Group items tagged

Faith is, by definition, reliance on things you cannot see and cannot know.

10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel? and in the restoration? of the Ten Tribes; that Zion? (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon this the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory

There must be a difference though, because Ria is a member of a cult and the other stories are those of Abraham's binding of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible, and Jesus's sojourn on Earth as recorded in the New Testament.

While the passage of time is probably the only way to distinguish between extreme religious conviction and delusion, the same modest claim need not be made for the distinction between a religion and a cult. That line can be demarcated with relative ease, but not in the ways that it usually is

Cults are typically defined by five characteristics. First, cults tend to centralize power in the hands of a single individual or small group that is considered beyond question. Second, they treat all questions about the group and its beliefs as intolerable challenges to the group's authority and authenticity. Third, they demean all those who do not share their beliefs and sow fear and mistrust among their believers about all such people. Fourth, they typically cut off all or most opportunities for members to interact freely with those outside the group. And finally, they take revenge upon those who choose to leave the group in ways that include cutting them off from all relationships with those who remain inside, confiscating material goods and even physical harm.

Service in the armed forces or any form of allegiance to government is prohibited

Blood transfusions, along with ingesting blood, are considered wrong, as God said the soul is in the blood. Bone marrow transplants are left to the individual conscience