Re: What’s the difference between a religion and a cult?
Whoah!
Peace Theorist
I’m sorry you got infraction points … but there are a whole number of reasons why we Muslims do what we do …
Tolerance … Tolerance is an important topic to understand properly, it does not mean or translate to bend over backwards while I whip you tolerance … it means to give others and expect from others mutual respect. Muslims are not people of turn the other cheek, but we are people of ok I’ll let you off this time … do you see the difference?
Tolerance should not come at the price of making us lose pride in our beliefs … so we need to find that balance … even you can understand that being a rational being.
Now to answer your questions …
What is the difference between a cult and a religion … My definition of a cult is where the organisers/leaders of the order have ulterior motives and position themselves apart from the followers duping them whilst knowing they are making a gain to serve their own personal ends … however a religion however new it is does not do this … the leaders/organisers are part of the followers. It is therefore possible for some leaders of established religions to behave in cult-like manner, and it is also possible that if a cult survives some generations it begins to accumulate truer religious outlook …
Now who is to say a given leader/organiser has ulterior motives? Well some indicators can be seen from their behaviour in private … and many frauds are unleashed when they are observed in private. The opposite is true for a true prophet … there are countless references to inform us of the sublime excellence of Muhammad (SAW) in public and even more devotion when he was in private …
A cult is not a religion and Islam (in my opinion) is like no other religion, but is the codec of life.
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I would like to leave you with this thought …
In a public toilet on the wall someone writes “Nietzsche: God is Dead” then underneath in another handwriting it states … “God: Nietzsche is dead”
For someone to have written this on the wall of a toilet is where the problem is … instead of cleaning the first statement off the wall the respondent seems to find it befitting to respond with a bit of wit and humour … Truly in such a case the hearts are dead of God if they feel they can write His Name in such a place … It is the Muslim’s urge to purge impurity from the Name of God … so when devil and God are being equated you can’t expect a Muslims to ignore it … the moment we ignore things like that will be indications that our own faith is falling … In Europe first came tolerance of godlessness and then came godlessness … We cannot possibly follow in the same footsteps …
Loved your response! You are the only one who really understood what I was trying to say. Thank you! As for the last para of your post, this is a valid reason from your POV to delete any such statements by anyone on this forum. It is fear after all, ain’t it? I applaud you for at least recognizing it while everybody else really failed. For the same reason I know Pakistan will never change either. Hence, my efforts to keep trying to reconnect with it when I have hardly anything in common with its people, culture, and religion are pointless. From here on, I will not make any statements that express my feelings about religion and God.
Peace to all…
