Dear Worldwide Church of God splinter groups, my sister is a Mormon. Like all church of God groups, she fervently believes that "truth" is defined by her religious persuasion. Never mind that her indoctrination radically differs with all other religious groups on earth, because to her thinking there is only "one" source of all "truth" on earth, and that is the belief system of "The Latter Day Saints."
The world is overrun with religious zealots who live and die believing that what they think is truth and will some day overtake all humans. Not so! Humanity is extremely diverse and will never in a billion years think alike in terms of religious beliefs.
The Worldwide Church of God splinter groups are nothing more than a speck of sand upon the seashore of religious humanity. They will all extinguish in time as their overlords pass on from this life. They may have fun times at their "Family Winter" event, but anyone who observes this charade knows full well that scheduled activities at Christmas time is a total religious scam.
The true motive of "Family Winter" time for church of God splinter groups, is the seduction of naive and gullible people who financially sacrifice their families and children for the wealth of their overlords.
Virtually anyone can start a religious group and seduce the simple minded. All religious groups are spearheaded by self-appointed men or women who sail through life living at the expense of their gullible followers. In the end, the religious rulers rest in the graveyard and so do you.
So who is your God? Your preacher? Oh my, he will return to dirt, the same as you do.
Then what? Your "Bible" is nothing more than ink on paper, and it to will decay and return to dirt also. You see, God is NOT your church pastor, nor ink on paper. You have NEVER seen God, nor so much as heard his voice.
Who is God? He is NOT your church, your pastor, your ink on paper or your imagination, or your Family Winter Weekend. God is in fact someone you have never seen, never encountered and whose voice you have never heard. And guess what? Neither has your preacher seen God or heard his voice. So who are these vain men who stand before you and pretend to speak for God? Total frauds whose only motive is your $money.
Van Robison
Since HWA stole some of this teachings from the Mormon church, it is no wonder he claimed to be the "one true church."
ReplyDeleteSo when is "Victoria's Secret" or "Fredericks of Hollywood" going to get into the untapped "Mormon Underwear" business, and bring some sexy and fun styles for Mormon gals??
ReplyDeleteWelllll...
ReplyDelete$Money isn't necessarily the only thing.
Narcissistic source is good too.
well, that was pretty lame....trying to convince me that my beliefs are in error because his sister (and many others) believe something different and think their beliefs are true.
ReplyDeleteguess what? the vast majority of people that believe they have the correct way are wrong, they've believed a lie
I'm not going to try to convince anyone here of anything....we'll just all wait and find out at the proper time.
Agreed on the lameness of his argument.
ReplyDeleteI just wish I knew of where to go that follows the bibles teaching but without the controlling gov. (not totally against gov, just fear based opaque do as I say not as I do gov) that turns a blind eye to hypocrites, rapist, abusers & and the calendar that God put in the copy of his words. If any of y'all know of a place please contact me, I used my gmail + name (the email is different ) or add Lee to the middle to contact me on facebook in Oklahoma (yes I know I just left myself wide open for attacks but so be it)
Thanks in advance :)
What, the bible is just ink on paper? Actually I heard that line decades ago from a feminist who was accused of destroying marriages with her writings. It's a deliberate lie. They put out enormous effort writing a book, then deny its natural consequences. 'The pen is mightier than then sword' is closer to the truth.
ReplyDeleteAgain, God is a prayer answering God who sometimes speaks words in Christians minds, so yes, we do hear Gods voice.
That there's so much confusion out there, so we can't be certain of anything, is a deception. 'Prove all things' means that the truth is knowable.
This is a Dennis type article. Is he on holidays? Is this a stand-in or a understudy?
Communist theology is just ink on paper as well. But some historians believe it responsible for the deaths of 100 million people in the twentieth century.
ReplyDeleteAh, the power of ink on paper.
Anonymous @ January 5, 2017 at 10:46 PM, I can't speak for Van Robinson, but since he and I share the view that all religious systems are based on either error or deception, maybe I can amplify his piece.
ReplyDeleteHowever untrue your religious belief may seem to me and to Van Robinson, if it does a satisfying job of hanging your own world together and keeps you from doing hurtful things to other human beings, you should not give it up. Those are the reasons cultures and the individuals who make them up have practiced all those various religions over untold generations. Likewise, Mormons who find their lives go best when organized around a set of beliefs which originated in the fraud perpetrated by Joseph Smith should go ahead and organize them that way.
