Today as I drove home I found myself thinking about cults. Why? I do not know; but, I found myself thinking about what makes something a cult. Is it when you have a group of people usually following a person who has strong religious views they attempt to teach. Right from wrong, heaven and hell. Following their practices and their ways because it is the only way. The people are very strong in their beliefs, they want others to join. Sometimes they convince people to do group practices almost like proving their loyalty such as selling off their belongings or move in close proximity of one another. They tend to shun outsiders or nonbelievers and feel that anyone or anything that is not in alignment of their beliefs is wrong. They are often judgmental and intolerable of other practices. Some have even went as far as killing or persecuting nonbelievers to scare others into their following.
How does this differ from other religious practices of true faith? Typically people who attend the same church may live in the same area or I have grown up together in that particular church. They sometimes believe in taking a life of poverty keeping you from being corrupt by secular influences as they help you focus on God. It's not until they start to see their numbers dwindling that they began to seek out others and try and make them feel "included". I haven't known anyone to be persecuted or killed in churches for having a different thought or practice, but I have seen their character persecuted and destroyed.
I am often amazed by the thoughts that randomly float in my head, they are just thoughts not necessarily beliefs..just thoughts.
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