Now I know I had my issues with the Church, or specifically the Armstrongs and various other human beings who seemed this way or that which made me chuckle a bit at how full of themselves they could be. I ignored a lot of things I didn't like, like "to be played in all the Churches" tapes and still survived years! But that was just people and people come and go. I held it close to my chest just how much I hated the visits of one traveling evangelist who just knew the answer to everything and what God was thinking everyday about us. I never promoted his visits much, tolerated having to hear it two or three times depending on the number of churches I was responsible for and believed virtually none of it. The voice in my head kept saying...'well what are you going to do when HWA dies?" I should have put that in a question for him but he never took questions.
I reflect on all the men in the ministry I know and wonder where they went. Some, of course, went on to promote themselves in their own versions of their astounding Bible reading skills. But, in fact, most have just faded away and are doing their best doing whatever and neither want contact nor have a public need to process their experience. To date, not one former full time minister has been in touch with me and none other write on this site openly.
Those of us who are here growing through are an interesting bunch. There are those of us who always comment, those who sometimes comment and most who never comment but I assume think about these things.
My own buzzwords that identify me here are, "Apostle Paul," "Birth stories," "Resurrection accounts," "Adam and Eve," "Mythology," "Quantum physics," "Acceptance," "astrotheology," "never quotes Jesus," "contradict each other," "Neanderthal," "Paleontology" "Snarky," and so on. if I did not sign my name , you'd still know it was probably me writing.
And yes, I am "M.T.Hall" but have always assumed that was no secret either. I sign that at times to honor and remember my dad who used it first when he wrote Joe Tkach Sr. about the effect his leadership was having on my dad's local church. It was emptying the hall. Dad is still around at 96, was a WCG elder and now sits back in the very same pew we all grew up in up the street in the Presbyterian Church of his youth. I deeply love and respect my dad. He is a quiet man who just goes with the flow it seems. I am not like him but have always wanted to be. My counselor however reminds me that each of us are on our own journey. His is his and mine is mine. That came up when I mentioned they had been married 72 years and I still felt badly about my failed circumstances for which i take full responsibility.
At any rate, if I use the words, "narcissists," "snakes in suits," "Armstrongists," "British Israelism, " , we know who this is commenting even without the name. If we say, "rebel", "used to think," " bike," "full circle," "former atheist," etc, we know who this is.
If I hear, "Dennis, you're an idiot," "You and your minister buddies," "I hope you end up in a refrigerator box," etc...you...well at least I know who that is...ha.
We all are processing a human experience and the topic is religion, faith, trust, hope and life after death, which is one of the most sensitive of our human needs to explore once we show up on the planet.
We run the gamut from very sincere to now skeptical, very sincere and more sincere, very sincere to cynical, sorta sincere to very sincere, not sincere-supposed to be sincere-ok I'm sincere-WTF-atheist-back to sincere and so on. i think I am stuck a bit at WTF. But no matter, it's all ok. As that great philosopher once said..."I ams what i ams and that's all that I ams." Popeye
I guess I keep a mental count in my head of how many comment on this blog to various topics. The postings that highlight some past abuse , situation or now perceived goofy or harmful belief or idea in the past get the most comments. These are the topics that bring out the hurt and the many personal examples in our experience we can come up. We comment not unlike men get to telling jokes in a group. Each joke gets a little better than the last until someone "wins." You know the , "oh yeah, well listen to this one..." I guess you all know my views on painbodies.
On the other side of the scale are the topics that bring virtually no comments. In two years not ONE person has comment on my own observations about the contradictory nature of the Birth stories of Jesus (usually around Xmas) or the Resurrection accounts, (usually around Easter/Passover) Not one person of any persuasion has defended the accounts as without error or historically accurate, which they are not IMHO. No comments my view that the Apostle Paul hijacked the Jesus movement and the original Apostles did not like the man nor taught what he taught. No comments on why Paul never quotes Jesus etc or the reality that Paul was the first to write the Jesus/Gentile story before the Gospels ever saw the light of day. I'd love to hear just one rebuttal as to why it is a good thing that Paul presents himself as "all things to all men...to the Jew a Jew, to the Gentile a Gentile.." etc and not wonder what the hell the real Paul really believed. Or was lying and playing head games just the way to go?
I have been scorned for noting that the Apostle Paul, as did Matthew and others, often misquoted the OT to promote their own agendas. The Hebrew of the Hebrew quotes the Greek version of the OT to make points that would make a real Pharisee gag. He even makes the same mistakes in doing so that the version contains as if he doesn't know the OT does not really say that. I use the phrase, "you can't make a scripture mean what it never meant," but actually you can and it is called Midrash. However, it is dishonest to reality and while a then acceptable way of writing about something you have little hard evidence for and would get you flunked out of seminary today, was ok then. Matthew's birth account, as well as Lukes, which do not agree were made up by cobbling OT scriptures together and are not based in any reality of Jesus birth they knew about. But I spare you. My point is that these kinds of observations bring little if no comment.
One very sincere literalist here on the blog challenged me to show him where Paul made the OT mean what it never meant or misquoted the OT to make his points. I sent the man several classics from which i got no response or a better explanation for Paul's practice. I don't blame him for not responding but I have to assume the examples were a bit enlightening in ways that cause conflict in the mind.
The origins of everything seem to fascinate me. From the origins of the earth, the universe, humans, consciousness and religion, it is all fascinating. I just ever, as I suspect we all would say, no matter our current views, wanted to know the truth. Handling the truth, as we know, can be divisive, scary and a lifelong experience with others in head banging over who is right.
Recently I was listening to a very dynamic, yet goofy radio type trying his best to show the story of Jonah and the Great Fish literally happened and a man can survive in the belly of a whale etc. He uses the example, now understood to be one of America's oldest urban legends, of a man swallowed by a whale on an 18th century whaling encounter. He was cut out of the fish two days later, a bit digested but alive blah blah. I wrote him with backup that any 15 year old in his audience with a Internet connection could debunk it before he finished the story. His response was less than kind. He "noticed" my source had an ad for Barack Obama and so that source was suspect. He "noticed" the source was from the "secular web," which means he has access to the "religious web" which promotes the story as true so it must be true. In short, he did not want me raining on his parade. Yesterday, I was listening again and darn it if he did not use the story again! I sent him better documentation this time but it just pissed him off.
Well, just Sunday morning ramblings here. Biz is a bit slow. The school I teach at reminds me at times of WCG drama at the Administrative level and getting stuck between crazy "policies" and the students who suffer from them. Someone told me to "not listen to the students" and all I heard in my head was "don't listen to the members." Ugh. I opted for defending the students as usual. I don't take a lot of BS this time around and speak up quickly no matter the cost. I know i suffer from the classic underachiever thing at this point in life.
But Fall comes soon and it has always been my favorite time of year. May you all have the best Feast ever....no wait....sorry...that just slipped out. :)
