What is a cult?  There could be several answers to that.

• Any group that tells you there is a way other than THE WAY, Yeshua the Messiah, is a cult.
• If a group acknowledges that He is THE WAY, but adds something to that, we can also say that is a cult.

Examples of adding to the Gospel could include things like "One must belong to this Church to be saved."  While that particular Church might embrace the Gospel, to consider it the only way to get to THE WAY is cultic.  We are told that, "All who call upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved," and not just the Catholics or just the Baptists.  There is no narrow path leading to THE WAY.  HE - as a person - is it.

Such is the case with KJV Onlyists.  To them, the KJV is the only way to get to THE WAY.  That makes their philosophy a cult.  One strong proof that these people think culticly lies in the fact that when you find a vocal KJV Onlyists, you often find these character traits as well

• Argumentative about the "right" interpretation of the Scriptures
• Constantly bashing those "other denominations" as wrong
• Causing division in the body
• Arguing over trivial doctrine and bashing those who disagree with pet doctrines
• Emotion over logic, as as a result, lots of name calling rather than dealing with the logic behind doctrine.
• Quoting experts and doing little or no personal research.

While some KJV Onlyists will acknowledge that their denomination is not the only way, their mindset is the next closest thing, such as thinking their denomination is the purest way or the best path, even if they realize it is not the exclusive way.  So while they might not be thinking in exclusive terms (Our church is the only way to get to the way), they advocate that it is so excessively superior to all other choices that one must argue loud and long about abandoning those evil SDAs and those evil Methodists and those evil Assemblies of God and join the one and only truly RIGHT THINKING Church.

KJV Onlyism is the written text version of "Our Denimonation Onlyism".  Many people who believe their denomination is the best or the purest or worse yet; the only path to THE WAY (Yeshua), advocate KJV Onlyism as well because it is the written text equivalent to denominationalism.

I've run into a lot of Church of Christ folks who have a set of pet doctrines they are very vocal about;

• Don't call your pastor "Reverend".
• Don't use musical instruments in worship.

If that is your conviction, fine.  Not a seriously big deal.  But some people are so obsessed with being "RIGHT" and labelling others as "wrong" that they make a big deal out of these doctrines and wonder if those who attend churches with musical instruments and call their pastor "reverend" will end up in hell for their rebellion.  Doctrine is more important to a lot of these people than the salvation work Yeshua did for us on the cross.  Their are more interested in doctrine than a personal relationship with God, and that personal relationship is the single most important part of our experience, not trivial issues like titles and instruments.

The use of the King James vs NIV is another example of the same thing.  People get hung up on the wording instead of the relationship.  It is silly, but it happens.

Not everyone in the church of Christ is like this. But it is not surprising to me that many in the Church of Christ who are so adament about other denominations being inferior are also KJV Onlyists, since it is the written text equivalent of denominationalism.

Ego is to blame for a lot of denominationalism.  Ever seen people who were constantly criticising others?  Ever seen that guy at work that is constantly telling you that you are doing your job the wrong way?  Or the people in the other department down the hall are doing their job the wrong way?  That is the ego speaking.  The thought process that I know better than everyone else.

That same mindset manifests itself in the Church as denominalism.  Sometimes it manifests as "Our Church is the only way."  Some people see the Theological problem with that, and do the next closest thing; that they are one of only a few good ways, and bash all those "other ways" out there as inferior.  Again, it is the ego (and satan) that drives people to find so many flaws in so many denominations.  It is the desire to feel superior to others that causes people to speak out about the flaws they see in others, and drives them to be such a vocal critic of others who have a different interpretation on things.

Because it is the emotional desire to feel superior to others that drives people to bash other denominations other than their favorite, or other Bible translations other than their favorite, the use of emotion over logic often prevails in the way they discuss these things.  I heard only KJV Onlyist call the NIV "Satanic".  Of course, the NIV advocates the Gospel and tells us that Yeshua is the only Way to salvation, so what is "satanic" about that?  But because these people are more controlled by emotion than logic, name calling gets introduced into the discussion and logic is abandoned.

The correct arena of debate for arguing doctrine is logic.  Someone who is logically assessing doctrine won't leave that arena.  Emotion is what introduces name calling into the equation.  And when it is the emotions of the ego that prompt the entire desire to enter into a debate, things get ugly.  When someone wants to argue doctrine, not because they care about the doctrine but because they care about feeling superior to others and see winning a debate on doctrine as a tool to help them feel superior, they frequently leave the arena of logic and enter into emotional discourses that include lots of name calling.

Because these people are more emotional than logical, they often rely on the research of others instead of researching things themselves.  They don't want THAT much work.  Logic bothers emotional people.  But you gotta deal with logic to feel superior and win a debate, so they deal with the minimum they can, typically, by scouring the web for good arguments or SKIMMING OVER books others have written, and quoting "experts" who they will put on a pedastal and tell people they are wrong for arguing against such an exalted expert.  I've run into a lot of KJV Onlyists that would rather argue about who has quoted the best educated expert than argue about what those folks actually SAID.  But content does not matter when you argue only to feel superior to others.

When people are driven by an emotional desire to feel superior, that desire cannot really be satisfied.  They will argue over the trivialist of doctrines, and feel superior when they do.  10 minutes later, the feeling is gone, so they have to argue over something new, and the cycle never ends.  But the desire to feel superior is never satisfied and constantly tugs at those with this ego problem to do it over and over and over again.  They are never happy inside and it is not until you put your ego on the cross and stop the behavior that is prompted by the ego that you will ever truly be happy.

There is a time and place to rebuke false doctrine and point out cults for what they are.  But when a love for God and His Truth is behind it, it will be done in a loving way, and in a logical way, and not in a way that involves name calling and temper tantrums.  When it is done to satisfy the ego, it is done a lot more often, and it usually produces division instead of unity.  Division is important to ego driven people, because they have to feel like they are in the superior class.  In order to feel like you are in the superior class, you have to create two classes even if there was not on there before.  So division occurs in the body due to egos.

So Ego driven people will cause division and bash denominations on a pretty continual basis.  It never ends.  Not until one learns to put the ego to death. 

What God wants from us more than anything is to have a close personal relationship with Him.  You don't need a lot of doctrine to do that.  You do have to kill the ego to do that.

KJV Onlyism is no different than Baptist Onlyism or Catholic Onlyism or Methodist Onlyism; it is just the written version of the same mode of thinking, and it is why the same people who advocate KJV Onlyism are constantly hunting down heresies and arguing over why every other denomination they are not in is nothing but the worst deception of a cult ever known to mankind.  It is cultic thinking, and people who advocate this philosophy need to be rightly labeled as belonging to a cult.

Shalom,

Joe