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this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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First drop of doubt for me began at a Wednesday youth service. Not only was I such a strong believer that I went to church in the middle of the week, I drove myself because I was the only one in my family who wanted to go. The youth minister was giving a class on cults and the more he spoke the more it sounded like my entire life was being part of a cult. Following that thread led to me finally admitting to myself that I don't believe anymore about 6 years later. It was a long road with lots of doubt and denial but that one sermon on how to identify a cult woke me tf up.
The first thing was how the catholic church handled the sex abuse allegations.
The second thing was how they taught that the Bible was "the literal word of God", then changed church doctrine away from the Bible whenever it suited them.
The third thing was how, when my son died at 15, everyone was ok with that being "part of God's plan". What the fuck kind of God has a plan that requires 15 year olds to die?
By now, it all just seems like so much insanity.
That's actually hilarious. By all accounts, religions are definitionally cults. Though colloquially we tend to define cults as 'dangerous', even though there are many cults which are arguably more tame than some 'religions'.
That was basically the answer he gave me when I asked what separated us from a cult. He must have forgotten all the evil done in the Christian God's name because Christianity also has a history of being dangerous.