Do you think I should join a cult

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As I said I want the "cult" to be in a Jewish dirrection since my other issue is Jewish background. Mormons agree with most Christians that Jewish law isn't relevant any more, that Sunday is the day of worship, etc. So I won't join them for the same reason as I won't join mainstream Christianity.

Now you can ask me why not join Messianic Judaism. THe answer is that I already attend Messianic synagogue. But something within me tells me that the reason they keep the Jewish traditions is in order to appeal to the CULTURE, and NOT because they actually believe they should. Okay lets pause for a sec. I DO know how they quote BIble that they should keep the traditions, etc. But it just seems like they dismiss all the objections too easilly. So it seems like even though ON THE SURFACE they would quote the bible to show why Jewish traditions are to be kept, their REAL intention is simply to tell ppl what they want to hear.

However, as far as the "cult" that is called "United Church of God", their audience is NOT Jewish, so the fact that THEY keep Jewish traditions is really encouraging. But then again you can tell me that they have plenty of other biases, given that it is a "cult". Well I guess the answer is that I am not sick of the other biases yet; in fact they will give some variety to my boring life. I am also very self conscious of MY OWN bias. The only bias that I have is the one about my Jewish background. So thats the one I am self conscious of. So I would LOVE to hear people with some bias OTHER THAN THAT to show me why my own bias is justified.

Last edited by Roman on 27 Oct 2005, 4:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

accidentally posted twice

Most that i have read about "The United Church of God" has not been good. I cant stop you joining obviously if that is what you wish but i wouldnt advise it. Heres one link about it.

http://home.datawest.net/esn-recovery/artcls/ucg.htm

Actually I have read that link myself, BEFORE I made the original post. That is why I called it a "cult". However, as I said I already done it to myself, so they can't hurt me more. I already believe that I go to hell unless I walk on water and move mountains, because Jesus said you have to move mountains to be saved. At least ppl in that cult don't go that far -- I asked them this quesiton and they gave me the same "liberal" answer as any Christian would (i.e. why would you want to move mountain anyway ... we all have different gifts ... its all symbolic, etc). So if I am already tougher on myself then they want me to be, how they will hurt me? At least I will believe them more than others if THEY are the ones who will tell me "you are too tough on myself".

And by the way, one other thing I read about them in that exact link is the thing about "confessions" and how the confessions are publically discussed. You know, I LOVED that part. I mean, I was hurt so many times when girls left me without telling me a word. So right now I LOVE when I am being told the "bad" things about myself because at least it is an indirrect answer to "why did she leave me" which is better than no answer, even if from a different sourse and in a different context.

So is it more to do with belonging somewhere and feeling closeness or do you actually believe the religious stuff? I guess if you are sure it is the only option for you then it is the one you should take.

1)Yes it is more to do with closeness

2)More doesn't mean only. Religious staff also plays a role -- namely the thing about my Jewish background and the fact that I want someone other than Messianics to fulfill my need of making Jesus kosher.

3)No I don't believe with some parts of their doctrine. For instance they believe in deity of Christ just like other christians do, while I reject deity of Christ (I only think he is human Messiah). To make it worse they also believe we ourselves will become Gods. That sounds like a repulsive paganism, similar to Mormons.

4)There is a church that is much closer to my beliefs, which is The House of Yahwel http://www.yahweh.com/ They both reject trinity, and naturally enoguh reject the pagan concept of ourselves becomming Gods. However when I contacted them by email instead of answering my quesitons they asked for my adress and phone number so that htey can assign me to a person who will answer me. So this freaked me out and no I didn't respond to their request for privite information. However, who knows may be there are groups similar to that that are closer to what I belive.

5)Given the above, I only view a bunch of cults as a market. I don't have to agree with any of them. I can join many different ones if I want to and then pick and choose what I want to agree on. As stated earlier, Mainstream Christianity is a cult anyway. Well at least when something is officially a cult, it makes it easier NOT to buy into something I don't want to buy into





No its not the only option. I want to do as many options as possible. Thats one way I differ from most ppl. I don't think either/or. I just want to basically ESCAPE from where I am right now. The more options the better. If there is only one option I will be bored with it the way I am bored with my life right now without any friends or anything. But then again, in order to trully have many options I better look at some non-conventional ones, such as cults. After all I still haven't found any conventional way of getting my loneliness and religious extremism to go away.

Roman

Have ever thought of becoming a Jehovah Witness.

