Ever since 1987 the Internet has helped bring down the Church of God splintering it into hundreds and hundreds of splinter personality cults.
Ex-members of the COG's love it while the die-hard conservatives despise it, yet love to be titillated by it.
Of course when it comes to religion, the only truth can be found in a COG blog or web site.
Finding the truth on the net, is a bit like finding dry water.
When I go to bed tonight I will tip my head on its side and give it a good
shake, trying to tip out all the junk I have just read.
The Web is like that tree of good and evil. When the Web comes to religion
it must be 99.999999% evil and 0.111111% good.
The history of Armstrongism involves liberal dosage of censorship. Basically, before written and spoken materials became available on the internet, the message was always, "Don't listen to anything from anyone outside of "God's" Church" Sadly, needy members came to find out that this even included such resources as AA, professional marriage counsellors, scientists, the medical profession, financial advisors, and a plethora of others who could have vastly improved the quality of members' lives.
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of the church membership, aspiring to be Philadelphian and thus escape the Germans and make it to the place of safety, put on their HWA blinders, and piously avoided the time honored tradition of the second opinion! Was this of God? Well, if one understood and had indwelling the Holy Spirit, presumably there would be wisdom and a Godly perspective to help members wade through all spoken and written materials to be guided to truth. The fact that an organization tells you what you can read, watch, or listen to would seem to indicate that they don't believe in the guidance of or power of the Holy Spirit!
These people are conditioned to circumvent huge, obvious red flags!
BB
Of course these folk never ask why humans were not to know or have the knowledge of good and evil. Reason: That was just for El and his Council of the Elohim or lesser gods. That's why they said man needed to be driven out in the myth "lest they eat of the tree of life, also god food tree, and live forever. So knowing good from evil and living forever in Genesis was not for humans. However it makes it hard to understand why disobeying God was such a biggy because after all, they could not discern good from evil until they partook of the tree. Which of course is a Hebrew twist on the original Sumerian tale.
ReplyDeletePCG folk aren't the smartest pencils in the box but rate high on superstitious. RCG types who sit and just agree with Dave are three short of a dozen but since Dave seems clever and intelligent, it's even worse when mixed with stupid.
M.T.Garden
The math is wrong - adds up to more than 100.00 percent. Typical cogger.
ReplyDeleteFrom a Flurry enabler on theTrumpet.com comment section, today:
ReplyDelete"...it’s not what man thinks. Nor what appears to be. It is all about Bible prophecy. What does the Bible say? And if Mr. Flurry has said this will happen, it will come to pass. Believe it."
One would think, an adoration comment like the one above would be too idolizing, even for the PCG to print.
The conceit of saying this or that is like the mythical "tree of good and evil" is that they're throwing stones at something just because it isn't 100% perfect, which is rather arbitrary and hypocritical. To be even-handed, by that standard, everything, and I mean every thing, must be criticized and rejected. Even a real, innocent, tree can't live up to that standard.
ReplyDeleteBy phrasing it in terms of the mythical "two trees" they're suggesting that there IS something in this universe that is 100% pure and perfect. If there's something that's like the "tree of good and evil," then there must also be something that's like the "tree of life." Oh, and what could that be? You, O loyal "baptized" church member? "God's loyal ministers"? "God's church"? Gimme a break!!! Talk about "tree of good and evil"! Everybody knows that the internet is 50+% porn. The internet isn't pretending to be something it isn't. But what is it that looks "pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom," if not "God's" very own "church". Behold, what could be a better analog to the "tree of good and evil" than the most corrupt, evil, abusive, lying "church" to which "God" ever stooped to affix his name?
Those who throw stones shouldn't live in glass houses. Also, they should spend less time reading the bible over and over and over, and spend a little more time doing their math homework. 99.999999% and 0.111111% don't add up to 100%.
One would think, an adoration comment like the one above would be too idolizing, even for the PCG to print.
ReplyDeleteIf so, one would be mistaken. You see, Flurry and Meredith and Pack surround themselves with "yes men" who compete for the attention of the leader. Anyone who dares to point out the unflattering truth to these men is summarily exiled from the leader's favor (and may lose a job or family in the process of being cut down by the offended leader).
Over time, this leads to a pattern where these leaders have nobody left around them who is willing and able to tell them the truth. To fuel their narcissism, Pack, Meredith and Flurry have isolated themselves from reality in bubbles of their own making.
What happens when the bubbles burst? Weinland's bubble is almost completely popped. Pack's seems to be getting close. Meredith and Flurry aren't that far behind. Thanks to the Internet, it is easy to prove that these men are liars (or are incompetent lunatics surrounded by liars). Even for an HWA loyalist, the antics of these men are increasingly hard to rationalize, and so we see the present scattering.
Korah, Dathan, &c thought Moses was full of crap, and had gone too far on his power trip. If only it were possible to hear their unfavorable opinions on the COG leadership.
ReplyDeleteMaybe someday, they will be vindicated.
When something bad happens to others, it must be God punishing them. Was God punishing the CofG when Richard Armstrong was killed in an automobile accident? When Loma died of am obstructed bowel? Perhaps God was sending a message that the message the CofG was spreading was "full of crap". Perhaps RCM had a torn retina because he was looking at pornography (for research purposes). Seeing is believing, and so is believing seeing. We see in events what supports our views.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Bricket Wood a place of exile for those who angered HWA? McNair and Meredith served time there. Nice title (Vice Chancellor), office and home but no real authority and being out of the power loop.
