In all the silliness that the church taught about dinosaurs I had forgotten this little gem from Herb:
Notice what he wrote in The Incredible Human Potential. HWA is not writing about the initial creation of the Earth, he is writing about the situation after the failed rebellion of Lucifer and the Earth is in a chaotic and empty waste. Look at the link below if you do not believe me.
Consider, now, the truly AWESOME project God set out to accomplish - to REPRODUCE HIMSELF!It is probable that, prior to this time, no form of life had ever been created with the reproductive process. Probably the very first example of reproductive life was that of plant life - at the time God was renewing the face of the earth (Gen. 1:11-12). God had created the physical universe before placing the angels on the earth. God had created MATTER containing properties so that marvelous things may be done with it. (Chapter 6.)
It would appear to me that HWA was irritated by the thought that physical life in the pre-Adamic Earth reproduced themselves for billions of years. It made human reproduction appear less important. According to HWA humans have been reproducing for 6000 years. But if life in the pre-Adamic Earth have been reproducing themselves for billions of years why would (HWA's) God reproducing himself be anything special to see? How could reproduction be "the CROWNING PINNACLE of even God's unmatched creative POWER" if pre-Adamic life had already been doing so for billions of years?I sure wish we had these kinds of illustrations in our Bible Story book instead of the drowning people clawing at the side of the ark and people being killed by hail stones While these pictures are here in jest, there are a few in the COG who believe that dinosaurs were in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.
HWA's answer to this problem was to simply deny that any pre-Adamic life could reproduce.
In summary:
It seems to me that HWA was denigrating pre-Adamic life as non-reproducing in order to elevate reproduction (natural and spiritual) among animals, humans and within the God Family as something that only happened after Lucifer's rebellion.
Check out the entire article at the link above.
17 comments:
(banging head on desk) DD
Why would Yahweh waste 500 million years on dinosaurs? Better question; why would Yahweh waste 4.5 billion years if the whole idea was to create humans on the planet just 6,000 years ago?
Of course, that's assuming there is a Yahweh...and that's really all it is, an assumption with nothing to prop it up with other than tales out of a book that's not even a book.
Hey, and that's besides presuming things that the collection of compiled and edited pieces of ancient Hebrew documents don't even say. Sterile dinosaurs...presumed from those pieces of writings that don't even mention dinosaurs.
The creation of angelic beings are presumed in the same way when they actually just suddenly appear in the 'book' without any explanation at all. Cherubs too, which were depicted before the Jews wrote the 'bible book' as crouching lions with wings.
But, no matter what, it's gotta be true, right - it's in th' bible.
The interesting thing is the extent to which HWA was considered to be a type of self-standing authority unto himself and therefore not subject to question or review. I am quite sure that in most of the ACOGs, "Mr. Armstrong taught....." still pretty much ends most discussions and/or quells most rebellions.
He decided that gap theory creation was the way in which God did His work, and then extrapolated, hypothecated, and speculated to fill in the details so (most of) the ministers could be their usual know it all selves in the field.
Armstrongism was very much a personality cult, and the unabashed worship of Herb was idolatry. Rather than correct this, some are doing a dastardly job of replicating it so that a new generation gets to be infected.
BB
"Mr. Armstrong taught..."
No kidding, BB. Sometimes I'll still read or hear someone say that, and I just want to scream.
But for some, it'll do. In fact, for many, it's the bottom line. Incredible.
I know I have related this at times, but I do recall HWA giving this exact concept in Bible study the same day I, as the guy that watered his office plants, saw the National Geographic on his coffee table that had the first Dinosaur fossilized dino eggs found in China on the cover.
It was obvious no one actually read National Geographic!
I know I have related this at times, but I do recall HWA giving this exact concept in Bible study the same day I, as the guy that watered his office plants, saw the National Geographic on his coffee table that had the first Dinosaur fossilized dino eggs found in China on the cover.
It was obvious no one actually read National Geographic!
I think that Armstrong's ego was one reason he had to speak with authority on every subject. I don't recall him ever saying, "I have no idea." He was never in doubt, seldom correct.
Yahweh didn't read the bible carefully enough at first and thought he had to create each. and. every. single. living. thing. (That's why there never was any evolution, btw.)
This went on for, like, 3 billion years, and by this time Yahweh was getting tired. That's when Baal came along and said, "Yaknow, there's an easier way. What do you think all those eggs are for?"
Then Yahweh slapped himself upside, had a V8, fixed everything up to be self-replicating, and took a well-deserved break. That's how we got sex and the sabbath in one fell swoop. True story.
Not coincidentally, that's the most popular TV show in heaven. Sex & the Sabbath has just been renewed for it's 5,997th season. Word is they're going to end the show after the 6,000th season with a big finale, which is what Jesus has been waiting for all this time. (Jesus has always known the day and the hour, how else would he watch? What no one knows is the season when your favorite show is gonna get canceled.) Word on the street is, that's when Jesus is finally gonna get off the couch, use the bathroom, and then come back to earth, so get ready to flee in 6 months!
Heck, it's no worse than any of the COG theologies.
It may be ego or it may also be the accepted paragdigm that religious figures have the final say. Apostle Paul wrote that way and expected to be taken as always correct when he clearly wasn't. Even Gospel Jesus talks about Adam and Eve as if they were real. He did not know they weren''t evidently nor did Elijah, hiding in the caves of Carmel would know that the best Neanderthal skeletons on earth were 30 feet below his butt
dd.
So was the problem HWA's... EGG, EGO, or EGGO?
...or a combination of all three?
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
Actually, it really wasn't Herbie's fault. It was our fault for giving him OUR money and for following the bastard.
Exactly. What self-esteeming guru does? The only self-effacing guru I've ever encountered was Jerry Garcia of the
Grateful Dead, a reluctant guru who knew that his audience hung on his every word, and was therefore extremely careful to avoid or limit his comments between songs during the band's sets so that nobody would misapply his words in their lives and go in bad or harmful directions. Yet, here was a highly intelligent individual as manifested by the rare interviews he did for magazine articles, and by the opinions of his peers. No wonder HWA didn't like the rock and roll! Musicians set a better example and accomplished more good than he did!
The Garden of Eden was Jurassic Park.
That explains a lot.
"I think that Armstrong's ego was one reason he had to speak with authority on every subject. I don't recall him ever saying, "I have no idea." He was never in doubt, seldom correct."
Ain't that right!
I remember him pounding the lectern and screaming, "AND YE SHALL NOT SAY 'NAY' TO ME!", and then screaming that those who disagreed with him would be cast into the lake of fire.
Nice guy, LOL!
I remember very well when Herb shook his jowels and dogmatically proclaimed that man would never be allowed to get to the moon. Never heard any more about that after 1969. GTA even made trips to Florida to report on rocket launches. The embarrassing pronouncement was conveniently swept under the lumpy rug.
I think HWA's idea was that Satan was originally in charge of "developing" the earth. He created the dinosaurs and other similar life, but his creations could not reproduce because Satan himself is sterile and cannot reproduce. HWA's proof of all this?? Absolutely nothing.
Glenn Parker
Thanks for the mention, No2HWA.
Glad you all discussed this topic and found this interesting. Thanks.
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