A bit of personal biography: although our father made us kids sit down and listen to "The World Tomorrow" from an early age, we attended various fundamentalist local churches as we moved from place to place. After my parents divorced, my main religious influence came from my mother's relatives and their neighbors. Most of them were Baptists, Methodists, or Pentacostal. So I absorbed a sort of conservative but generic Protestant morality, which was well in place by the time my mother began taking us to services with the Radio Church of God and observing rules about clean and unclean meats, the Holy Days, the whole program.
At Ambassador College I wandered through the Bible independently instead of following the carefully devised path laid out in booklets and propounded in sermons and classes. I concluded that the supernatural parts could not be true and that the morality laid out by Armstrong consisted not of humane behavior but a garbled mess of superstitions and taboos.
In a different college I became dear but platonic friends with the woman who a few years later would become my wife. She had grown up a devout Baptist--went as a teenage on mission trips with her church, the whole Great Commission thingy as earnest Baptists practice it. Her college science and humanities classes had convinced her that the supernatural parts of the Bible could not be true. She quit being a Baptist and became a None. When we eventually fell in love and started planning a life together, we realized we had both retained our Protestant moral system. We knew it was not the only one out there, and might not be the best one, but it was what we had. We were used to it. It worked fairly well as it was, and because we were not tangled up in a religious organization we felt free to round off the parts where it chafed. We had no incentive to go off looking for the TRUTH. Our approximation was good enough.
Maybe with that background you can see why I don't encourage you to leave Armstrongism if it's doing what you need it to do and if you can put up with the sharp corners and rough edges. The point of this blog is to warn people tempted to adopt a GOG about the parts that are likely to chafe, and to encourage COG members who find they can't put up with them any longer to look elsewhere for a compatible world view and a congregation (or a set of secular friends) who hold it.
And Stephen Schley, best of luck to you in your search. I hope you find the same equanimity my wife and I have enjoyed for forty years, but you will have to find your own way to it. Our path would not work for you.
Thanks I've figured out that I'll have to find my own way I was just hoping for some help about where to start my journey away from LCG . I'm centrally blind so if a screen reader can't read it im up the creek. I hope y'all have a great weekend
ReplyDeleteStephen:)
"I'm not going to try to convince anyone here of anything....we'll just all wait and find out at the proper time."
ReplyDeleteOne of the funniest things I hear from Armstrongists is their moronic, demented and selfish idea that others who believe differently will "get theirs" some day.
They like to think they can wish people into some imagined "Lake of Fire" like the kid on the Twilight Zone could wish people into the cornfield.
How to answer such kooks? Maybe like, "It's good you wished me into the Lake of Fire! Real good!"? LOL!
Great story, and thanks for sharing Retired Prof.
ReplyDelete"I just wish I knew of where to go that follows the bibles teaching but without the controlling gov..."
Start with the Church of None, add One, and always keep the doors open for truth, whatever that IS. Time will always tell what comes and goes.
DBP
"My religion is to seek for truth in life and for life in truth, even knowing that I shall not find them while I live." Unamuno
...and one more:
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity." Albert Einstein
11.43 AM
ReplyDeleteNO2HWA, if you are going to enforce any standards at all, this should be it. The author of this comment is being plain mentally cruel. He has done this several times recently. And it's not my comment that he cruelly mocked in the above.
Retired Prof, thanks for your 9.47 AM comment. I'm sure many share a similar world view, but aren't open about it.
ReplyDeleteWe have a fairly large Mormon population in the communities in which I do business. Unless they identify themselves to you, you'd never be able to distinguish them from other principled members of the community. Over the years, even while I was agnostic, some of them were friends. They explained themselves, but were not pushy. How could anyone be against people who were so concerned for fellow man that they actually get baptized for them rather than automatically consigning them to hell?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, some (as I once did) lump all people of faith into the same "strawman". I have no problem with Mormons. I do have a big problem with Warren Jeffs' FLDS Church, because they practice extremes which deeply hurt and scar their members. But, that's a completely different and anachronous group.
BB
I am the prophet that took over after Armstrong's death... If you want to see the truth about Herbert W Armstrong and the WWCOG checkout my facebook page facebook.com/TonyRoach101.... or my website... revelationsofthebible.org... I'll tell you your future... The tribulations and the war of Armageddon starts Sept. 16, 2023... The "Secret Rapture (Spring Harvest of Souls)" has past 5/24/2020 - 4/16/2021... Cloaked in a veil of the corona virus like a thief in the night... Other dates in your immediate future can be seen on my facebook page and website... So kiss your ass goodbye my friend...Because it is now "Just as the days of Noah"
ReplyDelete