A reader here responds to the demolition of the Academic Center on the former Ambassador Campus in Pasadena and the angry bitter people he thinks reside here.
As an outsider, who followed the WCG for over a decade in the 80s, I am shocked at all this. I guess the one major proof above all others, that this whole endeavor was a fraud, is simply by just looking at you people - its fruit. Your ugliness, your unforgiving, your hatred, your self-centered pity parties and your disdain for anything that may be good out in the world - is rock solid proof, to me, of a false prophet that HWA may have been (I do not know). Still, you are the product of your own choices, yet you never say this - your focus, to this DAY, is still on a flawed human (who is now dead). You JUST WILL NOT LET GO OF HIM will you? Move away from all this and find peace if you can. You are in charge of your life. Forgive yourself and start finding peace with God. Although, many blame God more than they do HWA, so be it; time may even heal that wound as well. Ambassador College Campus Demolition
This shows how little thought some people put into their basic opinions. The purpose of this site, and the reason most people post here, as least as I understand it, is to keep others from having a similar experience to what we all did. We also share the basic solutions and antidotes we've found, and our new understandings. Are we ever irreverent about it? Of course we are! Part of the healing is the ability to have fun!
ReplyDeleteThis is just my opinion, but the only ones I can think of who would have a problem with that would be people who still have some vested interest in Armstrongism, and still revere its founder. They just can't stand to see their fearless leader exposed for what he was, but they attempt to mask that by appearing to give positive sounding advice. Problem is, we know their own psychological profile, and know not to take shills seriously.
BB
The only good thing I can say about the whole HWA thing is that it led many people to drink to forget what a mess their life had become, as my shaky hand reaches for another glass. The State of CA should have torn down that corrupt institution down in the 70's
ReplyDeleteI went to the AC Pasadena campus on a recent trip to Southern California.
ReplyDeleteI found the architecture of the new homes being built to be extremely fitting and beholding of the entire AC campus ambiance, and in fact, better looking than the old buildings that were torn down.
There is still much landscaping, and decorum, and I must tip my hat to the architects and designers of this project. Home prices start in the low $1 millions.
Website Here:
http://www.newhomesource.com/communitydetail/builder-17752/community-71414
Joe Moeller
Cody, WY
(2014 UCG Council- Write In Candidate)
Things are really shaking in Edmund, OK as Earthquake Track reported 47 earthquakes in the past 7 days in that evil town. Must be the work of the devil. I wonder what Flurry has to say about it?
ReplyDeleteJudging from the rant, sounds more like the commenter has the hangup...
ReplyDeleteWhat if there where no blogs like this? This blog and others give people the forum to freely express themselves and vent their frustrations. Just maybe this is helping them heal. Also this blog and others like it continue to expose Armstrongism for what it is so others can be freed. This blog and others are needed considering there are still thousands of people enslaved in Armstrongism.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should shove a base ball bat up his backside and then tell him to quit whining and get over it already.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes this person say we have disdain for "anything that may be good out in the world"? We actually only have disdain for things in the Armstrongist world that are STILL being sold as "good" but which are anything but. If we had "disdain" for anything "good" out in "the world" also, then we would have no hope at all! So, this is a misrepresentation.
ReplyDeleteNot all of this is as a result of our own choices. Some of us were born into this fiasco, and were indoctrinated before we knew what we'd ended up in the middle of. Not ALL circumstances are as a result of personal choice, contrary to this person's simplistic opinions. This too is a misrepresentation.
* I suppose this person, in pious Christian sentimentality, also thinks the prisons should be emptied. So what if these people committed crimes, like, I don't know, raping their own children? Or murdering yours. So what! Why do you want to keep them cooped up? Why are you dwelling in the past? Let bygones be bygones. Forgive them already. You didn't need little Johnny anyway. Dorothy didn't matter. Aw, just forget 'em. Move on. Get over it.
* I suppose this person, in pious Christian sentimentality, is also against Anti-neo-Nazi activism. So what if there are people who still hail the progenitors of German National Socialism as heros and continue to promote such ideology. Germany was defeated and those "heros" are all dead, so we shouldn't talk about it anymore. Maybe a good chunk of your family was wiped out by this scourge, but so what? Quit whining. There's no point in crying over spilled milk. Tell Elie Wiesel and all those "bitter" Jews to just shut up already. Enough of all these "self-centered" "holocaust pity parties." It was all "the product of your own choices" anyway. Get over it.
* I suppose this person, in pious Christian sentimentality, is also against the NAACP. Newsflash: Slavery is over! So what if generations of your family were treated like cattle, and you are still treated like a second class citizen in the wrong part of town. Simple, don't go there. So what if there are still plenty of people who would like to see YOU stripped of your dignity right now today. What's the big deal? Why do you feel threatened? Forgive and forget. Move on. What's with all the hatred? You only have yourself to blame anyway. All of it was "the product of your own choices." Get over it.
