Religion guided every aspect of Egyptian life. Egyptian religion was based on polytheism, or the worship of many deities, except for during the reign of Akenaton.

Taken from here. I guess religion is to blame in this case...

But are you sure the problem isn't rather that many ancient (and not so ancient) societies allowed a single ruler unlimited power? I can't say that there is something inherently wrong with placing ones religion at the core of their life (even when that religion places significant emphasis on the afterlife). The problem comes into the picture when followers of this religion have unlimited power with which to enhance *their* following of the religion at the expense of others... Maybe you weren't saying this, but the impression I typically get when people bring up the past 'sins' of christianity is that they feel that because people misfollowed the beliefs in the past, it somehow invalidates the beliefs in the present...

anyway, as far as revelations goes, that was written either by st. john or by someone else... we dont' know for sure and because of this, when the NT was compiled, some people spoke out against its inclusion (there were other books this happened with as well, such as Romans). It is still included in the NT, but is considered to be less authoratative than the other books which were not spoken out against (some books were widely criticized, such as the gospel of thomas, and are not included in the NT at all). But all is not lost... you can use the example from the Gospel of Luke if you want another "repent or burn" quote...

Bevets and DivineOB-guess who?
Definition of "cult":1.A particular system of religious worship,esp with reference to it's rites and ceremonies.
2.A group that devotes itself to or venerates a person, ideal, fad, etc.
3. a religion or sect considered to be false,unorthodox, or etremist.
Christianity fits quite nicely in this definition.
The Hawaiians were polytheistic,but the missionaries tried their best to put an end to that. Now the kama'aina's have protected their beliefs by making them kapu to outsiders.
I suggest an examination of Huna. It was one of the most beautiful and progressive belief systems ever devised, and it was nearly stomped out completely by the missionaries.
Luckily, Hawaiians are more resiliant and more difficult to persuade than most,and their belief system survives underground.Huna tolerates,even embraces all belief systems and the people who believe in them. Huna does not try to convert or convince,supress or destroy.
You will not find practitioners of Huna burning books they don't like,or condemning any group for their particular sexual orientation,or attempting to deny women of their freedom of choice where matters of procreation are concerned. I personally define a cult by it's actions of intolerance and prejudice. After all is said and done, christianity has done more harm than good for this world, IMO.

man, you pple will argue about anything....*chants* "retUrn to the UsenEt, reeETURN, RETURN!!!" ;) damn trolls. IMHO, this article should have gotten the >HERO< tag.

Shadowman:
It's a shame you utterly shot your credibility to shiat so quickly...

If you want to know what a cult is, read this http://www.howcultswork.com/

You will see that, not only is christianity *not* a cult, but it's pretty unlikely it could ever even be classified as one since it is not centrally controlled.

I can't answer for the behaviors of missionaries in hawai'i but I can say that their behavior, most likely, is compatible with christianity and more of a condemnation of the behaviors of the people of the time (you're telling me if that same group of people was atheist and came to hawai'i that they would have taken a 'live and let live' approach with the natives?). Actually, maybe that's true... can you cite examples of where people of other spiritual belief systems were entirely tolerant of indigenous people when

1) The basic societal views of the time were 'might makes right'
2) The newcomers were technologically vastly superior to the indigenous people

I mean, maybe you can come up with examples but it seems like, for the most part, the rules for most of time except most recently were 'step on anyone who is smaller than you'

The only two things the chinese ever got right are this and hot-and-sour soup (without corn starch).