Originally posted by Epoch
Yep... I dunno if I could find the document again, but they found the meteorite that fell in about 220AD that's responsible for the Roman's accepting Christianity as a religion. Long story...
Yet, in a nutshell: It's a religion in which the followers are granted life after death for believing a certain guy was the son of God.
While I'm not questioning the validity of this religion, as it is not my place, but when I hear of Christians labeling other Christians or Christian like religions as "Cults", it always angers me. When a religion acts exclusive, I feel it counteracts the validity of the inclusive God that it extols and supports.
<- Agnostic w/ budding Taoist beliefs
Christianity isn't exclusive (at least, it's not supposed to be). Eternal life is available to all (John 3:16). Man has free will and is free to choose whether or not he believes in God and that Christ died and was resurrected again.
Anyone who says that God hates any particular person is full of sh*t (including that old dumbass who carries the sign around that says "God hates fags"). Some religions are indeed cults. I don't believe that Christianity fits the profile of a cult (though conservative Christians will say that Catholicism is a cult).