Exposing the underbelly of Armstrongism in all of its wacky glory! Nothing you read here is made up. What you read here is the up to date face of Herbert W Armstrong's legacy. It's the gritty and dirty behind the scenes look at Armstrongism as you have never seen it before!
With all the new crazy self-appointed Chief Overseers, Apostles, Prophets, Pharisees, legalists, and outright liars leading various Churches of God today, it is important to hold these agents of deception accountable.
Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web of Corrupt Leaders
Beautiful. I grew up with all that wonderful music that cuts to the soul of what we hope as humans in one form or another.
I sit here teared up looking back at years of belief, sacrifice, drama and losses. Loss of faith? Am I a bad person because I think and look outside the boxes organized religion demands I stay confined to?
Is there any progress in life without some such as myself who doubt and won't tell people how to be or act or give or when to show up if it is not necessary? Is false hope a greater sin than refusing to acknowledge problems with the story, the text, the history and the motives of those who put it together for the "little people" to obey?
I don't know. I can't do it. And I can't help that I can't do it. And it is not fun that I can't do it. It just is. Thanks WCG for showing me just how foolish preaching really is at times.
In what way was a Jesus resurrected? Literally? Allegorically? Spiritually? In reality or in someone head?
Any open mind can see that the NT massively misuses the OT to flesh out a real Jesus predicted by the Prophets. Not one is about Jesus in reality. Matthew half quoted, misquoted, stretched, exaggerated, misattributed and plainly dealt creative writing to tell his story of Jesus. He failed terribly to hide how he came to his conclusions by making an entire religion (Judaism) mean what it never meant.
This morning a dear friend sent me a rather chiding note on disbelief on the literalism of Jesus resurrection. So be it.
I wasn't there and even Thomas Payne noted that anyting you don't personally witness is mere hearsay and one should not be penalized for doubt.
This journey into the world of religon and the Bible has cost many dearly. At times I sit here with my one goldfish, Shih Tzu pup and alone wondering what the hell that was all about.
I'm going for a ten mile bike ride and just be...I have to pass two mega churches so I hope no one runs me over. The irony would be a great story on Painful Truth ha.
"At times I sit here with my one goldfish, Shih Tzu pup and alone wondering what the hell that was all about."
Stop wasting time thinking about wasted time. You've got time left. You can spend it on emotional and metaphysical navel gazing, or spend it engaging in activities that you find personally fulfilling, whatever in the hell it may be, whether helping people or constructing cathedrals out of matchsticks, or both. It really doesn't matter. There is no one to judge your life but yourself. Enjoy your life. Set yourself some crazy-ass goal and leave all this behind and go after it.
As I have said before, this is entertainment for me. But it isn't for you. As far as I know, you were one of the good guys, and if you hurt someone, it wasn't intentional, and you've probably agonized over it for years. Maybe even made apologies. You are not hurting people. You've escaped. Let someone else shoulder the unnecessary burden that you want to bear- even if you think you are serving a purpose, and are helping people do it. Let others muck all this over. In the scheme of things, Armstrongism and the resulting fall out is totally inconsequential.
Delete all of this. ALL of it. It sounds as if you have too many ties to the past. Mentally (maybe physically) pack your suitcase, don't leave a forwarding address, put the key in the mailbox, and head out for the Territories. Enjoy the rest of your life. Make new dear friends. Do what you have always wanted to do, no matter the cost.
I hope you enjoyed and survived that bike ride, Dennis. I've thought a lot of the same thoughts you have. It's a struggle to go against the whole damn world we live in.
I love doing weddings, but I don't want to do funerals any more. It's too hard to tap dance around the common beliefs and artfully say things that don't offend but don't include the common deceptions. So, I don't even try to get them anymore.
I had a pretty good funeral oration composed but I soon noticed that I wasn't being called back by funeral homes after a couple of times. They obviously wanted to hear the old bullshit they were accustomed to hearing and I just can't say things and quote scriptures I know are untrue. A liar I just am not.
It gets tough when you lose faith in faith. Yes, they do only want the same story. Comfort at all costs...even if it isn true, we want comfort. And don't ever mess with that which alleviates our fear of death. When we do that, our anxiety returns and we have to keep looking for another belief that masks it.
Few are interested in progressing in their understanding. I never get comments on how to explain the clear contradictions misuse, misquoted, misapplication and misunderstanding the NT writers used to explain Jesus.
There are no prophecies of Jesus in the OT. The NT writers make the OT mean what it never meant. From, "Behold a Virgin shall conceive," to "Out of Egypt I have called my son..", from "they have pierced my hands and my feet," to "And thus it was spoken by the prophet Zacharia..." it's all misapplication, misquoting, misapplication and mistaken meaning.
It is breathtaking to realize and see just how much the NT writers mined the OT and thus making it seem like prophecy.
Oh the mind bomb when one comes to see how the NT attempts to steal the OT and turns day into night, right into wrong and Abraham, the father of the circumcision into the father of the uncircumcised and every OT scripture on its head making everything sound like it all meant Jesus when even a cursory read will prove the embarassing truth of it's original context hijacked.
