Cults vs. Cultic type Groups
We have been talking about spotting deception for a number of posts now, and there's more to come. However, here’s a ripe example of how a little knowledge can help prevent deception: understanding the cults and, specifically for this post, cultic groups.While many abuse the word "cult" without proper justification, there is a real concern. A cult of Christianity is usually defined, by Christians, as a group that deviates from core Christian theological doctrines along with displaying characteristic sociological attributes. Today we see many groups like that, those who deviate from classical Christianity. Many “cult watch” organizations delineate these reasons (1).
However, while deviations from classical Christian beliefs define cults, there is another area of concern that needs to be addressed because it’s pervasive throughout many different groups, even mainline Christian denominations. This concern is “cultic” groups, or groups that have cult like tendencies in their sociological structure. While cultic groups share very similar sociological structure with cult groups, cultic groups usually hold to orthodox Christian teaching. Cult watch organizations will note these characteristics of sociological structures as cultic in nature (1).
