There are more Baptist that you can "shake a stick at". None of them agree on much of anything except they desire to be the REAL Baptists.
Now a days people can get the terms cult and occult confused. Things like Voodoo and witches deal with various activities of the occult like spells and incantations and connections to different beings. . And some understand cults as groups like the Branch Dravidians which had all sorts of deviant behavior and was focused on a man.
But still it is not entirely their fault that they get these two mixed up and the dictionaries are not much help either.
Here are a few modern definitions of cults…
1. a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. Oxford
1. a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious also : its body of adherents the voodoo cult a satanic cult. Webster
1. A cult is a group or movement held together by a shared commitment to a charismatic leader or ideology. It has a belief system that has the answers to all of life's questions and offers a special solution to be gained only by following the leader's rules. Common definition on the internet but reasonably close.
So as it is now, opinions vary as to the definition of a cult. (Not going over the ancient cults.) Cults have different characteristics but in modern times most cults center around a “man” whether it be the Branch Davidians---David Koresh or Hare Krishna, or Sun Myung Moon or Charles Taze Russell or Jim Jones, or John Calvin.
The tread of commonality is that they are a unique belief system that focuses on the teachings of a “man” and they all say it comes from God or the Bible. So they try to conform the Bible to the teachings of a man.
So I have some suggestions for those debating with Calvinists…that is write to the intended audience. You can write to warn those reading the forum. Calvinist debates have been going on, on this forum for a long time and it can be defeated by scriptures very easily. With all the scriptures given over the years, those reading the threads can see the Calvinists do not have a leg to stand on….so you can be successful with this. But do not gage your success by the reaction of the Calvinists and there is a reason for this.
On the other hand if you are trying to prove your point to a Calvinist or trying to convert them to a legitimate form of Christianity, you will likely fail and there is a reason for that. Over the years the Calvinists have been given every scripture there is that proves Calvinism as a false belief and it means nothing to them, they just brush the scriptures given aside and reach for their canned responses, and there is a reason for that. If you have done an intervention with a Jehovah’s Witness you will get the same type of thing.
The reason….Calvinists have no respect for the Bible and their beliefs were not formed from the scriptures. They cherry pick the Bible in an attempt to prove the teachings of the man John Calvin. It is his teachings and writings that their beliefs originate and is their entire focus. The non-biblical theological points of John Calvin….Unconditional Election….Limited Atonement….Total Depravity ….Irresistible Grace….Perseverance of the Saints. These phrases do not appear in the Bible. And as I always say, it does not matter what denomination it is, it is the man formulated theological words or phrases that do not appear in the Bible that are red flags. Usually promulgated by men to get people to believe a false belief.
So when you are debating with them know first and foremost, for them, the words of John Calvin override anything in the Bible and from there it is just a matter of explaining away the scriptures. Canned responses that are designed to explain away the scriptures and defend the words of the man John Calvin. If you notice in their posts they really do not talk about Christ much. There religion is all about the presets conditions that God the Father did before the creation of things. Everything about Christ, whether it be the examples of His life or His teachings or the parables are about explaining salvation so that people could make a choice.
One thing that is different about John Calvin and other Protestant leaders is that the other reformers did not invent theological terms to change the meaning of the scriptures. So although it is good to reiterate and refresh the scriptures that oppose Calvinism, the effort is mostly for the benefit of the readers that are not Calvinists. Statically this is important because Calvinists are infiltrators of churches and they are spreading and taking over churches. Look into the struggle the Baptists have with the Calvinist infiltrators.
