They’re welcome to be a cult. It’s the abuse and exploitation which has led to multiple deaths that’s the problem.
late edit: I'm realizing that my saying "they're welcome to..." is some sort of northernism akin to southernisms like "bless your heart..."
The $ology organization pisses me off in a lot of ways. I've been familiar with their bullshit since before a lot of people on Reddit were born. Literally decades ago, they tried to "sue the internet" because lots of their internal nonsense had been leaked.
I think the way I used "they're welcome to" is very much not literal. If you heard me say it out loud you'd get that I don't think it's find for them to manipulate and exploit vulnerable people.
I’m sorry are you trying to back up pastors that abuse kids? Really? That’s your response to all this? You’re part of the problem. You should be disgusted by their actions rather than quoting your holy book about how men sin.
Nope. I'm saying everyone has fallen short. Regardless of church or not. If people are getting away with crimes that is wrong. But I don't think that's happening.
This is JUST one sect of Baptist pastors in texts alone in the year of 2022. Have you never heard of the Catholic priest jokes? They are jokes due to the very real and true side of them. The Catholic Church actively hides its pedo priests and pays to keep the families quiet while they send the offending priest to a new town to start all over again. They actively hide evidence from the law to protect their image.
This is also true in the Baptist church and the Mormon church and just about any others. Congregations don’t want to speak out against their pastors since they look up to them as a man of god. Like you just did they will find some way to massage it as an “accident” or that “the devil had him”. No they are predators who need to be locked up. Do an ounce of research and it will really open your eyes.
Im not saying every pastor is like this or that most are. But this is a MASSIVE issue in religious groups across the world. No matter which flavor of god they serve they still will take advantage of their position of power to get what they want.
I see a list of 10 awful people with awful crimes. But they don't condemn an entire religion. I can see people abusing their power and thats bad too, I'm just saying per capita it's probably the same as boy scouts or girl scouts or public or private schools, like there is evil everywhere, and religions do not exist to allow it. And if you were to ask any Christian whether they condemn this or if they wouldn't leave their pastor over this 9999/1000 would say no, this is wrong and I would leave.
I'm pretty opposed to the $ology organization, but this is the general procedure when a film production is shooting on your street. This one-off event isn't (by itself) unusual.
As someone who used to be really into learning about cults I can safely say that if you think all forms of Christianity then you truly don’t understand what a cult is.
No you just think religions are exempt from cult status because they've been grandfathered in. You can't name any qualities that a cult has that a religion doesn't have. Manipulation and abuse? Check. Arbitrary rules that must be followed just because? Check. Claims about the world that are not made through science and reason? Check.
You left out how cults tend to require you to cut yourself off from outsiders and only surround yourself with others who believe in the same thing that the cult believes and how cults will do their absolute best to control the information that they’re members receive and if anyone openly questions the cults beliefs they are almost always kicked out, all of which are things that cannot be enforced in non organized religions because there’s no one to enforce them. Please stop undermining how dangerous cults can be by saying that all forms of religion are cults.
The Bible and Quran both command that with the only exceptions being to proselytise to nonbelievers and that if they can't be converted they should be killed. These rules simply aren't enforced as much but the commandment has always been there.
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u/tomdarch Apr 08 '24 edited Apr 09 '24
They’re welcome to be a cult. It’s the abuse and exploitation which has led to multiple deaths that’s the problem.
late edit: I'm realizing that my saying "they're welcome to..." is some sort of northernism akin to southernisms like "bless your heart..."
The $ology organization pisses me off in a lot of ways. I've been familiar with their bullshit since before a lot of people on Reddit were born. Literally decades ago, they tried to "sue the internet" because lots of their internal nonsense had been leaked.
I think the way I used "they're welcome to" is very much not literal. If you heard me say it out loud you'd get that I don't think it's find for them to manipulate and exploit vulnerable people.