Yes I visitted one of the Kingdom Halls in Ann Arbor and attended one of their Bible studies.

Obviously, I like them as far as their rejection of deity of Jesus and them being a cult. However what I do NOT like is that they don't keep Jewish law, and that they worship on Sunday like the rest of Christians do.

It is rather ironic that Jehovah Wittnesses and Christodelphians got one part of it right (Jesus is NOT God), while Messianics, Seventh Day Adventists, United Church of God (the cult I am talking about), etc. got the other part of it right (Jewish law is still in place). I want to find something that holds to both.

Well, again, Church of God is not both. They hold to deity of Christ. So may be you got a good idea.

Roman

Are You trying to find the Prefect Cult or what are You trying to find.

You will never find everything to Your liking.

I have been Roman Catholic, Mormon, even Jehovah Witness and even a few I can not even remember what they where.

No I am not trying to find a perfect cult. In fact EVERY SINGLE CULT will most likely disagree with my interpretation of Matthew 24, since it will most likely tell me "christ is over there" which is what I was warned against.

But then again, the issue is that

1)Cult is a cult
2)Mainstream Christianity is a cult
3)Whatever I am working in my head is my own cult

So it is no win situation. This means that I might as well explore different evils.

If I were looking for a perfect cult, I would have never said that I view it as a market place and that I am open to more than one option.

And by the way, I mght as well attend the kingdom hall more regularly, once I have more time with my studies. The reason I respoended negatively is that from the context it seemed that you wanted to tell me about Kingdom Hall in order to stop me from looking for other thngs. But the thing is that since nothing is perfect I might as well keep looking even if I do go to kingdom hall. Same goes for that cult.

P.S. www.torahofmessiah.com is perfect for me. Thats where I learned the doctrine I currently hold. One problem though: its members are too far appart for them to ever physically meet outside of their bulleten board and Paltalk chat room. So it won't fulfill my need of belonging. And, of course, it isn't a cult. In fact I remember a couple of occasions when Bruce refused any reference to himself as a teacher or spiritual leader.

Roman

Everybody has to choose their own way, to find God their own way, to worship their own way, to be comfortable with what they know and understand. I hope You find what You are looking for in LIFE.

This is going to be off topic, but I am just curious. You are referring to your being Jehovah Witness in a past tense. But I read in the other thread that you still hold to the belief that Jesus is not God. So how are you identifying yourself now?

Roman

I was Jehovah Witness. I still beleive any many of the things that Jehovah Witnesses believe.

I thinking of going back to them myself for they are the only ones that make sence of the Bible to me.

Thats nice. They always appealed to me, much more than Mormons. Apart from the fact that they don't view Jesus as God, I also heard that they like to argue for hours and pull Bible apart. Most Christians, when I adress them with "tough" verses, will simply tell me that my "tough" interpretation is wrong and it should be interpretted differently. Well, I am obviuosy exagerating it. They will try to be patient and explain things to me. But my "tough" intellect will always find ways of debunking their explanation; ether that, or bring up more "tough" issues they haven't adressed yet. Thats the other reason I like cults. I know Jehovah Witnesses like to debate for hours. But I also suspect the same applies to other cults. So thats why I am hopping that some other cult will also offer it to be, because even though it isn't watchtower it is still a "cult". I guess my Jewish background is what making me look for something more Jewish. But then again, Jehovah Witnesses have SOME Jewish elements, such as their view of Messiah being strictly human as well as hebrew name for God. I also heard that they don't believe in trying to convert Jews. So this brings them on a "Jewish" side of Jews vs Christians. I believe some of the offshots of Russel's Bible Students even believe Jews are being saved, while mainline Christians are damned, such as this person teaches: http://www.whycross.com/X_Jewish.html But then again I want to try to look for something even more Jewish. And it isn't Jewish if you still eat pork and go to Church on Sunday. After all, liberal Christians would also think that jews are saved, but it doesn't make me join them. But still, Jehovah Witnesses is still a wonderful resource to look into, at least to get answers to particular questions that I have. And especially since I am open to "explore the options" I guess I can grab as many as I can.

Roman

There are some Jews in Israel and Palestinians and Arabs that worships together to in Israel.
All in the same Kingdom Hall together. So some Jews do get converted to Jehovah Witness.

Just so You know and something to think about too.

I am going to bed see You tomorrow.

I think there are some Jews in other branches of Christianity too.

However, statistics will be helpful. What is the percentage of Jews in Watchtower?