One thing the Church of God has been good at is making members feel totally inadequate in everything in regards to their spiritual life. It is bad enough being a married couple and having to deal with this, but if you are single there are extra burdens placed upon you. As usual, it is your fault. You love yourself more than God...or others. You are a vile sinner. You are unhappy because you are a sinner, according to the Philadelphia Church of God, and the only way to cure that is to let the holy spirit move in. Your human nature is a disgusting vile aspect of your life.
What is Satan’s nature? It is vanity—exalting the self.
God pins Satan to the wall in Ezekiel 28:17: “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” This is actually where sin started (verse 15)—when Lucifer, whom God had created perfect, changed his attitude. He went from loving God to loving the self. He got absorbed in his own brightness, obsessed with his own beauty. He became self-centered. Self-impressed. Vain.
That is Satan’s nature!
“Lucifer was like a speck in all of God’s creation, but he selfishly focused on himself,” Gerald Flurry explained about this passage. “In his own eyes, he became more important than God and all His creation.
Can we become that vain about beauty? Or about things? Can vanity corrupt our wisdom? Certainly. Oftentimes, human beings become self-absorbed—wrapped up in our own beauty or looks or things” (
John’s Gospel: The Love of God).
That is our human nature! Do you really see how much you love your self? How much self-love you have?
As Mr. Armstrong said in a sermon in 1982, “Self-love is the very essence of sin.” God’s way of life is always outflowing—it is give. Anything other than that is sin—it is a result of loving our self more than God, or more than the other guy.
“God’s law is, simply,
love!” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “It is the perfect way of life. Every particle of
human suffering, unhappiness, misery and death has come solely from its transgression!” (
The Plain Truth About Healing). Whenever there is a problem—conflict, discouragement, unhappiness—
sin is the cause, which means that
self-love is in there somewhere! Every particle of unhappiness is caused by
sin, and
self-love is the
essence of sin.
Are you unhappy as a single? Then examine yourself for self-love. You are trying to satiate that gnawing inner hunger with something other than God. To some degree, most probably, you are combating your inferiority complex with conceit, self and vanity!
This Satan-inspired human nature makes us miserable. Sin makes us miserable. Self-love makes us miserable! Yet, so often, in specific situations, we put ourselves first because we think that is going to make us happier. We are certain that putting the other person first is going to make us miserable! We prioritize our own desires. We focus on how we want to be treated. Our service and sacrifice are required somewhere—someone needs us—but we are into what we’re doing, so we insist that we’re too busy, or we pretend like we don’t hear or don’t see the problem.
We do these things all the time—and we may even feel justified in doing so. But the reality is that self-love is sin! It is not the way God thinks! It is not His nature to do that. It is not His love.
45 comments:
Armstrongism: a religion of self-hate and a hatred of people having self-respect. Jesus did say we love our neighbors AS OURSELVES.
Weird, for indeed Gerald Flurry is single, and also has "self love" as well!
That self love is a sin is a blatant lie. It is commanded in the 'love your neighbour AS YOURSELF.' True, healthy love towards others is based on the foundation of self love. Otherwise one is just faking reality.
Self love is the biggest taboo on the face of the planet, and to understand why, one only need look at psychopathic traits. Psychopaths believe that others exists to serve them hand and foot. So the message is 'love me, not yourself.' 'Pursue my hopes and dreams rather than your own.' 'Please me rather than pleasing yourself.' etc.
So the people demonising self love do pursue their legitimate self interest PLUS dishonest gain. 'Look at the plank in your own eye' is a good comeback to these lying snake oil salesman.
This is another example of people not being able to succeed in life through their own character and effort, so they rig the rules.
vilifying self love is the wolf talking to the lambs, the fox talking to the chickens.
Aside from setting themselves up for an already lonely single person to decide they have had enough of the put downs and bullshit about being single imploding in anger, this is truly most foul and mind sucking lie these fools have come up with irelation to the self.
The vast majority of people I have ever met are not full of vanity, jealousy, lust and greed. None actually. Their hearts are not deceitful above ALL things and Desperately wicked. It seems you have to rise to a religious position believing all sorts of bull shit about yourself and your relationship to God to become and express all these traits.
