All of you COG members in LCG, PCG and UCG, had better be prepared to follow
How do you view God’s Sabbath? Do you properly prepare for it—and welcome it when it arrives? Do you occasionally “forsake the assembling of yourself together”? If so, what has made you think that you can do this (Heb. 10:24-26)? How far have you relaxed your dress code on the Sabbath from what the entire Church once practiced when it was on track? Is your conversation filled with idle words—are you actively striving to remove them from your Sabbath discussions with other brethren? Do you still listen attentively at services, taking careful notes with an open Bible, because you plan to revisit those notes one or more times in the coming week? (I realize most of the sermons you hear are worth little more than the hot air that propelled them.) How long is the television on, and for what purpose? Has this element of your standard of conduct degenerated as per Sabbath-keeping? Do you still see the Sabbath as God’s test command? Or have you told yourself that permissive Sabbath conduct is being “balanced”? Do you believe that a 90-minute service, with its 45-minute “sermons”—both taught to you by Joe Tkach, and your leaders who obviously agreed with him!!!—is better than the established traditional two hours (with 75-minute sermons) that Mr. Armstrong taught?
What about the Feast of Tabernacles? Do you attend every service of the Feast every year—and, again, how do you dress? Per God’s command, do you still keep a full second tithe in preparation for the Feast, always turning in the excess before and after it so others, less privileged, may also attend? Does your attendance reflect loyalty to your organization, or do you attend whatever site is nearest or most attractive to you, regardless of affiliation?
9 comments:
PACK WROTE:
"How far have you relaxed your dress code on the Sabbath from what the entire Church once practiced when it was on track?"
Well, I have got to figure that the Church was "On Track" back in the day when Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem, along with the early Apostles.
They wore robs, beards, sandals and the like. Shouldnt that then be the "standard" for church for being "On Track" then?
Of course not! 1966 is not the mandated God standard for dress! This is as stupid as the Amish or Mennonites being stuck in 1825 for dress standards.
At the very least, it shows someone who wants to control people by breaking down their individuality. This is why the military has uniforms, and why prisons also have uniforms. Chairman Mao mandated dress too, all to subjugate the followers to the State.
Pack is the supposed arbiter of "weights and measures" in all things. I say... get back to the Bible then Davey, and lets see some more beards, sandals and robes.
Now if he went for Cowboy hats at church, maybe I would take a second look! ;-)
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
If a COG minister can't deliver a sermon in 20-30 minutes then he has no business preaching. Anything longer means the man did not prepare properly.
Information overload.
In public speaking, a message must be delivered expertly, and as Sharon said, should be expertly delivered between 35 minutes and 45 minutes. If you go longer, a lot of what was said previously will not be remembered. I guess this is why "note-taking" was so mandatory - so you can sit there like a court reporter stenographing every detail and literally every scripture.
You ever watched that at the Feast? You ever watched how every head bowed at a scripture as it was dutifully written down - even the teenagers talking up in the back?
In this manner, a minister could "get it out" and you go back and reread it, I guess. Even with the worst drawling horrible preachers you could get some "shut eye" and then the minute you heard a scripture wake up, write it down, then nod again. Yes, that actually happened.
I don't have any of my sermon notes left from those days. I wish I could reread them to have a good comedy hour.
How You Knew You Had A Boring Preacher at a COG
1. One Lectern and One Minister would double vision to Two Lecterns and Two Ministers.
2. You Stared at the Ceiling Fans Rotating around and around.
3. You listen to the Boring Preacher, only to be jarred awake by a loud jar or a clap and see your preacher staring at you.
4. You catch yourself drawing and only know it when you get jabbed in the side by an elbow.
5. You're distracted by people outside and don't have a clue what the pastor is saying. At all.
6. You manipulate your eyes to double vision on purpose to see the Double Lectern and Double Preachers.
7. Your legs have a mind of their own, and won't stop shaking.
8. You get up to go to the bathroom but don't have to go.
9. You forget to take notes with an embarrassingly empty notebook.
I'm sure there are others!
It's not the clothing that's so important, it's the attitude of thirsting to learn about the Lord that's important!
WCG was classist. In spite of poverty caused by misunderstanding of tithing, members were expected to adhere to conservative, middle class standards, even at the cost of being pretentious. This included musical taste, speech patterns, political views, and other aspects which should have been individualized traits.
In a Christ.-centered, grace based church, attire is relaxed. People of lesser socio-economic status feel fully equal, and not out of place or pretentious. It's something which Davey Pack and others of his ilk would know nothing about, a loving environment.
BB
Oh yeah, being forced to sit in an un-air conditioned school cafeteria in 80+ degree weather for two or more hours in steel folding chairs knee-to-knee with a bunch of other dudes in sweat-drenched wool suits. Sign me back up for that.
I've been thinking lately about something that is unfortunately very heavy. I hope that I am wrong, and totally off base, but I think we may see some high profile suicides happening in the near future.
These people's stuff is just not happening in Europe, and it seems fairly obvious that the resurgence in Armstongism they have long anticipated is going nowhere despite some of the best man-made efforts.
What are we seeing in the tremendous barrage of bluster? It certainly smacks of over-compensation and desperation, and I would have to believe that some of the people who are coming on especially strong are the weakest and most desperate. They drank the HWA Kool Aid, and have been waiting all of their lives for his prophetic outline to begin to unfurl, in fact I dare say that would be the only thing which would give their lives any validation or meaning.
It's also entirely possible that through sheer willpower everyone will soldier on, expecting fulfillment right up until they breathe their last gulp of air. It's just that Armstrongism always was such a depressing religion, because HWA killed off just about anything that made life worth living, and attempted to make his church an all-purpose replacement for those things.
As I say, I sincerely hope I'm wrong. We should probably be praying for everyone, although in some cases, that is very difficult considering their personalities.
I wonder if DP would get upset if someone showed up in a "too expensive suit" ?...think of the money that could have been given to "the work" if that fellow had purchased a suit that cost half as much...
and DP is going to chastise us for not properly keeping the Sabbath, when he rushes out after services to a restaurant.....give me a break!
This may seem harsh, it may seem cruel, and it may seem conservative but I am a believer in the death penalty. Strictly for practical reasons though.
Not for "justice," since rarely is there ever such a thing, not for vengeance, not to "punish" anyone, not as a deterrent for others. No, entirely for its own merits, as a way to separate those who don't know how to do anything but cause trouble, from the rest who prefer to live peaceably.
Though death seems scary, there's really nothing to be afraid of. We're all going to die sometime. Both Ecclesiastes and Mark Twain opined that perhaps we should cry at a birth and rejoice at a funeral, seemingly on account of the relative position of all the trouble for a body.
If a few high-profile people who are doing nothing but causing some of that trouble want to voluntarily separate themselves from the more peaceable folks, I think we should all be grateful for their sacrifice. No greater love has a man but that he lay down his life for his friends. It might be the first thing they've ever done that could at least be construed as that selfless "agape" love that HWA always preached that everyone else should do. Hard to imagine HWA or any of his wannabe clones every doing anything selfless. I guess that's only for the peaceable folks. When you get to be important, you rise above all of that "Jesus" stuff.
Not personally against praying for, or even against, these types of men, but it isn't the sort of thing that in my opinion accomplishes anything practical.
Post a Comment