It is amazing to see and hear the stuff that comes out of Christan leaders mouths and pens anytime there is a huge tragedy. Liberals, gays, feminists, etc get blamed for any tragedy. Of course this should not come as too much of a shock to anyone connected with Armstrong, because our leaders spouted the same bullshit and still do to this day.
It's all a huge blame game. It is always someone else's fault, particularly if they do not measure up to your own standards. According to Armstrongism, 99.99% of the world is in anathema against God and therefore deserves to be punished.
Rod Meredith, Gerald Flurry, Dave Pack and many other Armstrongist's get off on the fire and destruction that they want to see poured out on the world. They want billions of people to die from famine, disease, and war. To see all that happen legitimizes their beliefs. Flurry, Meredith and others are already screeching about the Aurora killings. God is punishing the country and nonbelievers. "It's all their fault. Kill the sinners God! Let those of us who are soooooooooooo righteous live so we can spank the world for you."
This is the same mentality exhibited today by a top Evangelical leader who proclaimed that anyone killed in Aurora will be sent to hell if they are not Christian.
So sure is Newcombe of his vengeful god that he declares that future killers should stop and take into consideration the unbelief of their victims. Could they be damning them to hell?
Jerry Newcombe, Evangelical Leader, Says Only Christian Victims Of Colorado Shooting Going To Heaven
If a Christian dies early, if a Christian dies young, it seems tragic, but really it is not tragic because they are going to a wonderful place.. on the other hand, if a person doesn’t know Jesus Christ.. if they knowingly rejected Jesus Christ, then, basically, they are going to a terrible place.
I know in my natural state I am worthy of Hell before a holy God, who doesn't grade on the curve. I am eternally grateful that on the cross Jesus went to Hell for me, so I don't have to. The next time someone wants to take out their frustrations on others by killing innocent victims, they ought to consider the eternal consequences of their evil actions.
Newcombe's article is here: A Dark Night Indeed
I don't believe that this is a clearly defined binary situation. God's love is unfathomable, and there are probably going to be a lot of really neat surprises for us all at the beginning of our next lives.
ReplyDeleteThe Bible describes God as being the good shepherd who is unwilling to lose any of His sheep. We don't know the final thoughts of those who were killed in Aurora, so how anyone can act as if they were the final judge is beyond me.
It grieves me that someone thought to be a Christian evangelist would make statements in the worst possible stereotypical way. It would have been better for him to defer to wisdom and grace.
BB
Distasteful though it may be, that evangelist is describing what was normative Christian belief for at least the first 1800 years or so of the faith.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest "hooks" of Armstrongism is its heretical denial of eternal Hell as punishment for non-Christians, along with its weird "second chance that they deny is a second chance" doctrine.
Of course, this "compassionate" doctrine probably has a lot to do with how some Armstrongist psychopaths can justify their behavior without going insane. "If I do bad stuff, I'm not converted, and God wouldn't send me to Hell if I wasn't converted. So I can stay here in church and build up a little kingdom of my own, knowing that in the White Throne Judgment I will have my opportunity to believe and practice all that Christianity stuff."
The more I hear out of the mouths of preachers, the less I want to hear. Such idiocy.
ReplyDeleteYou: Hi it's me. I was just senselessly and brutally murdered. I know I wasn't a very good , but I tried to be a good person. I've come to see about a position at Heaven, Inc?
ReplyDeleteDeity: Hmm. I see you stole fizzy lifting drinks and bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized. It's all there in black and white, clear as crystal. You get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!
Well, and people can say that the Living Church of God minister and members deserved to be murdered by a member because they are not Christian (at least the leaders don't seem to be).
ReplyDeletePerhaps everyone in the Armstrongist Churches of God will go to hell: God will continue to punish them for breaking His Laws (The Ninth Commandment springs to mind).
Well, anyway, that's the reasoning -- tit for tat.
Let the Churches have their own meltdown and leave off facing the realities of life -- that evil exists and affects everyone.
Real helpful, that.
God must be so pleased how people treat each other, particularly after some tragedy.
Wait. No. It's not a tragedy. It's an opportunity.
As a Christian it's not my primary role to judge and sentence another--their conscience and ultimately the Lord Jesus Himself will do better than I ever humanly could in that regard. What is wrong, however, is to consign the fate of other people you don't even know--and in this case Holmes' victims--to hell and blame them for their untimely deaths simply for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Didn't Jesus imply that such a view was both naive and immature when He referred to the Galileans who were struck by Pilate or those Judeans who were buried under the rubble of the tower of Siloam when He pointed out, "So because they died in that way you think they must have deserved it, that they had it coming, and that they had to have been heavy sinners above you lot? Are you serious?! Cause I've got news for you--you're no better! So watch out unless you turn from your sins you'll die just the same" ("Luke 13:1-5"). Basically, we're all in the same boat so the "fault lines" aren't as clear cut as they sometimes seem.
ReplyDeleteThere are far too many "Christian Idiots In The Pulpit"
ReplyDeleteSpending some time watching mainstream Christian TV will expose a person to tons of 'em.
Perhaps, in America, Christians should not only pray for forgiveness, but also pray "Dear Jesus, please make mainstream Christian TV stop being such a total cesspool of spiritual idiocy. And Jesus, while you're at it, please give the people who run mainstream Christian TV stations Holy Spirit and Christian discernment, which they obviously have zero of. Amen"
Norm
Ah, the old fear mantra. From the time the first tribal shaman pontificated that Ooga Lala was struck by lightning because he pooh poohed what the pompous idiot had said to today, when the same kind of pontifications are made in the name of an equally imaginary god to the one the old shaman beat his ignorant gums about.
ReplyDeleteZeus, Thor, Yahweh, Jesus etc. They're all the same. Conceptual idols populating the minds of ignorant people who are paralyzed by unfounded fears.
The minsters are serving the purpose they were called to. Being money whores!
ReplyDeleteSay anything in between and you lose financial support from the donors who steer the ship as they please.