People are single for lots of reasons and being married is no key to happiness either. The idealism church leaders, who have their own problems and baggage, put on people is based on foolishness. Even the idea that one has to be commanded to love someone is beyond stupid. Honestly, “Christ” has loved the church more as a drunken derelict if you define the church as being the COG movement with all it’s splits, splinters, slivers and very strange, ignorant and delusional leaders.
So according to PCG, Yahshua/Jesus, Paul, and probably many others who were single, were selfish lovers of themselves.
How do you know when a minister is bull shitting you?
Answer, when they make such stupid statements.
typical PCG material....HWA said this, and HWA said that...
personally, I don't care what HWA said about anything, I care what God says about it.
True love is unconditional. If it had conditions, it would simply be a business transaction. This means that if you are a loving person, you love yourself too. If I love you but don't love me, that means that as soon as you seem to me to be like me, I'll stop loving you. That is conditional. Love is a 360 degree attitude. It has no direction. It simply is.
This notion of hating yourself is unhealthy. And it is ungodly. God loves you. Is your judgement better than his? So why not love yourself? I'm glad I'm me. I love me. And if I didn't, I couldn't love you.
Not to mention all presiding typesmen in the NT seemed to be single which Paul considered better like him. Peter got his mother in law mentioned but no one was real proud of their hidden wives if they had them evidently...or any children
And too....PCG can't pull " well Paul thought it was end times so better to be single. PCG thrives on the end times scenario
'Love your neighbor as yourself.' It's Biblical to love your self, but not to be vain or ego driven.
I'm my own worst critic. It's easier for me to forgive others than myself.
COG's have traditionally laid the guilt trip on their members. All humans sin or fall short everyday. The COG's lack of balance comes from going lite on God's mercy and grace. Mankind was designed to fail. A Savior was planned before mankind was created.
The only way humans will please God is after a miracle is performed and there nature changed.
One of the cruelest things done to COG members is to tell them they can only date within the church. It's the many sins of the "leadership" that has caused the hundreds of splinter groups making it almost impossible to find a mate. God said "It's not good for man to be alone" I dated outside the church for years until a found someone who would live in peace with me, despite my weird religion.
This proclamation is the product of yet more of the binary thinking that these so-called churches of God employ to prop up and serve themselves.
There are pros and cons to both the single and the married lifestyle. There was a time when I could not have imagined being single. However, singlehood opens up the possibility of being dedicated to a purpose without many of the distractions which most married persons face. Some of the entities which give us our careers really appreciate that state of existence, and respect and compensate us accordingly. There are also opportunities for development as a person. They are just different.
So far as marriages go, someone much wiser than myself once said "It is much better to have loved and lost than to have paid for it and not liked it." And, of course, the phrase "paid for it" doesn't imply illegitimacy. As with anything else, marriage does come with its own version of a price tag. There are sacrifices involved in anything worthwhile that we humans could possibly do.
BB
I thought that the apostle Paul was married.
After growing up in the WWCG and attending as an adult for a number of years, I remember sermons along this line. After I quit attending, I made the decision to go into nursing. During class one of our instructors made the point that we need to take care of ourselves first, because if we didn't then we would not be able to take care of anyone else. I remember thinking that it sounded so foreign to me at the time and yet it made sense, completely logical. At the time I didn't equate it church teachings as I had only been out for about a year, but now 20 years later, I know exactly why it struck me as it did.
You're good, 7:03, as long as they're not the same thing. Some we've become aquainted with believe that HWA only taught what God says. This makes it possible for them to intellectually remove HWA from the equation for the purpose of argumentation, or to insure us of their own independence and personal integrity. But, that all ends up coming from the same place.
Now, if you see huge differences between HWA and God, and don't just visualize God as being HWA on steroids, you are most likely a seeker of truth and to be commended.
BB
As of the writing of 1 Corinthians, he was not. If he ever was at any point, the text does not say.
Joel Hilliker does not have a clue about what the real problem is in the PCG.
