Is Seventh-Day Adventism a Cult?

And of course no denomination on planet earth claims 'there is no such thing as one disgruntled member" or even a subset of them here or there. Even Judas was "disgruntled" with Christ. The fact that naysayers exist both inside and outside any given group does not prove that group to be teaching false doctrine.

To find out - you have to actually "read" what the group claims to teach.

I could not for example say much of anything negative about the Catholic Church that did not come from an infallible ecumenical council decision or the Catholic Catechism. Just finding "a disgruntled Catholic" means nothing in terms of the entire denomination.

 

This is the kind of emotional condemnation that we "expect" from the Bible vacuous domain of emotionalism. name-calling accusation piled upon accusation and all of it essentially factless.

When reason vacates in regard to a given subject, the only weapons of argument left are in the hands of emotion. The simplest emotional weapons to wield are name-calling ,disparaging remarks, vitriol and acrimony for those deemed adversaries. All such ad hominem tactics provide nothing of persuasive substance, except to those whose reason has also been vacated on that same subject.

 

Well then I agree with you that all Baptists should be arguing that their doctrines come from the Bible ... but it would be hard to find a non-Catholic denomination that would not make that claim at some level.

When an outside group asks 'what are the beliefs of your group " they don't generally mean "what are the beliefs of some - one - person in your group"

 

Lol. Okay.

 

The thing that I have learned about Baptist that I have found the most agreement is their structures and systematic approach to hermeneutics. Baptists have a standard and practice that is almost scientific and artistic. I think more denominations need to follow the Baptist approach to hermeneutics. In fact, my hermeneutics professor was Dr. Mark Strauss. He is on the NIV New Testament board and helped translate the NIV NT Greek to English. He also wrote the book How to choose a translation for all its worth and How to read the bible in changing times.

 

You need to read up on the NIV, and its sources and source material, and who is behind the eccumenism, the Jesuits, like Carlo Maria Martini [UBS] [several randomly chosen sources] - The NIV Bible and Jesuit Priest The Catholic Connection | Paw Creek Ministries or UBS Greek NT or AV Publications Content Page or Assault on the Remnant

 

Sorry given the context of your previous post you appear to be trying to "slap lipstick on a pig" as the saying goes. Your post was clearly distasteful

 

That source was completely and utterly false. I had to stop reading it after the first paragraph because it was blatantly obvious that the author knows nothing about the NIV translation process and purpose of a thought for thought dynamic translation vs the word for word formal equivalent translation. Not to mention that the KJV was translated from a few late Byzantine manuscripts. The NIV was the product of the textual criticism of literally thousands of manuscripts from a much earlier Alexandria manuscripts which are known to be more accurate.

 

Is it foolish to say that I am not going to pass judgement based on information that is obviously biased and one sided? Would it be wise for me to say that just because you are Baptist you must have protested military funerals? Or am I simply foolish because I don't blindly follow your beliefs? You are the one making the claims against SDA. So you have the burden of proof to support your claims. The problem is that you have yet to provide any credible and unbiased evidence to support your accusations.

 

You have already had that statement debunked. The way we know that the Mormon denomination is a cult is by "READING" what they claim to believe as a denomination NOT by simply asking a few defectors to bad mouth them.

this is incredibly obvious to all.

It would be hard to find someone that knows less than you on this topic - but the point remains... the way to "find out" about a group is to "READ" what they claim to believe from their official sources... "making stuff up" or simply limiting yourself to emotional name-calling is pure FLUFF. It has no substance at all.

That is what you are doing -- what he is doing is "LOOKING" and "READING" to make his mind up for himself based on accurate information -- rather than letting someone like you merely pontificate with blatant emotionalism to "inform" him of what the reality of the situation is.

I don't blame anyone for rejecting "sola emotionalism" in favor of "sola scriptura" and real facts on doctrine.

 

this is an excellent point.

I do not come to this board to accuse every baptist group of being 'just another flavor of Westboro Baptist" and no matter how many "Westboro Baptist VIDEOS" I would post - that entire "sola emotionalism" argument would be mere fluff and slander against other Baptists.

It is incredibly obvious to all.. or "nearly all"

 

And each individual Christian sect could be said to be it's own cult within the greater cult. They have leaders who give their own take on what the Scriptures really say.

 

Just as many would say the Pope is a "leader" for one denomination who gives his take on what scriptures say.

Pope John Paul II gives this interesting and more general use of the term "Cultic" in Dies Domini connecting God's Commandments - the TEN Commandments with the New Covenant where the "Law is written on the heart"


Dies Domini pt 13 -
"the Sabbath ...is therefore rooted in the depths of God's plan. This is why unlike many other laws - it is not within the context of strictly cultic (Jewish) stipulations but within the Decalogue the "ten words" which represent the very pillars of moral life inscribed on the human heart!! In setting this commandment within the context of the basic structure of ethics, Israel and then the church declare that they consider it not just a matter of community religious discipline but a defining and indelible expression of our relationship to God, announced and expounded by biblical revelations.

quote

 

The word "cult" cannot always be used as a pejorative or something evil. Am I a part of the cult of Jesus Christ? You betcha! Here are some definitions from Dictionary.com.

1. A particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

2.A group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.

3. A religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

4. The members of such a religion or sect.

 

That was my point as well

emotionalism has a lot of short sighted "zingers" that in the end turn out to be "fluff" due to lack of attention to detail.