The Apostle responds:
What about those who must take a bus to get to church on the Sabbath or pay tolls to drive to church?
As for tolls, one can often buy a ticket in advance or even a monthly ticket in advance; or one can establish another place of meeting, or take another route; or pay ONLY as an absolute last resort after exhaustng all other possibilities, as an ox in the ditch, and then work to resolve the problem. These are non issues if we use a little applied thought according to each unique situation.
And that still does not justify going beyond the absolute essential ox in the ditch. Lifting an ox out of a ditch does not justify then buying something or cooking, because we are too neglegent to properly prepare on the preparation day.
Such an ox in the ditch should also NOT be made into a weekly habit. If your ox is always falling in ditches; it is time to fix the fence! That means to fix the problem and properly prepare to avoid the problem the next time around.
We are obligated to prepare as much as we can, and not to use some excues to avoid any proper preparation at all. The rare exception does not change the overall rule.
Apostate Malm is not too keen on having members take buses to chruch. They should be carpooling with other church members. Or, you can go down to the local car dealer and con them out of a car/van/bus as a donation to your chruch.
In fact some car dealers would be happy to provide at cost or even donate used vehicles for a charitable tax deduction. I remember that my Father’s pentecostal church had a whole bus donated.
We have been using excuses and “ox’s in the ditch” to try and justify an “almost anything goes” attitude.
7 comments:
I keep the Sabbath each week. I take a rest from my weekly work, have a nice restful Sabbath, spend the time in thought about God and my relationship with him (and other Sabbath keeping COG members). But I definitely do not keep it to Malm's liking. And there are probably areas I could do better at keeping it in (hence personal growth and maturing).
But if I had to observe the Sabbath like Malm's dictates get at, I would probably burn out quickly. It seems he has a problem with people enjoying anything about the day while even staying true to the principles. I don't mean "watching a movie" enjoying. I mean it seems to be a view that "if you're relaxed and happy while observing the Sabbath, you're obviously doing it wrong because you're following your own delights and not God's."
There's even a newer comment with someone splitting hairs between heating and cooking on the Sabbath and how someone truly zealous wouldn't even heat food.
"If your ox is always falling in ditches; it is time to fix the fence! "
I'm thinking it is not the fence maybe? I mean, how many oxen are so stupid as to fall in ditches? Perhaps the ox has oxheimers disease or is low on ox-ygen thus causing oxidents as an ox?
And just how do you get an ox out of a ditch? Ox ropes? Ox winch?
Ox-levers? Do you politely just ox the ox to get up out of the ditch and be more careful?
All this could take time and no matter, I would miss The Apostle Malm's sermons. What if he makes an ox out of himself? If then he falls in his own ditch, do I have to ox-tricate him from his own ditch or can I just leave him in it and go to another church?
I suppose if oxen had toes I could send a toe truck but i can see that really annoying the ox.
I'm confused.
M.T.Yokes
Ac-cent-uate the physical/
E-lim-inate the spiritual/
Latch on to the pharisaical/
Don't tread on the fine lines in between.
Has Apostate Malm so much as even once written one of his daily diatribes on loving one's neighbor? I am guessing he hasn't.
It seems that in his mind, that "soft stuff" is not very important. There's probably no such thing in his mind as loving your neighbor anyway, there's only "love love"-ing your neighbor, which we all know is a false gospel, right?
It's a good idea to forget about relationships with other people. Ignore them and isolate yourself because they're almost all infidels whose bad company will corrupt you and make you impure anyway. Instead, focus exclusively on the relationships with your imaginary friend and his imaginary son. Besides, it's so unclear how to keep real people happy. Everyone seems to have their own rules as to what makes them happy. It seems like such a big waste of time even trying!
It's much easier knowing how to keep your imaginary friends happy, because they spell it out for you: keeping your own calendar, new moon observances, the sabbath, holy days, baking your own unleavened bread, making your own wine, blowing your own trumpet, and more! Not that it's easy, but if it were, then your imaginary friends couldn't be sure how zealous you are, now could they? Incidentally, we should also do the footwashing as well. Not sure what that's about, but since my imaginary friends said to do it, it must be important to them.
Has anyone noticed how obsessive James Malm tends to be? (A joke.)