In the first place, HWA may be dead, but Armstrongism is not. Too many people still hail HWA as a hero, instead of deplore him as a child molester. Too many people still promote his ideologies. "Forgive and forget" can only be entertained once the threat has been eliminated, and HWA's threat still lives on.
Second, this person's simplistic characterization of how people should heal from psychological traumas is totally unrealistic. Not that we should "play the victim" or fail to own up to our responsibilities, not at all. But it takes time to heal from injuries, regardless of what kind they are. Sometimes people don't ever heal. And yet they don't necessarily die right away either, although I guess this person wishes they would.
Third, bible Jesus and his "turn the other cheek under all circumstances" moralizing is not a solution to the ills in your neighborhood, your church, your nation, or the world. Too often pious sentimentality is used as justification by people who want to bury their heads in the sand. Refusing to challenge the evils in this world is to sit and watch them proliferate. Exactly what Jesus had in mind, I guess, especially if those evils are perpetrated in his name.
Finally, I guess here we have an example of a person who enjoys repeating the mistakes of history.
I got started in the healing and learning the concept of when your head tells you one thing and your stomach another etc , your stomach is telling you the truth, by writing. I didn't know I could write until it just poured out of my repressed self when something seemed to need to be addressed. My Ezine writings produced 300,000 reads to date with mostly helpful comments.
ReplyDeleteI get the occasional "get over it" and other snarky input but that's just where that person is at the moment and it's ok. I believe I am "over it" personally and simply wish to perhaps help some , as mentioned here, make better choices and decisions that will affect the rest of their lives in every way on such important things as personal spirituality. As you know, I have a need for the one and no need for religion as that which others pour into your heads, demand compliance to, tell you when to show up and where and how much to give. That is meaningless to me at this stage.
I even assume for now that those like a Dave Pack, who the only reason I feel compelled to point out the dangers in his way of being a minister and how he sees scripture etc, is because I know him the best from way back. He has always been as he is today and only seemed under control when others put him in the penalty box which was always only the temporary fix. Frankly, his view of himself and his church fascinates me as long as it doesn't affect me, which it won't of course. I feel for those stuck in the feeling they need to be there or with any COG unbalanced or untrained minister type who reads into the Bible, cutting and pasting as they go, what works for them.
For some reason, I needed the WCG experience. I chose it and was responsible for it. I did not grow up in it and no one told me I had to comply with it. It's why I like Eckhart Tolle's comment:
"How do you know the experience you are having is the one you are supposed to be having? Because you are having it...."
I can't speak for others, but inspite of being charged with being "bitter", "angry" and a bunch of other Bible labels for the scoffers and scorners, I don't really feel that way inside. Sites like this have to be threat to the income and credibility of those who abuse such things and I will stop writing when I feel it no longer serves any positive purpose for those seeking or as we saw in Forrest Gump, when he was running and running around the world, stopped and finally said it was time to go home.
I'd just like to add that I am still with GCI and we don't believe in Justification through the works of the law.
ReplyDeleteFaith in Christ is all that can justify us. Totally. Then we live an upright life in the Spirit.
My congregation where I attend is is a very loving, healing and sharing place to be. Personally I experienced a lot of damage through Herbert and Garner and his "top men" as I went through AC at Bricket Wood. Certain Evangelists at Bricket Wood should have entered a sneering competition. You spoke to them and all you got in response was a curling of the lip and a distainful hate filled look then they would walk away. And as for wishing other ministers good morning at Bricket Wood, well,if you wanted your head bitten off, that was the place to be. And as for second year speech class, lets not go there. What a terrible terrible place to be when all you wanted to do was to serve Christ. Your sincerest efforts ripped apart - every time. Ripped apart by wolves. Especially the "minister" taking the class.
Christ is now my focus. Not men. Not Herbert. Not Garner. Not Hunting, not McNair, not Plache not McMichael, not Jones or any their grovelling subordinates.
May God forgive them on the day of Judgement for the sneering and self exalting bullying and the damage they caused when they should have been serving and lifting people up, not trampling all over them in their own self exaltation and undeserved sense of superiority.
For those who still believe we can only look to Jesus alone - not to men.
"Faith in Christ is all that can justify us. Totally. Then we live an upright life in the Spirit."
ReplyDeleteSounds nice. Only problem with it that I find is that then you don't live an upright life. But there's social pressure to appear as though you do.
If you get rid of this theory that taking a quick bath and then hanging out with the right crowd means you're not the same ol guy you ever were, then you're free to improve at your own realistic pace, and not be pressured to falsify the accounts to show you're immediately and forever more "up to expectations." Doesn't mean you don't curb your baser instincts, just that you don't have to lie about the whole thing anymore and be such a hypocrite when who you genuinely are comes shining through. And if you do that, then you don't need to buy justification at the company store anymore.