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How does a religious view make the cut of being labeled cultist?
First, one must know who is doing the labeling.
In this article it would be mainline Protestant Institutions.
Second, would be what it is that constitutes a cult.
Examining the Seventh Day Adventist from cult to not a cult status is informative.
What were not the peculiarities of Seventh Day Adventist that labeled them a cult?
First, is the main influence in the motivation of their formation. This was the Millerites who were the followers of the teachings of William Miller. In 1833 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843 latter revised to 1844. The Seventh Day Adventist arose from the failure of this prediction known as the Great Disappointment where one of every seventeen Americans put on white robes and stood on hill tops waiting for the Second Advent. The Adventist reinterpreted the event as the beginning of the time when Jesus would be judging from heaven all the people.
But this is not the Adventist peculiarity which got them labeled a cult. The perdition by William Miller was so widely supported because he was expressing the historicist view of eschatology which was virtually held by all Protestants and was the view of all the renowned fathers of Protestantism. Adventists remain historicist, re-conceived. Since most Protestants were historicist through the 19th century this cannot be the reason for labeling them a cult.
Second, is the requirement of the Seventh Day Adventist to keep the Sabbath. They even claim that worshipping on Sunday is the sign of the antichrist. This sounds an extreme isolationist idea from Protestants until one realizes the Church of Christ has done a similar thing and not been labeled a cult. Based upon their understanding of the words of Jesus the Church of Christ believe the only true Church is the one known by His name and only those belonging to the Church of Christ are going to heaven. Accordingly, it is not the Sabbath perspective that got Adventist labeled a cult.
Thirdly, it is Ellen G. White, the major influence in the origination of the Seventh Day Adventist, who is the source of being labeled a cult by Protestants. Her claim and acceptance by followers as a modern prophet who received divine revelation made Adventist a cult in the view of Protestants. How so?
Protestants had protested against the Roman Catholic Church for this very cause. The corruption of the Roman Catholic Church along with the papal use of ecclesiastical power to establish anti-christian practices and beliefs motivated the Protestant protest.
Indeed, infallibility also belongs to the body of bishops as a whole, when, in doctrinal unity with the pope, they solemnly teach a doctrine as true. Catholics believe this authority came from Jesus himself, who promised the apostles and their successors the bishops, the magisterium of the Church: "He who hears you hears me" (Luke 10:16), and "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).
When the Pope (1) intends to teach (2) by virtue of his supreme authority (3) on a matter of faith and morals (4) to the whole Church, he is preserved by the Holy Spirit from error. His teaching act is therefore called "infallible" and the teaching which he articulates is termed "irreformable".
It is against these things the Protestants established an alternative authority to Catholicism’s authority based upon scripture, ecclesiastical Church Councils, tradition, and Papal authority. Protestants replacement was the Bible alone labeled in Latin as the doctrine of sola scriptura. This doctrine holds to the position that divine revelation is only found in the Bible and not in any current prophecies or teachings. Any claim to receive divine revelation labels a person or movement as a cult. For Protestants, to allow such a claim, regardless of the content, opens the possibility for additional claims for which the content could be unorthodox.
When the claims of Ellen G. White crossed over the line from teaching to the claim of revelation the Adventist movement became a cult. After the death of White in 1915 and no other modern Adventist prophets appeared to claim divine revelation, Protestants have become less hostile to their claims since there was nothing essentially unorthodox in her teachings. Adventists are generally accepted as teaching orthodox doctrines on the essentials.
For Protestants, the quick cut to cultism is to claim divine revelation. Therefore, this is why it is important to understand the Protestant theological distinction between inspiration, revelation, and illumination so as not to stumble blindly into the cultist tattoo parlor and exit with 666 on the forehead. On the other hand, there are those who have intentionally entered the cultist parlor to exert power over the deceived.
PS
This not to ignore that other unorthodox doctrines on the essentials will not get stamped cultist.
First, one must know who is doing the labeling.
In this article it would be mainline Protestant Institutions.
Second, would be what it is that constitutes a cult.
Examining the Seventh Day Adventist from cult to not a cult status is informative.
What were not the peculiarities of Seventh Day Adventist that labeled them a cult?
First, is the main influence in the motivation of their formation. This was the Millerites who were the followers of the teachings of William Miller. In 1833 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843 latter revised to 1844. The Seventh Day Adventist arose from the failure of this prediction known as the Great Disappointment where one of every seventeen Americans put on white robes and stood on hill tops waiting for the Second Advent. The Adventist reinterpreted the event as the beginning of the time when Jesus would be judging from heaven all the people.
But this is not the Adventist peculiarity which got them labeled a cult. The perdition by William Miller was so widely supported because he was expressing the historicist view of eschatology which was virtually held by all Protestants and was the view of all the renowned fathers of Protestantism. Adventists remain historicist, re-conceived. Since most Protestants were historicist through the 19th century this cannot be the reason for labeling them a cult.
Second, is the requirement of the Seventh Day Adventist to keep the Sabbath. They even claim that worshipping on Sunday is the sign of the antichrist. This sounds an extreme isolationist idea from Protestants until one realizes the Church of Christ has done a similar thing and not been labeled a cult. Based upon their understanding of the words of Jesus the Church of Christ believe the only true Church is the one known by His name and only those belonging to the Church of Christ are going to heaven. Accordingly, it is not the Sabbath perspective that got Adventist labeled a cult.
Thirdly, it is Ellen G. White, the major influence in the origination of the Seventh Day Adventist, who is the source of being labeled a cult by Protestants. Her claim and acceptance by followers as a modern prophet who received divine revelation made Adventist a cult in the view of Protestants. How so?
Protestants had protested against the Roman Catholic Church for this very cause. The corruption of the Roman Catholic Church along with the papal use of ecclesiastical power to establish anti-christian practices and beliefs motivated the Protestant protest.
Indeed, infallibility also belongs to the body of bishops as a whole, when, in doctrinal unity with the pope, they solemnly teach a doctrine as true. Catholics believe this authority came from Jesus himself, who promised the apostles and their successors the bishops, the magisterium of the Church: "He who hears you hears me" (Luke 10:16), and "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Matt. 18:18).
When the Pope (1) intends to teach (2) by virtue of his supreme authority (3) on a matter of faith and morals (4) to the whole Church, he is preserved by the Holy Spirit from error. His teaching act is therefore called "infallible" and the teaching which he articulates is termed "irreformable".
It is against these things the Protestants established an alternative authority to Catholicism’s authority based upon scripture, ecclesiastical Church Councils, tradition, and Papal authority. Protestants replacement was the Bible alone labeled in Latin as the doctrine of sola scriptura. This doctrine holds to the position that divine revelation is only found in the Bible and not in any current prophecies or teachings. Any claim to receive divine revelation labels a person or movement as a cult. For Protestants, to allow such a claim, regardless of the content, opens the possibility for additional claims for which the content could be unorthodox.
When the claims of Ellen G. White crossed over the line from teaching to the claim of revelation the Adventist movement became a cult. After the death of White in 1915 and no other modern Adventist prophets appeared to claim divine revelation, Protestants have become less hostile to their claims since there was nothing essentially unorthodox in her teachings. Adventists are generally accepted as teaching orthodox doctrines on the essentials.
For Protestants, the quick cut to cultism is to claim divine revelation. Therefore, this is why it is important to understand the Protestant theological distinction between inspiration, revelation, and illumination so as not to stumble blindly into the cultist tattoo parlor and exit with 666 on the forehead. On the other hand, there are those who have intentionally entered the cultist parlor to exert power over the deceived.
PS
This not to ignore that other unorthodox doctrines on the essentials will not get stamped cultist.
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