I pose this as an innocuous question and without malice.
I only ask because I recently watched a documentary about Cults, such as Jim Jones and “Heaven’s Gate”, and how susceptible some people are to aligning with a cult. Led to me asking myself if perhaps these apostles and disciples and those that claimed to have seen the resurrected Jesus were really just part of a cult and were brainwashed? Obviously, this has happened many times in society, so I don’t think it’s an unfair question to ask. Curious of the groups feedback.
Thanks!
– CG
The truth is, we know absolutely nothing about the group dynamics between the historical Jesus and his disciples. The Jesus community does appear to be a sort of apocalyptic “drop-out” group determined to live by the perceived rules of the Kingdom in anticipation of it being established by God on earth in a very short while. In a way they were like people now who predict the end of the world, sell everything they have, and go to the top of some mountain or out in the desert and await the end which is supposed to come next Tues after lunch.
All such isolated, insular groups exhibit cult-like behavior. Devotion to a charismatic leader who determines the qualifications for inclusion and controls access to information. One’s fervor is demonstrated by the willingness to cut off social obligations in favor of the group. The only point I would make is that in Jesus’ day this sort of dynamic was a lot more socially acceptable than it is today.
I was raised in a small rural Georgia town where all the political leaders of the community were also leaders in the local churches. No one would call it a cult but it was insular and isolated culturally. The ministers had a great deal of influence. Who was it who said that the only difference between a cult and a religion is the number of members?
devotion to a charismatic leader who determines the qualifications for inclusion and controls access to information. One’s fervor is demonstrated by the willingness to cut off social obligations in favor of the group
Thinking about this thread earlier, I called to mind Matt. 10:37. Not sure of its historicity, but it certainly sounds cultist.
It’s a really good question and one I’ve been thinking about since you posed it.
There is some reluctance on my part to say they were part of a cult, which I imagine, at least in part, has to do with growing up Christian and still being able to see so many positive things about the religion. Certainly, if my neighbor told me that he belonged to a group that told him that the end was coming very soon and had left his job, wife, and family to follow a man who was later put to death but rose again and was reigning upon high, I would call that a cult.
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