The Value of Hope: Having a powerful hope for the future—something positive and inspiring to look forward to—is a vital aspect of life. Many have long understood that life without hope is empty. The Bible also states, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12). But what is the real hope in life for a Christian? King David wrote, “You are my hope, O Lord GOD” and “I hope in Your word” (Psalm 71:5; 119:147). David was referring to the promises that God makes in the Bible. The Apostle Paul said under cross-examination before a Roman governor, “I have hope in God… believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets… that there will be a resurrection of the dead” and “hope of eternal life… looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Acts 24:14–15; Titus 1:2; 2:13). We are urged as Christians “to lay hold of the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18) and to purify ourselves so we can become “children of God” (1 John 3:1–3). With this hope in mind, we need to “be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). We need to be motivated by this same hope today!Have a profitable Sabbath,Douglas S. Winnail
Can "hope" really be found in LCG when they place the law above Jesus? That inconvenient dude still pushes their buttons.
18 comments:
There's always hope.
There's hope the COG's will wake up to the harm they have caused.
There's hope that the COG's will wake up from their delusions.
There's hope that the COG's will see Jesus for Who He is, and what He has done.
There's hope that the COG's will see Herbert Armstrong for the scam artist he was.
There's hope that the COG's will lead people to Jesus.
There's hope that the COG's will repent.
There's hope that the COG's will quit merchandising their brethren.
There's hope that the COG's will quit enabling evil.
There's hope that the COG's will quit oppressing their members.
There's hope that the COG's will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways.
Yes, there's hope.
Yet, so long as they fail to see the Way, the Truth, and the Life - the only Hope they acknowledge is the one that was on stage about 40 years ago.
The COG leaders dangle the carrot of hope in a resurrection in order to get its members to tolerate endless minister abuse. I don't believe that was the intent of the bible writers.
I believe the laws are still in effect, but written in our hearts.
So what then is the problem with the COGs? They ignore most of the Bible to focus only on the area that the Protestants do not follow.
We are meant to live by every word of God - not just cherry pick the ones we like.
COGs strain a gnat and swallow a camel.
I just bought a 400 page book:
A code of Jewish Ethics - Volume 2.
It is 100% about love your neighbour with 30 chapters on how to apply it.
Do you really want to return to apostolic Christianity?
Try the Messianic Jew movement. After all, Jesus was born a Jew. The apostles and first disciples were all Jews.
They met in Jewish places of worship.
There are 2 types of Messianic Jews: those who believe all laws except Levitical are still in effect and those that believe they were nailed to the cross. Take your pick depending on your beliefs. They all welcome visitors and have a mix of Jews and non-Jews from all nationalities.
The chapters in the book above cover:
Love your neighbor with references to Jesus and Matthew 5.
Hospitality as a host and as a guest.
Visiting the sick
Obligations to the dead
Comforting mourners
The laws of kindness
9 chapters on the Jewish laws of charity
relationships between Jews and non-Jews
The animal world
matters of life and death
Justice
The rights of others to think differently
TLA referred to A Code of Jewish Ethics. This book, along with others by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin are excellent. I use some of his material in teaching my psychology course at a local university. I especially like his explanation as to when it is ethically acceptable to lie to someone.
If you Armstrong loving freaks want hope, get off this website and find a hobby because you guys have too much time on your hands!
Armstrongism is based on a gross misconception. The Jews never expected Gentiles to obey the 613 mitzvot, and not even the Ten Commandments. The "Noahide" law for Gentiles consisted of seven commands, and Sabbath-keeping was not among them. Nor was tithing. Nor was clean/unclean meats.
HWA tried to convince a bunch of Gentiles that they weren't really Gentiles, and that as a result the Old Covenant laws were incumbent on these "Lost Ten Tribes." Strangely, though, he picked and chose from among those laws, such that those who came under his influence failed BOTH at keeping the New Covenant AND at keeping the Old Covenant!
Read in the Bible of how the Jews waved palm branches, first as part of OT ritual and later to honor Jesus Christ. Then read about the Feast of Tabernacles and its use of palm branches. HWA substituted hotels for palm branches, but who has ever waved a hotel to honor Christ? HWA's schemes lead to bondage and hopelessness, not to the liberty of Christ.
"If you Armstrong loving freaks want hope, get off this website and find a hobby because you guys have too much time on your hands!"
Why are you here?
Armstrongism has perverted "hope". Members sit around hoping the conditional punishments happen to mankind, and on a mathematical timeline based on the 6,000 years. The fulfillment of those things is the only method by which their lives spent in weirdness will be validated.