Perverted tyrants in the PCG like Ronald Morley and his spoiled brat Robert Morley try to control who other people in the PCG must talk to and who they cannot even talk to. The malicious Morleys try to pair up some younger singles with much older and totally fucked-up sex perverts who cannot keep their filthy old hands off them and are always trying to get them to come over to their place. Whenever the Morleys come around, it is always to do evil to someone. That is the problem. They arbitrarily decide which harmless stranger they want to cause trouble for and then never stop doing evil until they get rid of the person. In fact, that seems to be how all the local tyrants in the PCG operate. Continually gossiping, and making up false stories, and lying about other people that they do not even know, is how PCG leaders operate. They are just their for their own selfish reasons.
THAT is the sort of thing that really causes singles in the PCG to be unhappy.
People who thought that churches were supposed to be all about morality and decency can get taken by surprise and totally shocked by all the malicious and wicked people in filthy cults like the PCG.
Well said Gordon Feil. What you said mirrors a sermon I heard in the Seventh Day Church of God about unconditional love.
Unconditional love is only for babies. In the recent Westworld series, even the prostitute Maeve Millay comments that we all have to buy our friends. There ain't no free lunch folks.
The seventh day church and similar don't teach the way the world really is. They teach the way they would like it to be. This is trying to manufacture a alternate reality since Gods created reality is viewed as flawed.
Great point, 8:27. A rogue prof at AC had told us that we had to love ourselves as a prerequisite to loving our neighbors as ourselves. Made perfect sense when explained in that manner, because it established a benchmark. It's a paraphrase of the Golden Rule and compliments the TGCOL. When I repeated it over the years, nobody in the church including the parental units believed I had learned it at AC.
I don't want to be loved by most of the people in the ACOGs because they are conditioned towards self-loathing and only the exceptional ones who have only drunk a small sip of the Kool Aid know how to treat others. I've said many times that it wasn't until after I had left the church that I began to understand and develop good ethics and to begin to correctly and empathetically interact with people.
BB
12:25 PM, You clearly have rose coloured glasses on if you even remotely believe the bull s**t that you just spewed out of your mouth!
Anon 12:25, you have a flawed since of reality!
All you unconditional lovers can hold hands and sing kumbaya all you want, but it changes nothing. And I know that they don't practise what they preach, and I know that they try to please people to win their love.
This reminds me of people in my workplace who in the lunch room preach the gospel of sexual promiscuity. But these same people couldn't be more faithful to their mates. What they in fact describe is their secret sex fantasies rather than what really is.
So if people want to get their jollies by fantasying on this blog, fine. But see it for what it is.
2:28 No one has ever forced you to read this blog or comment. Go back and continue to kiss McFlurry's drunken ass!
2:28 Has very serious mental issues. Sounds like an immature teenager who just found out someone pissed in his cheerios.
PCG singles are miserable because the ministry has to approve their marriages and they can only get approval to marry someone who is more loyal to the corrupt ministry than they will ever be to their prospective mate. Your mate will become a spy who will report to the PCG ministry any slight disagreement with Flurry's doctrines, including his alterations to Herbert's doctrines and prophecies. You would be a fool to marry such a person; the slightest disagreement with Flurry will land you in the tribulation, if not the lake of fire, if the ministry find out. Your only hope is to hang in there and remain single till Christ returns, which will hopefully be soon. Sadly, that is a false hope.
Byker Bob-"I've said many times that it wasn't until after I had left the church that I began to understand and develop good ethics and to begin to correctly and empathetically interact with people."
Right on brother! Tell us how it is, because one learns love after they learn to love themselves. And to do so requires interaction with your fellow man. Not shunning.
Finding a mate in the PCG is slim pickings because Flurry and others have split up the church. So you can't marry, or even talk to, another single from another split-off. There is NOTHING in the bible that says (so-called) Philadelphians and (so-called) Laodiceans cannot fellowship or even inter-marry. They are all children of God, according to NT theology. The bible commands us to avoid those who cause divisions. That means you are commanded to avoid Flurry, i.e. get the heck out of his church. To not do so is a sin.
Every particle of unhappiness is caused by sin, and self-love is the essence of sin.
In this case, the sins of the PCG ministry who preach lying false prophecies that help to split up the church.
