Most colleges and universities encourage students to ask questions. Good churches also let members ask questions. So what about Ambassador College?
courtesy of SHT"One year a First Year student started studying all types of twiggy
questions about the Bible. He used books like, "The Age of Reason". Months later
he left college, but not before he had seriously affected several other First Years.
Anything like this should be reported to the ministers immediately . The damage
that can be done by such an individual should not be underestimated. Watch for
others who may be religious hobbyists, studying Billy Graham, Jehovah's Witnesses,Mormonism, and us. Don't preach to them, but set a proper example to them, and keep an eye on them. Keep Mr. Hunting Informed.""Set the Example"
13 comments:
Wish we had all known the dangers of single-sourcing our information and the pitfalls of basing our lives and world view on that single source.
Armstrongism claimed to have all of the answers. But, these answers were based on a very limited fund of knowledge, and very shallow philosophical rooting. The materials quoted are tantamount to an admission that Armstrongism cannot stand up to strong scrutiny. When you couple that with phrases popular in the WCG culture back in the day, such as “intellectual vanity”, it is easy to see that we were handled, spun, or blinded to some really glaring red flags! Some pretty big issues got verbally reduced to twiggy little points back in the day. The ministry would do this to anything which they didn’t understand, and then power through their points with authority rather than intellect just to maintain control.
“Ratting” was encouraged at AC. It’s why former students and ex members are so secretive even today. We learned not to let anybody in, and to maintain our distance.
Questions are GOOD, especially the twiggy ones! When I was of a still tender age (many years ago), I purchased a copy of the Jerusalem Bible. Later, I asked the local elder some questions about the apocrypha, and he told me not to worry about that stuff. He also asked to borrow my bible and never returned it. Fortunately, I continued to wonder about such things, and eventually came up with answers to my questions.
Asking questions are in fact pleasant thing if you are not understanding something entirely, however
this paragraph presents nice understanding yet.
Asking questions is the Yeshiva form of learning. When Jesus was at the temple as a boy (Luke 2) he was asking questions, and most likely answering a question by asking another question.
A snitch culture is seldom one that ends up productive or creative. Enlightened Corporations or Teams know this well.
Trust is a key component of any successful company or team, and it only takes one problem employee to kill the atmosphere. This will naturally lead to decreased productivity over time. Snitching is also bad for employee morale and camaraderie. Who wants to be friendly with people that might stab you in the back? Besides creating an overall dysfunctional workplace, tattletales can also lead to increased employee turnover, costing a business the time and money it takes to recruit new hires.
That said, there is a big difference between being petty and what is commonly known as whistle-blowing—exposing a person or company for illegal, dangerous, or unethical behaviors and practices. Employees should be encouraged to inform their managers or the HR departments of serious conduct breaches, such as sexual harassment, embezzlement, or threats of violence. And if this results in no action, employees should take their complaints to the relevant state regulatory department.
But in general, employees who complain every time a co-worker takes the last doughnut, shows up 10 minutes late, or periodically forgets to wear a tie are simply petty—and bad for business.
RCM was, I think, an intellectual coward. If you asked him a question, I think he would take over the conversation, try to dominate you, not allow you to say much. He probably knew that his knowledge was very limited, shallow and probably couldn't stand up to rigorous examination. But, he was mentored by HWA, was "third" in the line of succession and had the title, office, and, let's not forget, the lovely home on Waverly Drive.
Do not post previous comment. I forgot to put anonymous.
A quote from HWA concerning this subject: "Most people believe whatever they have been taught, or what they have read, or heard, or whatever their particular group, religion, political party, or area of the world believes. They simply "GO ALONG." They carelessly assume, because others do.
Our system of education encourages this. It fails abysmally to teach growing children to think (italics) for themselves, to question, to seek PROOF before believing. In school and colleges students are taught to accept and memorize whatever is in the textbook, or given in the lecture. They are graded on how well they have accepted and memorized what has been funneled into their unsuspecting minds. And I know of no seminary that departs from this process, or encourages students to thoroughly question whether (italics) their sectarian doctrines are true". Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong Volume I pages 317-318.
This paragraph became null and void in the WCG and is an unacceptable practice in many of the splinter groups today. They call it heresy and in all probability will brand the person a heretic who would challenge any teaching of the self titled leaders of the splinters. HWA set the example for these men to act as he acted. Questioning a COG leader is questioning the government of God they say regardless of what the truth is. HWA and these men missed the great dynamic concerning government and truth in the bible. The example came from Jesus Christ himself during his trial when he answered Pilate: "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice (John 18:37).. When HWA confronted the COG 7th day leaders with his truth, he said they cut themselves of from God by not accepting it and forfeited their being God's Church. HWA and many of the splinter leaders teach not accepting church government irregardless of truth cuts one of from the church. With the day of judgement coming sooner than we expect, and having to bow before Jesus Christ, what will we be judged by; following truth or following government?
Anon-10:40 AM 9/20-
Very well said...there were LOTS of "Red flags" but by then we were too steeped in HWA's BS.
So we didn't pick up on them-see them for what they really were. Oh, that mind conditioning
really was effective, for sure. Even yet today, years later that evil influence rears its'
ugly head...got to be on guard continually or get blind sided...
Asking Q's, esp hard ones, revealing ones, branded the questioner as a malcontent, with a BAD
attitude, etc. I know, been there, done that.."nuff said" :-I
One thing I have found very strange is that some of the ACOGs will give you very different answers if you send a question to their letter answering department instead of asking the local minister. LCG in particular surprised me in having a Personal Correspondence Department that would often contradict things that Rod Meredith said in his sermons. They would never go so far as to admit directly, "Rod doesn't know what he's talking about," but their answer would demonstrate that LCG's official position was different from Rod's.
6.21 AM
So the Personal correspondence department knew that Rod was a knucklehead. Yet he was the boss, and chosen as such by many voluntarily joining his church. This reminds me of church restaurant outings, where the participants often informality chose a morally challenged person as the leader. It's the person people warmed up to. That was my experience.
11:03 -
Why did there have to be a "leader" for restaurant outings? People couldn't have the common sense to simply show up at the restaurant and eat? Simply show up at such and such, eat, pay the bill and go home.
Restaurant outing leaders?? never heard that one before...o wait a minute...we did go to
(gasp) Burger King one night...bunch of us but no leader per se...think it was after doing
a Bon Marche inventory stint one Sat night afterwards. maybe...
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