What is a bible based cult?

Answer 1

A Bible-based cult is a group that uses Scripture to justify exploiting its members to advance the leader's agenda. Cults are marked by a process of thought reform, whereby the informed consent of the members is bypassed as they are systematically induced into adopting the cult's frame of reference and value system as their own. Once they have adopted this frame of reference and value system, members can be channeled into doing things that are in violation of their own interest, choosing instead to advance the objectives of the group and, specifically, the group's leadership. Responsible students of religion take pains to point out that the mainstream, historical Judeo-Christian interpretation of The Bible stands profoundly in contradiction to the ethic of the cults. What makes these Bible-based groups cultic is not their use of the Bible per se, but their abusive practices which they use their idiosyncratic interpretation of the Bible to justify. An informative book about a Bible-based cult that makes a good primer for people who would like to learn more about this topic is I Can't Hear God Anymore: Life in a Dallas Cult, by Wendy J. Duncan. See http://www.dallascult.com