But seriously, I wonder if he's exhibiting an undiagnosed case of Asperger's Syndrome. I recently heard a story about a man who was married with kids and after five years of fighting with his wife, she realized he had Asperger's syndrome and nobody had ever diagnosed it before. Once they both accepted this, it solved their serious relationship problems.
I wonder if the presence of many others in Armstrongism, fundamentalist Christianity, and also orthodox Judaism can be explained because these people fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. It could also explain why these forms of religion attract so many kooks.
Orthodox Judaism and fundamentalist Christianity would tend to have a very comforting and calming effect on this type of person. For those who are obsessive-compulsive and mystified by social interaction, the concept that an eternal security blanket can be had by rigid adherence to a schedule is a perfect fit. This would not be just religion, it would also be psychologically medicinal.
What James Malm doesn't understand is that not everyone is helped by the same medicine. Most people just cannot live the way that makes him feel so comfortable. He also doesn't realize that just because his way of dealing with religion fits his life and works so well for him, it doesn't make it the right way to deal with religion. It doesn't make him any more zealous, or more holy, or better in any other way, than those who cannot deal with religion in his way.
Just a thought...
Malm has become an interesting study in how a God Haunted mind breaks down over time. Over the past few months we have observed this breakdown into a kind of "Jerusalem Syndrome" where one gets overwhelmed by religious themes and ideas.
Majoring in the minors seems to be a halmark trait of such individuals who obscess over obedience and following rules and perceived laws to the letter.
They have to have an answer to every question that can be thought up and God forbid anyone be told that the answer is up to them and how they perceive the problem.
Andrew is right. There is no place in all this kind of breakdown for love, gentleness, meekness, humility , kindness and compassion. Just an never ending plunge into rules and the should's and must nots.
Ron Weinland says that the sentiment of love you see in other religions makes him sick. Dave Pack can give a whole sermon on why RCG doesn't give money to those in need. For these men, "In as much as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me," never crosses their mind. If it does, they need to give another sermon on just what does "unto these my brethren" mean and who is it we are to give to? It doesn't take a genius to see that the Gospel Jesus was kind to Jew and Gentile alike and not just "his brethren."
Maybe it does take a genius...
To get to a place where one thinks they are preparing the way for the Two Witnesses is about as self absorbed as one can get. Ron and Wife aren't going to work with Malm. Dave Pack has never successfullly worked with anyone and few very long with him, much less his Two Witnesses which we are assured will come under his guidance as chief Apostle.
It all is really a kind of Ringling Brothers of Religion Circus. Pick the ring you want to watch. It's all just part of a circus. Some of these circuses even have a clown school you can go to and learn to read all about the way the circus works and even graduate from if you wish.
The Ringmaster will dazzle you with his flashy suit, his bull horn (well named) and the odd cadence in his voice to keep you coming back.
There are Lions and bears and even talking Donkeys and Serpents in the show if you like. Some shows will tell you it's over by May and some will go one forever ending without warning depending on who the Ringmaster is.
There are shows at 1-3, 3-5, 5-10 at the most and 12 if need be.
At any rate, and actually all kidding aside. The slide into theological illness and a God haunted life is rather sad. For those who can't recognize the breakdown for what it is, it can be dangerous and at best one more disillusionment coming their way.
Straining at gnats and swallowing Camels comes to mind. Today we say, majoring in the minors or making mountains out of molehills as if any Deity cared about tolls and home made matzo.
You can play at humble and pretend service by washing feet every year, or every day for that matter and never get the point.
Step right up....hurry, hurry, hurry, the show is about to begin...again.
Dennis said, "Maybe it does take a genius."
Or maybe it's the "geniuses" that have the Asperger's Syndrome, so maybe anyone EXCEPT a "genius" can see what Jesus was talking about.
I wonder if the presence of many others in Armstrongism, fundamentalist Christianity, and also orthodox Judaism can be explained because these people fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. It could also explain why these forms of religion attract so many kooks.
I couldn't agree with you more there mate! I recall a workshop on ASD/OCD last year in which a noted author on the subject documented what jobs ASD/OCD types would find most appealing. At the top of my head I recall jobs mentioned included religious ministers, lawyers, accountants, computer programmers and librarians, for instance. Can you see a pattern? :-)
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