It's nuts and people are waking up. It is a rude awakening however.
I did three laps around the downtown airport. Home safe and sound. dd
Beautiful. I grew up with all that wonderful music that cuts to the soul of what we hope as humans in one form or another.
ReplyDeleteI sit here teared up looking back at years of belief, sacrifice, drama and losses. Loss of faith? Am I a bad person because I think and look outside the boxes organized religion demands I stay confined to?
Is there any progress in life without some such as myself who doubt and won't tell people how to be or act or give or when to show up if it is not necessary? Is false hope a greater sin than refusing to acknowledge problems with the story, the text, the history and the motives of those who put it together for the "little people" to obey?
I don't know. I can't do it. And I can't help that I can't do it. And it is not fun that I can't do it. It just is. Thanks WCG for showing me just how foolish preaching really is at times.
In what way was a Jesus resurrected? Literally? Allegorically? Spiritually? In reality or in someone head?
Any open mind can see that the NT massively misuses the OT to flesh out a real Jesus predicted by the Prophets. Not one is about Jesus in reality. Matthew half quoted, misquoted, stretched, exaggerated, misattributed and plainly dealt creative writing to tell his story of Jesus. He failed terribly to hide how he came to his conclusions by making an entire religion (Judaism) mean what it never meant.
This morning a dear friend sent me a rather chiding note on disbelief on the literalism of Jesus resurrection. So be it.
I wasn't there and even Thomas Payne noted that anyting you don't personally witness is mere hearsay and one should not be penalized for doubt.
This journey into the world of religon and the Bible has cost many dearly. At times I sit here with my one goldfish, Shih Tzu pup and alone wondering what the hell that was all about.
I'm going for a ten mile bike ride and just be...I have to pass two mega churches so I hope no one runs me over. The irony would be a great story on Painful Truth ha.
dd
"At times I sit here with my one goldfish, Shih Tzu pup and alone wondering what the hell that was all about."
ReplyDeleteStop wasting time thinking about wasted time. You've got time left. You can spend it on emotional and metaphysical navel gazing, or spend it engaging in activities that you find personally fulfilling, whatever in the hell it may be, whether helping people or constructing cathedrals out of matchsticks, or both. It really doesn't matter. There is no one to judge your life but yourself. Enjoy your life. Set yourself some crazy-ass goal and leave all this behind and go after it.
As I have said before, this is entertainment for me. But it isn't for you. As far as I know, you were one of the good guys, and if you hurt someone, it wasn't intentional, and you've probably agonized over it for years. Maybe even made apologies. You are not hurting people. You've escaped. Let someone else shoulder the unnecessary burden that you want to bear- even if you think you are serving a purpose, and are helping people do it. Let others muck all this over. In the scheme of things, Armstrongism and the resulting fall out is totally inconsequential.
Delete all of this. ALL of it. It sounds as if you have too many ties to the past. Mentally (maybe physically) pack your suitcase, don't leave a forwarding address, put the key in the mailbox, and head out for the Territories. Enjoy the rest of your life. Make new dear friends. Do what you have always wanted to do, no matter the cost.
My two cents.
Paul Ray
I hope you enjoyed and survived that bike ride, Dennis. I've thought a lot of the same thoughts you have. It's a struggle to go against the whole damn world we live in.
ReplyDeleteI love doing weddings, but I don't want to do funerals any more. It's too hard to tap dance around the common beliefs and artfully say things that don't offend but don't include the common deceptions. So, I don't even try to get them anymore.
I had a pretty good funeral oration composed but I soon noticed that I wasn't being called back by funeral homes after a couple of times. They obviously wanted to hear the old bullshit they were accustomed to hearing and I just can't say things and quote scriptures I know are untrue.
A liar I just am not.
It gets tough when you lose faith in faith. Yes, they do only want the same story. Comfort at all costs...even if it isn true, we want comfort. And don't ever mess with that which alleviates our fear of death. When we do that, our anxiety returns and we have to keep looking for another belief that masks it.
ReplyDeleteFew are interested in progressing in their understanding. I never get comments on how to explain the clear contradictions misuse, misquoted, misapplication and misunderstanding the NT writers used to explain Jesus.
There are no prophecies of Jesus in the OT. The NT writers make the OT mean what it never meant. From, "Behold a Virgin shall conceive," to "Out of Egypt I have called my son..", from "they have pierced my hands and my feet," to "And thus it was spoken by the prophet Zacharia..." it's all misapplication, misquoting, misapplication and mistaken meaning.
It is breathtaking to realize and see just how much the NT writers mined the OT and thus making it seem like prophecy.
Oh the mind bomb when one comes to see how the NT attempts to steal the OT and turns day into night, right into wrong and Abraham, the father of the circumcision into the father of the uncircumcised and every OT scripture on its head making everything sound like it all meant Jesus when even a cursory read will prove the embarassing truth of it's original context hijacked.
It's nuts and people are waking up. It is a rude awakening however.
I did three laps around the downtown airport. Home safe and sound. dd