What is a cult

Any church except mine.

 

Sda deserves to be listed same as Mormons and JW!

 

Do SDA deny Jesus Christ as orthodox Christians understand Him?
I know they have a "cult of personality" issue with their leadership, but LOTS of churches have that problem with their pastor.

Mormons have many gods and JW deny the deity of Christ (subject to some song and dance about 'lesser god').

 

Thank you for the great short reference about cults,

 

The reason that the Catholic Church isn’t a cult is because they do not have a Book of Mormon or Watchtower, but the Catholic Church is the satanic counterfeit church.


Joy unspeakable full of glory

 

At one point in history they were considered a cult because of their previous teaching that unless church was observed on Saturdays a man could not be saved. I’m not sure if they still teach this but they did before and this rightly were classed as a C U L T


Joy unspeakable full of glory

 

SDA acknowledges the deity of Christ and faith in his sacrifice on the cross and bodily resurrection, right?

 

Not succinct. It mentioned work, relating to the leader's demand for money but left out that the leader also frequently demands sex as in the case of Jim Jones and Joe Smith. It also attacks several Christian denominations. There are better definitions. The SBC does not spend much time and money on apologetics, unfortunately.

 

Doesn't the Catechism of the Catholic Church serve the same function as the Watchtower ... a final statement of what all "true believers" hold to be true?

While I do not think it is a cult, the Book of Concord serves that function for Lutherans.

The Book of Mormon is completely new revelation ... a New New Testament, so that is in a league all by itself.

 

Sda Ellen White and other leaders held that Jesus was Michael, and was God, but not "almighty God", as many of their leaders held to Arian theology!

Also, they hold that one must keep the Sabbath for salvation, and also keep Jewish dietary laws, and see Ellen White as a modern day Prophetess, her views on doctrine are Apostolic!

 

I asked about the Book of Common Prayer once. While it is true that as a rule of thumb cults have another book, what the Episcopalians and Lutherans have is not anything like that but deals with prayers, verses, and liturgy. And no, Catholicism is not a cult but a denomination with irrelevant custom and tradition. The Catechism deals with RCC doctrinal issues, etc.--been a long time since I read it.

 

Sda still holds that one to be saved must keep the Sabbath, and recognize that Ellen White was a modern Prophetess, and her views on scriptures was infallible and binding!

 

Yes and no, as they view Jesus as Michael in some fashion, and hold that we must keep the Sabbath and that we cannot even know will be saved in the emd, as God will look at how much we kept the sabbath and other laws!

 

The RCC, Watchtower, Mormons, Sda all have that view that they alone have the right and proper understanding of the Bible and Christianity so called!

 

Are you sure about the status of Ellen White worldwide? I mean, I know nothing. I have met some friendly SDA and some unfriendly. My boss in Texas told about a guy in east Texas who would never work. Well, some SDA knocked on the door if the farmhouse and converted him. So he went to church on Saturdays and plowed and worked in the fields from dawn to dusk on Sundays to spite his neighbors. So the SDA helped him by getting him to work one day a week.

 

The official teaching is that she was just as inspired as any of the Apostles, and that her teachings and doctrines are just as inspired as any NT writer!

 

That is not cultic. The RCC is not non-Christian and the SDA is building by building.

JWs & Mormons have cultic doctrine. The 3rd cult of the 19th century is Christian Science.

 

Do they believe that--I don't hear anything about her.

 

What is cultic is that their followers must follow to a T what their church holds with!