Baptist Wedding Ceremony Program Examples' title='Baptist Wedding Ceremony Program Examples' />Geoengineer. International Information Center for Geotechnical Engineering, providing free access to Geotechnical News and Technical Resources for geotech. A statement of the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty released April 12, 2012. The Irony trope as used in popular culture. The intended meaning is an inversion of the plain meaning. Pretty simple, really, but somehow a difficult concept. Yahoo Lifestyle is your source for style, beauty, and wellness, including health, inspiring stories, and the latest fashion trends. SUMMARY. In 2004, the Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, was named minister emeritus of CRES, a Kansas City community resource for exploring spirituality in all faiths. Is the IFB a cult I often refer to the IFB as cult like or cultish and I receive great condemnation from IFBers as a result. This post is being written to set the record straight and to provide a little more detail about what I mean by cult like or cultish. Lets first look at the definition of cult. The Random House Dictionary defines a cult as 1. In case you didnt notice, the definitions are pretty broad. The term cult can be a bit ambiguous and is often open to individual interpretation. As a result I will try to narrow down the definitions and streamline my focus. I would like to focus on definitions numbered 1, 2, 4 and 6. We all know of the particular cults that have come and gone. One of the more famous cults was the Branch Davidian cult in Waco Texas lead by David Koresh. If you arent familiar with it I would encourage you to look them up. Its pretty interesting. Basically, David Koresh lead a group of people to their deaths because of a false ideology and set of beliefs that was unorthodox, extremist AND with members living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader, see definition 6. The only reason I mention David Koresh in this context is to set apart what we typically think of as a cult. The Branch Davidians characterized ALL the stipulations of definition 6 above so this is an easy one to spot. Organizations like the IFB are not so easy to spot and often have subtle variations of definition 6 the one we typically think of when we hear the word cult or they are purposefully deceptive about their status in society in order to deceive people into joining their group dont get all defensive, Im just using deception as an example of a subtle difference to distinguish what we think we know a cult to be and what a cult really is. Yes, I know that the IFB doesnt EXACTLY fit definition 6 so before you decide that you want to shoot me or at least leave this webpage read on because Im going to tell you why I think that the IFB fits the definition of a cult. In a way, ALL belief systems START out as a cult by the definition of 6 above. Nlp Chris Howard Manuals. Just think about the way Jesus must have been portrayed in his society during the time of his ministry. Do you think unorthodox, unscientific, charismatic, extremist, etc. Pharisees and people of his day used to describe himYou bet they would. Today Christianity is one of the largest religions in the world, but I think that in its early stages people might have looked at Christians as members of a cult as defined by definition 6 above. But as you can see, the definition of a cult is NOT limited to simply definition 6. Like I said, my focus will also be on definition numbers 1, 2 and 4. Let me repeat them in case you forgot. Upon HONEST inspection can you really read those definitions as say the IFB isnt a cult according to those definitions If not you are either delusional, extremely self deceptive or so enmeshed with the IFB that you simply cant see it. Yes, I know that Im partially playing a semantics game here, but thats why I use the term cult like or cultish instead of calling the IFB a cult outright. In the BROADIST sense we could certainly see how the IFB ACTS like a cult, in some ways, when looking at definition 6. We often see IFBers promoting the idea that we are to be separate living outside conventional society, independent not belonging to an over seeing body of leadership and following the leadership of the local church pastor under the direction of a charismatic leader. We can see that the IFB promotes misinterpretations of scripture as fact as evidenced on this site and many others religion or sect considered to be false. We see that the IFB promotes the idea of fundamentalism extremist in many ways such as women wearing skirts, not going to movies or dances, etc unorthodox these are simply to provide examples and are not by any means all inclusive. However, in the TRUEST sense of the word the IFB doesnt ESACTLY fit the definition of a cult and if definition 6 above were the ONLY definition we had then I think I would have a harder time convincing people that the IFB is cultish or cult like. However, understanding that the IFB does indeed fit SOME of what definition 6 refers to and understanding that definition 6 is NOT THE ONLY DEFINITION thats given for a cult we must logically conclude that not all cults can be boiled down to just ones that fit definition 6. We still have seven other definitions, four of which mention the terms religion andor sect. This is too significant to ignore. Now, again, I play word games here, but for good reason there are times when arguments of semantics are relevant. Since we cant, in good conscience, call the IFB a cult, according to definition 6 again which is what most people think of when the term cult is mentioned and according to what we as a society have come to understand a cult to be and the IFB does display some cult like or cultish characteristics, then we need to consider the other definitions of a cult and come to a logical conclusion about this matter. So lets just take each definition and see if the IFB fits the description. First, definition 1 1. The IFB has distinct rites and ceremonies that set it apart from all other denominations. This is interesting because the IFB WANTS to be considered set apart yet they refuse to acknowledge the consequence of this line of thinking, which is the perception of cult like atmosphere. The IFB as a whole, has distinct features, traditions and beliefs that set it apart from other denominations I know some of the IFBers reading this will object to the IFB being called a denomination, but that isnt the focus of this article so please read the article on Independent Deception for more information about that topic. The simple fact that IFBers considers themselves as Independent and Fundamental separated from all else in Christianity lends credence to this definition. Second, definition 2 2. Many will read this definition and conveniently ignore the OR in it. The veneration doesnt necessarily have to be a person, although one could easily argue the IFBs veneration of the local churchs pastor. The main reverence and focus of the IFB is their unique way of doing church which, according to them, is the right way and everyone else is wrong. The IFB way of doing church has become the idol around which life revolves. The IFB will deny this of course, but those of us who have come out of the IFB can understand why. The IFB has become so good at defending their way of doing church that people can no longer see past the deception. IFBers have come to venerate the ideals of the IFB which has lead to those outside of the IFB seeing them as a cult. Finally, definition 4 4. Again we see here that the IFB is a group or sect that has very strong bonds to a particular way of doing church. The IFB fits the definition of a cult by its regard for and reverence towards particular traditions, beliefs and teachings that are currently considered by most in Christianity to be unorthodox and extreme. So it is with this in mind that we see the IFB could certainly fit the description of a cult, however, I have chosen to use the term cultish or cult like in order to show some respect to the system and the individuals that make up the IFB. When I use the terms cultish or cult like Im referring to the characteristics of the IFB that make is closely resemble a cult. Update After writing this article and getting a few comments and some rather nasty emails, I realized that a little more clarification would be needed to help avert misunderstandings.