Christadelphians.
Cult. Founded in 1833 by John Thomas (b. 12 April 1805, d. 1871) in the USA,
although it wasn't offically called Christadelphians until 1865, a name chosen
by John Thomas which had been used by some branches before then. They're big
on end-times prophecies and doom-and-gloom stuff, although in New Zealand are
nowhere near as high-profile as the Seventh-Day Adventists
on that topic. Each Christadelphian branch is operated independently and is
called an "ecclesia" - from the Greek word meaning church. Unlike
other cults
of Christianity such as JWs and Mormons,
Christadelphians have no formal hierarchy, and instead get things done by committee,
with Christadelphian members being voted onto the committees on a yearly basis.
On the theological side of things the Christadelphians think that Jesus is a
created being and that he was born with a sinful nature* (and yet never actually
sinned), the Holy Spirit is just the "power" of God, there is no personal
devil (they believe the devil is just the impulse to do evil), no Hell, etc
- all of which contradicts Christian teaching. On the practical side, Christadelphians
believe people are saved by works, which means they have to do stuff such as
be baptised (like the Jehovah's Witnesses' belief that
JWs have to go door knocking to be saved). To be saved (or become Christadelphian
members) Christadelphians have to be baptised, after an interview (described
by some as a "lengthy interrogation") by other Christadelphians to
see if they have an intellectual understanding in accordance with John Thomas'
teachings. Some ecclesia are thought to have at times discouraged membership
of groups outside of the Christadelphians (eg, women's social club, after-school
sports, etc), perhaps for being too worldly, but for many New Zealand branches
this has apparently not been an issue. Women are supposed to keep silent in
church but are allowed to teach children. The 1996 NZ Census
showed a little over 1700 members in New Zealand.
* Note that Christadelphians don't believe in original sin - that babies are born inheriting the consequences of Adam and Eve's sin. Also, in the 1880s a split occurred which resulted in some Christadelphians accepting that Jesus was born pure, which affected their beliefs regarding Jesus' sacrificial atonment. An attempt in the USA in the 1970s to reunite the two groups was unsuccessful.
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Printed on 20 January 2021 at www.cults.co.nz.
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