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The differences between a cult and religion have changed throughout history making it difficult to identify what separates these groups. Discover modern and historical definitions and examples of cults and religions to see what makes them different.
There are three important questions to consider when determining whether or not a church is actually a cult, according to the Rev. Billy Graham.
Is Christianity a cult? Some say Christianity was simply a cult – or offshoot – of Judaism. They say the main difference between a cult and a religion is how long it has been around.
First, the most dastardly, insidious mark of a cult is that it ignores or distorts the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To one degree or another, all cults deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Their teachings and principles will eventually leave a person unsaved, without a relationship with Jesus Christ, and spending eternity in hell.
A key warning sign of a cult is when the leader becomes the central focus instead of Jesus. Cult leaders often draw attention to themselves, their personalities, and their own ministries, overshadowing Christ. Their followers may also prioritize the leader over Jesus, raising significant red flags.
One characteristic is that cults reject the basic beliefs of the Christian faith–beliefs that Christians have held in common for almost 2,000 years. Instead, they say they alone have a full understanding of the truth about God, and the only way to know the truth is to be part of their group.
Cults don’t come out of nowhere; they fill a vacuum, for individuals and, as we’ve seen, for society at large. Even Christianity itself proliferated most widely as a result of a similar vacuum: the relative decline of state religious observance, and political hegemony, in the Roman Empire.
