I am not sure if my experience counts as having been part of a cult , or was simply mainline evangelical fundamentalism . I grew up largely in Holiness churches , especially the Church of the Nazarene . For those not familiar with what all that might entail , here is an informative link, from a critical standpoint [jcnot4me.com]. My parents however are more so Church of God backed , which is similar . [en.m.wikipedia.org] What I didn't like about such Holiness churches as these , and also this other denomination I was made to attend with my family , the Christian & Missionary Alliance [en.m.wikipedia.org] , is that they all teach that among other things that if one is not completely sanctified , one might be in danger of hellfire , due to becoming lukewarm , and consequently forfeiting one's state of saving grace . This was actually my initial catalyst for becoming an agnostic atheist , at age 14 . I had gone from worrying that I might not be good enough for God to concluding that God , if he were to exist , is not good enough for me . Anyway , I am glad that I was able to get out when I did , especially as my family currently is involved with a Conservative Holiness church [en.m.wikipedia.org] , the Bible Methodist Connection [en.m.wikipedia.org] , which is even more strictly legalistic . Anyway , I don't mean to trivialize the experiences of those whose lives were even more severely adverse , and cultlike than mine . I just wanted to give my own brief account of my own escape from what I consider to be extreme religion .