To: average joe who wrote (10 ) 7/10/2001 10:40:33 PM From: Rolla Coasta Read Replies (1) | Respond to joe, I would rather do my own exercise by myself, than follow a lively god-like egocentric leader, who potentially can control your mind and self-judgement of things, by using a home-made Bible. What makes them different from a religion is that a religion is based on thousands of years of beliefs, practices, and ethical standards that people follow to achieve harmony and integrity for the society. That thousands of years of constant and unchanged view of world creation, which has enlightened and fascinated millions of human beings, make people wondering of themselves in why they exist, why they can produce offsprings, why they are governed by a set of universal physical rules. Of course, different religions unfortunately can cause conflicts among each other, becasue they have different standards of interpretation of God's wills. On the other hand, a cult, whether you want to call it a religion or not (but I won't), is IMO based on a belief of certain living persons who claim to have an idea about beginning and end of life, by creating their own standard interpretation of world creation, sometimes by judging others' ability to maintain an integrity of living. The cult leaders, so often, call themselves Gods, as a mean to lure others into believing that they are sent by someone or something with superpower. They also claim that, by believing in them and following their rules, one will become a god as well. This is what Falun Gong is about. They are anti-science, anti-scientific medication by claiming their exercise practices and beliefs could cure any disease. The creation of this kind of cult can create myth and superstition among people. For the worst case, the cult leaders, according to their materialistic desires, can also create new rules and beliefs that can satify their lively desires, beyond any ethical standards. As can be seen by some who want to satisfy their sexual desire with underaged teens by making excuses on their wierd sexual instincts, they try to set it as their rules, making it as closed to common sense as possible. Overall speaking, the rules of a cult can be changed constantly and can be beyond anyone's standard of living, as long as the cult leaders are alive and well-fed by their followers. That kind of behavoir can undermine the stability of a society and the growth of a global economy - something that we should think about, before joining any cult activity. For any government, the world is based on an economy and the growth of it, but not myth that can screw up the whole society. The death of the cult members may be as a result of that mythical and directionless feelings which can cause someone to be insane and suicidal, if something is beyond their control or cannot be judged by their own.
