some people are saying that Christianity is a cult
Then so is Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, and other world religions.
Christianity follows a God. Therefore it isn't a cult. A cult follows a human. A religion follows a God. Even in the pagan religions their gods became men. Oden, for instance, comes down and appears as a human in the myths.
And the Greeks worshipped numerous demigods who were half God and half man.
So why is it so shocking to think of a religion that does the same, yet claims that forgiveness is free and not based on one's actions.
The biggest difference between Christianity and other world religions is that all other religions teach that you have to earn your way into heaven or paradise or any other afterlife, whereas Christianity claims that Jesus already paid our debt and that we need to simply believe and live by faith and in fellowship with God to make it into heaven.
If anything Christianity is a much more plausible worldview than all the others. From a logical standpoint it makes more sense that sinful, selfish, prideful, boastful, lying, and lustful people who collectively believe these things as wrong are in need of a savior who could take the punishment for them than to think they can somehow earn their way in with good deeds. Even though their evil deeds far outweigh their good ones.
Besides, each person's evil deeds then would go unpunished otherwise, and that is a great travesty of justice that exists in all other world religions except Christianity.