Lately the question of "cult" comes up a lot. I had posted on Facebook a clear definition and Walter Martin's slight revision. Here is what Dr. Charles Braden (emeritus professor at Northwestern University) has to say:
"By the term cult I mean nothing derogatory to any group so classified. A cult, as I define it, is any religious group which differs significantly in one or more respects as to belief or practice from those religious groups which are regarded as the normative expressions of religion in our total culture". Walter Martin adds, "that a cult might also be defined as a group of people gathered about a specific person or person's misrepresentations of the Bible." (Kingdom of the Cults)
Below is a list of the erroneous doctrinal beliefs of Campbellites, or who are now known as Church of Christ.
1. Salvation by works rather than by the grace of God.
2. Baptismal regeneration - sins actually remitted in the waters of the Church of Christ baptistry.
3. That eternal life is not eternal; that a born-again soul can lose his salvation after all.
4. That they have a monopoly on salvation; that they are the one and only true church.
5. That one cannot know in this life that he is saved.
6. That their church has the one and only Bible name.
7. That Christians must take the Lord's supper every Sunday to be scriptural.
8. That to worship where instrumental music is used is sinful and disobedient to the Lord.
They are also a date-setting church regarding Christ's return, do not believe God hears a sinner, and believe there is no divine call to the ministry. Part of the reason for some of the skewed beliefs is they dismiss the Old Testament. By doing so it allows them to have some of the above errors.
I will post some earlier info on Campbell later as I am still digging through lots of info, but thought this would help a few who have been asking. If anyone wants clarity on any of the errors above, just whistle, or click.
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