Jump to content

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

toonkee

Cults are a Hot Topic Right Now

Recommended Posts

20 minutes ago, AndroidAggie said:

I've had a few moments of faith, choice, and question that have shaped how i feel about my own faith and i'm quite glad to state that i believe it.  most of the experience(s) i had came from an interested and involved reading of the Book of Mormon.

Thanks for the response. The historicity arguments have me skeptical but I still have the BOM on my to-read list. Wish John Smith and God could have been a bit more concise and modern though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, bsu_alum9 said:

Thanks for the response. The historicity arguments have me skeptical but I still have the BOM on my to-read list. Wish John Smith and God could have been a bit more concise and modern though. 

well, the whole "stay alive during the winter and make sure we don't piss off the powhatan" thing sorta had him otherwise occupied.

your historicity misgivings are certainly understandable.  i hope you do read it one day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, bsu_alum9 said:

From a complete outsider - is the book of mormon really a complete enough picture to get the whole gist of it all? It seems to me the LDS faith (like most others) is so much based on culture and traditions that it’s hard for people who didn’t grow up in it to understand.

You have the gist of it. They paint themselves much like the Jews of The Exodus. Cast off. Rejected everywhere they went. Wandered in the Desert until they arrived in Zion. 

A shared story of persecution and inclusion to something perceived outside the norm.

I'm not criticising the believers but that's basically how it works 

"We don't have evidence but, we have lot's of theories."

Americans Mayor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/31/2020 at 1:29 PM, toonkee said:

Two big docs on Nexium and One about Scientology right now.   

Of course there is Q, Trumpism, etc.  There's way too many people right now willing to end the USA to honor their faith in a conman (just like all cultists). Way too many.

What is the appeal in this day and age? Why is cultism cool right now?

Is it because of the decline of mainstream religion and we're filling the void? 

Is it just that we were intellectually unprepared to deal with the onslaught of information and misinformation at out fingertips?

 image.png.41f5e15b965409f213ea9310408c46be.png

The presence of cults and their success in recruitment is nothing new. #Cult45 simply represents the largest such cult since Scientology arrived on the scene.

I used to deliver a course on cults an the occult to LEAs in CA. It was a pleasure to teach this course, as the subject is intrinsically engaging.

The root word (Latin "cultus") simply referred to the act of tending to or caring for something (it is a fine line between devotion and worship). We don't think of "culture" as a negative word. Similar to "cultivate" something is to nourish it and help it grow.

So why do we call one group of worshippers a cult and another a religion? This is where the dynamic needle of social norms comes into play. Remember about 2000 years ago when that tree-hugging robed hippy was walking around the countryside, all giving away free fish and wine and shit? 

s3bBPYD2yZANG9YooC06QqfFgQrFfrVM8g-sLMVR

That is why I (and my predecessor before me) used to train LEAs on relying upon the presence (or absence) of recognized common characteristics of destructive cult ideologies in determining whether or not a movement represented a "cult" in the traditional sense of the word.

 

 

St-Javelin-Sm.jpgChase.jpg 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, AndroidAggie said:

yeah i was

but awhile back it sort of became a "am i really doing this for me or am i doing this because expectations?"

long story short, i did it because of me.

Dude I have so much respect for you on so many different levels.

I have vacillated on my faith and even my belief in God as I have gone through stages of my life.  I am firmly set in the gospels laid out the best blueprint to being good of any texts ever crowd, and yeah, there is something way bigger than myself.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, halfmanhalfbronco said:

Dude I have so much respect for you on so many different levels.

I have vacillated on my faith and even my belief in God as I have gone through stages of my life.  I am firmly set in the gospels laid out the best blueprint to being good of any texts ever crowd, and yeah, there is something way bigger than myself.

thank you!  the feeling is quite mutual.  :D

i have a lot more to say on the subject of faith, belief, religion, organized religion, other religions, "how can you believe despite <take your pick of any one of numerous reasonable and valid objections>?" and the like, but i'm a little too disinterested to get into it in any real depth here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, AndroidAggie said:

thank you!  the feeling is quite mutual.  :D

i have a lot more to say on the subject of faith, belief, religion, organized religion, other religions, "how can you believe despite <take your pick of any one of numerous reasonable and valid objections>?" and the like, but i'm a little too disinterested to get into it in any real depth here.

Maybe someday?

I would enjoy that.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites



  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...