cult: 1. A system of religious rites and observances; 2. Zealous devotion to a person, ideal, or thing; 3. The object of this devotion; 4. The followers of a cult; a sect.

Is zeal the problem? Why are "born-again" Christians so zealous? Because they know something that can really change someone's life for the better more than anything else in the world. Why are "Mormons" even more zealous than "born-again" Christians? Because they know the same thing and then some.

Where the “born-again” Protestants miss the boat is in understanding the etymological meaning of their classification: what are they protesting? They are protesting against the established church. Why? Because it has fallen away from the truth—an apostasy. If the organization from which they sprang is false, how then can they claim to be true? Here's one of their answers: authority doesn't matter. Here's another: lineage of the prophets (priesthood) doesn't matter. The only thing that matters to them is believing in your heart—ordinances are merely symbolic. It doesn't matter who baptizes or how.

You can't get a live branch from a dead tree—if the church they broke from had not the truth or the authority, then neither do any of the branches that break off. THIS IS WHAT THE MORMONS KNOW but the Protestants ignore: getting the full truth and authority after an apostasy requires a restoration of the original and not just a dressing-up of what is left. This is why the Mormons are so stalwart and adamant about their case.

But it is clear that the charge of “cult” is not leveled because of their effervescent zeal. No, it is because they are not “mainstream.” What are the usual traits that are associated with “cults”? Let's look at one religion as case in point. This particular religion as a long and colorful history: many of its ecclesiastical and secular leaders and prominent members had verifiable issues with lying, corruption, licentiousness, incest, genocide, brutality toward disobedient members, betrayal and bigotry; its rituals were bazar to say the least; its members were exclusionary and they wore funny clothes; they clung to superstitious talismans, practiced bodily mutilation; they held irrational beliefs that defy principles of physics that are irrefutable; the religion has undergone endless fraction and infighting; and worst of all, they believed in a plurality of Gods and that ordinary men could actually see God face to face. If I told you this religion is none other than Christianity itself, would you believe me? If not, then you refute the Holy Bible itself.

Some of the examples I listed where plainly accurate and some were deliberate misrepresentations, the point of which is to show that one's view of another's religion usually is irrationally subjective. A faithful follower or a trained theologian could give an explanation for each one of the “problems” someone might have with the religion, but all the explanations in the world will never satisfy the critic.

Go ahead and point fingers at and mock your neighbor's faith, but remember that when it comes to “quirkiness,” all you Christians are already neck-deep—unless you only accept parts of the Bible. But the strength that Mormons have against all the inconsistencies and dubious parts of the Bible is modern revelation. The Book of Mormon confirms that the gospel told in the Holy Bible is true and still relevant today.