LDS apologists of the lower echelons, with a get-out-of-jail-free card for anything they say (their statements aren't “official doctrine,”) often represent anyone whose opposes the LDS Church”‘s teachings as “heresy hunters” who “gang assault” them. Of particular irritation to them are those like myself who characterize the LDS Church as a cult. Of course, the LDS Church of the past did everything possible to pursue and earn that label with its fiery condemnation of all other churches and its reclusive and clannish practices.
However, the use of the word cult (which according to the dictionary can have secular, business, sociological and other meanings besides religious ones) is one that applies to several modern religious groups, including Jehovah”‘s Witnesses, Christian Science, and others.
In fact, the word cult itself is becoming marginalized. “”[W]e are in danger of losing a perfectly good word to the forces of political correctness,” says Los Angeles radio host Frank Pastore. “”‘Cult” is in danger of becoming the new theological “n-word.”‘”
In the sense that most Christian writers would use it, that of a pseudo-Christian cult, it would have the following characteristics: Such a group would humanize God, deify man, ostracize Scripture and provide a different view of salvation ““ all of these in distinction from traditional Christianity, yet sharing much of its terminology. (I outlined other prominent characteristics, such as charismatic leadership, exclusivity, etc. in my book, Why We Left a Cult.)
Here”‘s where the Mormon blinders kick in ““ they do not understand that these four things, augmented by their attempt to control language, are just a few of many characteristics that continue to earn them the label of cult when outsiders assess their religion as a whole. Mormons are not unique in these characteristics. They are very much like the groups they, too, would agree are wrong, groups they would themselves probably call cults.
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today (Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
