Why is it so important to solidly and specifically define a cult?
If you asked the average American, he or she would define a cult as 1) a religious group that has more “extreme” religious beliefs and practices than he or she would have and 2) they are “tight-knit” and “keep to themselves.”
Guess what — that's a good definition of early Christianity as it would have been voiced by observers in the first centuries! It is a very subjective defintion — of what makes us religiously uncomfortable.
That's why Christians need a good working definition of a cult!
