Parents

[olstyn]

I had my fair share of paranoia if my church was a cult etc. (I found out my church is not a cult. Whew)

The definitions of those two words are VERY close to each other:

religion - a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects

cult - a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies

I've always thought of them as mostly synonymous, with the only significant difference being a matter of scale; a religion is just a cult that has gotten big enough to have gained widespread social acceptance.

Basically, what I'm saying is that your church *is* a cult, but that it's nothing you need to worry about (or that you'd have to worry about it regardless of which church you attend, take your pick).