Monday 24 December 2012

Those who call the Christadelphians a cult

Glenn Joseph Lea was annoyed at Google for when searching for Christadelphians, the term Christadelphian Cult comes up as one of the search phrases.

He should know that shall happen with other smaller religious groups as well. But he has reasons to complain on what he can find on those websites who tell people that we are a cult. We also found that at those websites telling us that we are a cult, they often present a wrong picture of our denomination. Often they even tell gross lies which can not be rectified because there is no way to reply provided. And when there is a comment section the comments we give and the explanation we provide about what cults really are and what we do believe and do not believe, they mostly let our reply not published or send us different sorts of letters, some hate mail, others with viruses, and others saying that we have to read such and such other postings before they want to place our reply in the open.

Mostly the label “cult” is applied to the Christadelphians because they do find that because we do not accept the Trinity, we can not belong to Christianity, like Jehovah Witnesses,  Abrahamic Faith Churches can not considered Christian according to them.
Jesus cult logo
Jesus cult logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


All about Cults“  uses the term “cult” because we are a group of believers which "claims to follow Christian doctrines. Though they have a belief that there is only one God, Christadelphians’ doctrine is clearly non-Christian (James 2:19)." Strange that we, who do believe that there is only One God, which is the same God Abraham believed in and the God of Judaism, are considered to be a cult, but the Jews and Muslims not. So, why does this website not include Judaism, Islam, and a mulitude of other world religions?


English: Christadelphian Hall, Skircoat, Halif...
Christadelphian Hall, Skircoat, Halifax This building looks to have been a Methodist (?) chapel.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Those discussing the Christadelphians do seem either not to know so much about them or their gospelfaith and could better do some more and thorough research. Other websites with a more hating tone are written by ex-Christadelphians, who should know better. The majority of those ex-christadelphians have left faith in God totally. By ex-Jehovah Witnesses we often see the same thing happening, that they offer a lot of stories about their faith group where you can have doubts if they are really true. By them lots also become strong adherents of the Holy-Trinity or find the singing and speaking in tongues by the Pentecostals more attracting  and good fun .
But those who leave the more serious Biblestudent mouvements, their hate and distorted view from what they underwent in their community does not create a good sound review. Strangely enough very small groups are often protected as main streams. As such we can find a recurring error that the “Bereans are the most popular” (popular to whom, in what context, where?) when you look to the worldwide community of Christadelphians you would notice that they only form a small part. some would even say: "they barely exist today".

The peaceful, pacifist Christadelphians are perhaps not so quickly noticed by people, first of all because we are not with so many and secondly we never force our ideas to others. We do preach, but not often going to ring the bell from door to door like Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons. We prefer the softer way of putting leaflets in the mailboxes, where we are authorised to do so. (We always keep to the red, blue and green stickers if they are on the mailbox and never would put a leaflet in a box where is a notice on it not to put unrequested advertisements or unsolicited or non personal mail in it) We like to tell others what we believe, but always keep respecting their beliefs, and do not force to accept our beliefs or our faith.


ChristadelphiansChurchBrisbane
ChristadelphiansChurchBrisbane (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Christadelphians do not have an overall structure with one basic leader, like the Roman Catholics have their Pope. We only follow Jesus Christ, whose teachings can be found in the New Testament. All the different Christadelphian ecclesiae are independent in essence, though they may have international connections with each other and adhere certain main groups. but every Christadelphian is personally responsible for his or her actions. Nobody is tied to one or another group or institution. everybody is free to come and free to go.Not exactly the idea of a cult, where it is mostly very easy to come into but very difficult to get out.

Googling The Christadelphians leads to plenty of websites denouncing this community, but also an awareness of the reaasoning for the denouncement – soley based on a rejection of orthodox Christianity. That is very sloppy reasoning and only serves to show how little basis they have for such a derogatory term.

Please do read the article by Glenn Joseph Lea: Googling “Christadelphian”

find also:

What Christadelphians teach
Who, what are Christadlephian people
Christadelphian beliefs

Association of Christadelphians: Christadelphia

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