His Assertion that Christianity is a “Cult of darkness and damnation”

“Why do I grin every time a high priest of the ‘mainstream’ Christian churches admonishes his followers not to associate themselves with any ‘cult’? We have recently heard a great deal of such sanctimony after a Ugandan cult murdered l,000 followers in the name of salvation. Is it merely that such churches – all of them imported from Europe and America – do not know what the word “cult” really means? The truth is that, with its more than a billion followers all over the world, the Christian Church is the largest cult on earth” (Philip Ochieng, “its a cult of darkness and damnation,” Daily Nation, April 16, 2000)

The ills against humanity at large that have been executed under the banner of Christendom will forever stand on the way of positive Christian witness. The biblical quotation “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you”  has never been so apt. The co-orporation between the missionaries and the colonist  or the admixing of missionary efforts with imperialistic mentality  was one such blunder. Endorsement of slavery in America or racism in South Africa by so called “Christians” was yet another big mistake. Decimation of Amerindians and Aborigines, nurturing of Hitler, activation of the Inquisition–these would all be sad examples if their association to Christendom is legitimate.

However we need to remind ourselves of the definition of a Christian. What is the  mark of a Christian? Borrowing from the words of the author of Christianity himself, “a tree is known by its fruit.”  A bad tree could have the word “good” scribbled all over its bark but it never ceases to be a bad tree since it consistently yields bad fruit. To use another analogy, you don’t judge the book by the cover; you evaluate a book on the basis of its content.

Ochieng’s association of Christianity with the Greek mystery religion Dionysos

Way back in the 60’s a scholar by the name of Samuel Sandmel stood before an audience of his own peers and delivered what has come to be considered  a celebrated address by New testament theologians. The speech was entitled “Parallelomania.” By parallelomania Sandmel  means that “extravagance” among practitioners of the religiongeschichte schule (or  the school of comparative study of religions) “which  first overdoses the supposed similarity of passages and then proceeds to describe source and derivation as if implying literary connection flowing in an inevitable or predetermined direction.”  It is my humble submission that Ochieng’s treatment of the relationship between Christianity and the Dionysos mystery religion oozes with the “pus” of parallelomania. It is not incontrovertible that the mystery religions (whether they be those of Demeter and Kore; Kabeiroi; Glykon and Alexander; or Dionysos) postdate Christianity in which case it may just be that these religions borrowed from Christianity and not the way round. Take for instance the Bachic practice of  tearing animals to pieces (sparagmos) and eating the flesh raw (omophagia ) as a way of assimilating the Dionysian power. According to Justin Martyr this  ceremony of drinking and eating by the Mithraic mystai was a diabolic imitation of the Christian Eucharist. The backdrop of the Christian Eucharist would have been the Passover which was inaugurated  way back in 15th century BC. But even if one were to contend that Christianity (and for that matter Judaism) did indeed borrow (and I believe it did sometimes),  would one have to conclude per force that Christianity wound up as paganistic? I don’t think so. Whatever borrowing that took place was Christianity’s incarnational attempt  to communicate through the stock vocabulary of its times.Thus when Moses applies the Baal-related (Baal was a canaanite God) epithet  “Rider of clouds” to Yahwheh (Deut 32:13) his intent is to communicate the superiority of Yahweh in terms that his audience would have been familiar with.

What about the question of Christianity been cultic?.

I guess it depends on which side of the fence one is speaking from. According to Bob Larson (in his book Cult, p.17) one of the characteristics of a cult is  the perpetration of the idea that “those outside are viewed as spiritually inferior, creating, therefore, an exclusive and self-righteous ‘we’ versus ‘they’ attitude.” It is not hard to envision how an outsider would look at this words and conclude that Christianity is in many ways cultic. But this would not be the first time, either, that Christianity was perceived as sectarian (cf. Acts 24:14).

Lastly, Is it legitimate to link Christianity with the terms “darkness” and “damnation.”

Of Christ himself it was said that “in him was life, and the life was the light of all people; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. “ He in turn informed his disciples that they were the light of the world. Concerning those who belong to Christ the book states that “they is no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1). So how then shall we conclude,  is Christianity a cult of darkness and damnation? God forbid!