ReplyDeleteAnon said:
ReplyDelete"Korah, Dathan, &c thought Moses was full of crap, and had gone too far on his power trip. If only it were possible to hear their unfavorable opinions on the COG leadership.
Maybe someday, they will be vindicated."
Probably not. "Moses" was full of crap in that NO ONE of the originals who left Egypt actually made it. Even Moses never made it.
By the time Moses had gotten done with them for complaining about being thirsty IN THE DESERT or hungry IN THE DESERT or snake bite IN THE DESERT, or murdered IN THE DESERT and making a 40 year journey out of a 9 day walk if the man would have gotten a map, NONE OF THEM actually were said to have gotten to the Promised, But Not To You, Land.
The Exodus story is a myth and not one to take good lessons in leadership from. You'd get a little nervous for our family too in the waste howling wilderness if your leader left for a time and gave you a month or more to wonder if he was ever coming back. For all they knew by then, Moses was paid to lead them all out in the wilderness to die and get rid of them I am sure was the feeling.
The good news is that the Exodus as presented did not occur and millions of folk did not actually trek out of Egypt on this 40 year nightmare. Moses probably did not exist as per The Bible Unearthed and others who research such tales in their cultural and political context, so we can learn lessons from these tales in the same way we would learn lessons from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry's ideas of themselves are also mythical
"If so, one would be mistaken. You see, Flurry and Meredith and Pack surround themselves with "yes men" who compete for the attention of the leader. Anyone who dares to point out the unflattering truth to these men is summarily exiled from the leader's favor (and may lose a job or family in the process of being cut down by the offended leader)."
ReplyDeletehmmm, sounds kinda like this blog....re: the fellow that lost his "modicum of respect" for Dennis, the rest of the group circle the wagons and jump on him, making him out to be the bad guy.
I guess this group here is a "church" of sorts, and anyone who dares follows a different doctrine is exiled as well.
that being said, the purpose of my comment is to show that we are all people searching for a herd to belong to....folks here are united in their opposition to all things Armstrong.
the sad thing is, you are tossing God out too...you mistakenly think that the clowns you write about (Pack, Flurry, et.al) are part of The Church, and represent God's way.
anyway, I do hope you can put your hatred to bed, and get on with your lives.....as the song goes, "...don't worry, be happy..."
"Wasn't Bricket Wood a place of exile for those who angered HWA? McNair and Meredith served time there."
ReplyDeleteDay-um! Did RCM serve time in BW too? I know he got exiled to Hawaii for six months in 1980. I know being out of the power loop must have been torture for him, but heck, as far as I'm concerned, I can't wait to be punished with a six-month long all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii. How can I screw up just like that?
"...folks here are united in their opposition to all things Armstrong."
Yup, that's what it said on the big sign where I came in.
"...you mistakenly think that the clowns you write about (Pack, Flurry, et.al) are part of The Church, and represent God's way."
Oh? Well then, please do tell where "The Church" is and what "God's way" is. What's that? More of the same you say? Sorry, been there, done that, got the t-shirt, postcards, plus key-chains and shotglasses for everyone back home.
"anyway, I do hope you can put your hatred to bed, and get on with your lives."
Yup, just gotta finish sweeping the crumbs of that broke-down system called Armstrongism outta the bed first. They are powerful uncomfortable. Then we'll put cute li'l hatred down for the night.
You know, it's just a problem with brain structure.
ReplyDeletePeople like Pack, Flurry, Meredith, Weinland are incapable of ethical and moral behavior and since the Internet demonstrates this, they must do what they can to expunge the truth from the minds of those who follow them.
Unfortunately, the truth is winning, in this case.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete"The math is wrong - adds up to more than 100.00 percent. Typical cogger."
LOL! My God is better than your god cause he knows his maths.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0.999...
another seekeroftruth
Anon noted...
ReplyDeleteI guess this group here is a "church" of sorts, and anyone who dares follows a different doctrine is exiled as well.
Well, if so, welcome to Church. How did you come into the truth?
Only the crude and crass hostiles get disfellowshipped until they clean up their potty mouths, and then we bring them back with loving hugs. We never wished them any ill will but that they would repent. You don't have to tithe and we don't have one same thing we all have to believe to indoctrinate you with.
We're Unitarians in a divided kinda way!
Head Usher said...
ReplyDelete"Everybody knows that the internet is 50+% porn."
Not if that is all somebody looks for. Then it would be 100%!
"The truth kills, and the truth heals." Fundamentalists don't look for truth because the truth will shatter their
reality. Then they would be 'lost' all over again. To me, they are like the walking dead.
another seekeroftruth
Anon said...
ReplyDelete"that being said, the purpose of my comment is to show that we are all people searching for a herd to belong to....folks here are united in their opposition to all things Armstrong."
Yep! Did you read the title to the main page?
Don't take things so personally. I actually want to hear the opinions of atheists and christian fundamentalists.
Besides, if God does exist nobody can toss Him out of anything. What if God didn't believe in you?
another seekeroftruth
"Internet is 50% porn"
ReplyDeleteSounds like something you heard in church. You're using the wrong search words if you come up with that figure.
But if half of my time I put words like...well never mind, then yes, my Internet is 50% porn
M.T.Pornea
It would seem that the whole Cult of Herbert Armstrong is 50+% porn, especially if we look at what Roderick Meredith has published.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I consider false prophets pornographers and I have no use for that sort of thing.