Mental Health

There's your answer. Religious views often lacks that crucial nuance of logic, usually when the point is to blindly place your trust for the future (in some mystic all-knowing, always good-natured spirit) or to serve as some kind of soothing explanation for things hard to find a reason for, are conflicting, like in your example.

My personal opinion is that some people need that comfort in order to cope with things beyond their control. The same lack of scientific/reasonability that is confusing is at the same time the comfort they need. To someone who isn't sold to this mindset, it can easily lead to confusion and frustration, because it simply goes against any logic applied in any other context in a modern society.

The whole 'god has a plan for everything' feels like basically what this statement stems from. The idea that as long as you stick your head down and stay in line, a higher spirit will apparently at some point suddenly decide it's time to interfere with humanity and see that those who obeyed the (religious) rules will be rewarded and the bad people (I.e., who ever that doesn't share the religion's specific morals) will finally face justice. It's a comforting idea if you are open to it, kind of in the same ballpark as placing your trust/hope in a mythical idea of a structural, global revolution that just happens to support your specific ideals. Only difference is that the latter is scientifically possible to theoretically happen at least.

So they were the ones in the cult.