ball to me.

But seriously, be careful about joining the Mormoms, they're a cult- and they don't even believe in UFOs!