There's got to be something off in an individual's life and head in order for them to be drawn into an apocalyptic cult in the first place.
There is no hope in the LCG.
But cheer up. You can still find “hope” in the dictionary!
There is a sense in Doug's discussion of Hope that he, as many others in the COG's, are having to come to grips with the fact that there will be no grand Second Coming in their lifetimes and thus there is the resurrection that gives hope. It is the same sequence of recognition the early NT Church had to come to grips with.
For all the "the day now is", "Of things which must shortly come to pass", "behold I come quickly," etc, people died who were not expected to die before the time of "we shall not all die but we shall all be changed." Even Paul, who promoted the concept of "soon" and in his time had to come to admit he had fought his good fight but was going to die before any Second Coming.
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick" is a problem that has stalked the church for 2000 years. It is why mainstream religion only looks forward to going to Heaven. They mostly gave up on any Second Coming long ago. I never even heard the concept mentioned growing up Dutch Reformed etc. It's probably why WCG caught my attention because I was misunderstanding the NT and reading it more like a newspaper than an ancient text that was mistaken in it's perspectives about the "soon"s of their own times.
The most sure word of prophecy there can be is that ALL the present COG leaders, Elders, Deacons, Members and small pets will die. There will be no Second Coming soon as ever. This is not scoffing or asking "Where is the promise of his coming?" It was a good question then and a good one now. They were not wrong to notice and ask it. One is not wrong or scoffing to ask it now.
More "Dope" than "Hope" at LCG unfortunately.
There is a false hope in the LCG. Maybe you will begin to see something start to happen in the next three to five years.
No "grand second coming." The holy spirit has told me that I will live to see it, and since I'm in my 60s, it can't be that far off. True, I can't prove it. Just saying. Notice how 'you can't prove that' is selectively used. And people rarely apply it to themselves.
Dennis,
Doug screwed up. Doug already had his Ph.D. before earning his A.C. degree in 1970. When 1972 and 1975 came and went, Doug could have left and arranged a comfortable, productive life, but he either liked the lifestyle too much to leave it, or he was gullible enough to think HWA might still be God's Apostle.
When 1986 came, and HWA left, Doug screwed up again by staying around with Joe Tkach.
When 1995 came, and JWT left, Doug screwed up again by going to Rod Meredith.
When 1998 came, and Meredith broke his own promises and rebelled against the church government he established, Doug screwed up again by going to LCG with Rod Meredith.
When 2007 came, and Meredith promised that Living University would be given support and priority to be a real university, Doug screwed up again by trusting Meredith.
When 2017 came, and Meredith died, Doug screwed up again by submitting to Gerald Weston.
Today, a junior peer of Winnail's is in charge of LCG, and a man with only an AC B.A. in Theology is in charge of Living Education. Doug and his son are damaged goods in Weston's LCG. Yes, there's more than a little pathos in Doug's exhortations toward hope, but let's not forget that Doug is in a mess of his own making. He could help a lot of people heal, if only he would swallow his pride, admit his mistakes, step away from LCG, and encourage current members to do the same. I hope he does so, but I don't expect it.
Hope was despised along with Mercy, Kindness, Love and Faith. So i removed them.
From God
Give it time. People don't move all at once.
COGers believe you should live by every word of God. Where the confusion lies, is that all the COGs only preach and teach a small portion of the Bible - the fad diet version.
Asking questions does not work - they will only answer the ones they like. Asking why we do not follow specific examples in the Gospels and Acts, is a no no.
What about hope? The primary focus for hope is to live a life that has purpose and the capability of coping with whatever we experience while we are a living human being. The Christian must put their Faith in the God revealed in the written word in the holy bible if they are to experience real hope. If we want hope without works our hope is useless. The bible reveals a God who wants us to experience hope and defines a way of life that reflects the way of life this God wants us to live. The only way we will be able to understand a Godly way of life is to read the written word through the recorded living word of Jesus Christ. Until we take the responsibility of living by the word as we understand it our hope will lack substance. If we do not believe the bible is God's word to build a people who accept and trust Jesus Christ as living Being working with God the Father for an eternal relationship them all the arguments and explanations are useless and confusing to those looking for HOPE. AB
11.29 PM
So true. The COGs have come up with some blend of truth and error that they feel very comfortable with. Like an old pair of slippers. If anyone questions the error part, they are attacked and slandered. It's standard operating procedure in all these groups. Yet they hope that God will send them new members. Dream on.
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