It is not good for the man to be alone.
Adam was not a happy single. So what did God do? Lecture him on his sins? No, he provided a wife.
In the PCG ministry there is no spirit flowing, just a lot of accusations and self-righteousness. They never see how they are the cause of so many problems that their members are having.
Forget about marriage. Never be alone with a woman, any woman, at any time. You run the risk of being falsely accused, especially if you have money. You don't have to do anything to have your personal life and career ruined. Women just make stuff up, and you can get fired, etc, for absolutely nothing. They don't need any evidence to ruin your life.
The bible does not say "God Hateth Ye" and no church says that it says that. The animation is a lie.
I am convinced that there is no such thing as unconditional love. I remember a sermon where the minister describes Gods love as pure because he has unconditional love for us. Then he says that God expresses his love for us from the pure motive that it simply gives him pleasure to show us love. Isn't that a condition? Would he not show us love if he didn't experience pleasure doing so?
Some people don't even have a shred of humor in them...
PCG: Unhappy Because You Are Single? Is It Because You Are A Selfish Sinner?
No, it is because the old men and women in the PCG are selfish sinners!
When some married man in the PCG wants to divorce his wife and chase after other women, he always seems to have to try to involve younger singles in the PCG.
When some old man in the PCG who spent his entire life fornicating wants to continue to have sex with even more women, he always seems to have to try to involve younger singles in the PCG.
When some old woman in the PCG wants to find a new mate, she always seems to have to try to involve much younger singles in the PCG.
When a family goes to the PCG, some old PCG Deaconess always wants to help them by getting her hands all over their young boys.
When there are singles in the PCG, the local leaders always want to micromanage their lives. The leaders do this by trying to set up their own children with eligible and attractive singles their own age, but by pairing other people's children with semi-retarded non-members of the same sex and the grossest old people of the opposite sex.
The sex-crazed old PCG members can put on some pretty nice, sweet, fake appearance when trying to get some younger single to go out with them or to go over to their place, but then immediately fly into a surprising rage if the younger person politely declines the offer.
The immoral old men and women in the PCG seem to be quite experienced at the art of slander. They use this skill effectively against anyone who does not go along with their selfish and immoral agendas.
When singles are unhappy in the PCG, it is typically because of all the old sinners in the PCG.
There are limits to everything even love. If someone turns on you and tortures you endlessly, you will, at some point, stop loving them and start hating them, no matter how much you loved them in the first place.
To learn how to dance, one must get on the dance floor. To learn how to ride a bike, must get on a bike. Likewise to learn ethics, one must have the right to choose. In these XCOGs members are robbed of this freedom, so no ethics are developed.
Ethics also means obeying God rather than man, so ethics might not be a genuine goal of the power hungry ministers, despite sermons to the contrary.
Anonymous on October 17, 2017 at 5:59 PM said...“You don't have to do anything to have your personal life and career ruined. Women just make stuff up, and you can get fired, etc, for absolutely nothing. They don't need any evidence to ruin your life.”
That is so true. God knows all about it. Early in the Bible there is the story of Potiphar's wife slandering Joseph and falsely accusing him of trying to do what she had tried to do.
hmmm, makes me wonder just what sort of "self love" they object to ;-)
After reading these comments why would anyone want to stay in PCG . Why would you submit yourself to such craziness in this day and age. Even dedicated members could worship God in a lesser dominating COG group.
Or when their mouths are moving
Those other groups don't have Gerald Flurry. PCG is a fan club.
Anonymous on October 18, 2017 at 6:11 AM said...“After reading these comments why would anyone want to stay in PCG.”
Not everyone is unhappy in the PCG. Perverts and predators love it there.
Uh, you mean sado-masochistic perverts and predators? Yuk, yuk, yuk! And just think. They believe their reward is eternal life under Gerald Flurry and Herbert Armstrong!
BB
I'm sure Terry Ratzmann would have agreed wholeheartedly with these statements from PCG.
No doubt there is another Terry out there in one of these congregations, PCG or RCG or some other xCG. Who knows, he could be sitting right behind you next Sabbath.
Ol' Flurry would be wise to cogitate on that thought for a while.
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