Are We a Cult of Campbellites?
A cult of Campbellites?
From time to time in our conversations with others, I know that we may run across individuals who accuse us of many things. On one hand, those who are older will remember the times when we were accused of being Campbellites—a moniker given to us as if we are followers of Alexander Campbell. On the other hand, hearing of our rigid belief in the Bible and New Testament Christianity (as opposed to the modern-day concept of denominationalism and our opposition against it), some may accuse us of being in a cult. In truth, there is no difference in each of these claims—yet, they are both completely inaccurate. Many sincere Christians have voiced their outrage to these, and rightly so. While understanding why the church of Christ is different from mainstream denominationalism, it is easy to see why the uninformed think that the church of Christ is a cult. Yet, the question should arise, “What is a cult?” Only then may we be able to see if the church of Christ is actually that which some have claimed.
In 1963, Anthony A. Hoekema, Professor of Systematic Theology from Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, published a great work entitled, “The Four Major Cults.” In his preface, he begins by stating that while there are hundreds of smaller cults, he examines the four largest and most influential of them all to see what all cults have in common. Thus, we may be able to understand cultism better.
After a detailed examination of these four major cults, he then lists the distinctive traits that are common with all cults. Some of these traits are most interesting. First, a cult has an extra-scriptural source of authority. In fact, every cult actually has some source of authority that “trumps” the authority of the Bible. Yet, since many of them claim to be Christians, they are usually adding other sources of authority. When I think of cults, I think of Jim Jones, who took members of his congregation (People’s Temple) to the tiny country of Guyana in South America and deluded his members into believing that he was more than he really was, even into committing the largest mass suicide in American history to date (more than 900 people killed). When I think of cults, I think of David Koresh, who held his followers of Branch Davidians captive in Waco, Texas, until a tragic ending. In both cases, they each claimed to be someone that he was not, and their followers listened to every word that they said. Unfortunately, we have seen many more examples of cults in our lifetime (Scientology, Heaven’s Gate, Unification Church [Mooneyism], etc.). Yet, the church of Christ looks to no other source of authority but the Bible. The church of Christ has no human leader that we follow. Thus, the very first trait of cultism shows that the church of Christ is not a cult.
This leads us to another trait—all cults are guilty of devaluating Jesus Christ. In one way or another, they do this by implementing and raising another mediator between deity and man. Usually, it is some leader/ martyr/founder that each revere. While some claim that Alexander Campbell founded the church of Christ (I will readily admit that he did much for the church of Christ), that is an inaccurate statement. He is neither our founder nor a prophet. No one of whom I know in the church of Christ reveres Alexander Campbell. Thus, the church of Christ is not a cult.
These suffice to show adequately that when we examine cultism, we see the evidence points to the fact that the church of Christ is not a cult of Campbellites, but an assembly of New Testament Christians.