From a reader:
This afternoon presented stellar radio as I ran my errands. Being a compulsive dial surfer, I usually switch amongst our ten local FM rock stations, and today I seemed to catch one fave tune after the other, back to back. As I sip a Heineken now back at home, I got to wondering about how this power-mongering amongst the adults in the ACOGs plays out these days with the kids. Setting the tone, my parents were moving up the WCG ladder as I was completing my high school years. One assumption of the higher ups was that aspiring deacons and local elders would definitely have their families under control. This means that their children had to be exemplary, which often led to duplicitousness, that is, hiding certain behaviors from the parental figures. Separate wardrobe for school in the ol' locker, one lingo at school and more formal linguistics at home, classical music overtly at home and falling asleep each night secretly listening to a clear channel AM rock station through the earplug on your transistor radio. And, then, there were nicotine fits over the weekend. Beer and wine hidden in the attic were helpful in getting through the weekend, but it was tough being a teenager in HWA's WCG cult. Honestly, I couldn't shake these same behavioral patterns during my two year tenure at AC, which ultimately led to some decisions being made for me. No worries, as I was already out from under the parents, and able to live my own life and make my own decisions. AC had been an excellent escape.How do teenagers of today cope with their cultically-intoxicated parents? Someone recently stated that most of the church kids of today are home-schooled. That kills the escape valve that we had back in the day, because we realized that for a goodly portion of each weekday, at school, we got to be normal. I had my transistor radio taken away for listening to the Ventures or the Young Rascals. What if a PCG, RCG, or LCG parent catches his daughter listening to Megan Thee Stallion on her cellphone? Or son listening to Ghost Face Killah? Does their cell phone get taken away? If so, how do the parents use the cell phones to spy on and control their kids? Home Schooling cuts off the escape in several ways, one of which is that the church's college will probably recognize that education as being sufficient to attend, let's say, HWA College. City College, State College, Oxford, or Harvard? Not so much.My Mom just about blew a fuse when I told her that my ride home from athletic practice lost his car privileges due to "parental problems". She was shocked and appalled that I could possibly even come up with such a label! Cultie parents are so out of touch with reality! Imagine having to tell peers today that you are into Irish dancing! Or that you will be gone for Christmas Week for a winter retreat with your church that had nothing to do with Christmas! I'd just bet that it still royally sucks being a kid in an Armstrong splinter!
There’s a reason very few kids that grew up in the church stick with it. It certainly isn’t the reasons the boring, self important COG ministers give either.
ReplyDeleteIn America, about 80% of young people from Christian backgrounds abandon their faith once they go to college. Personally I'm not surprised. Kenneth Copeland Christianity (which is suspiciously similar to ACOG Christianity), lacks natural appeal, and in practice is similar to Marxism. Christ warned about putting new wine into old wineskins.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the mysterious NO2HWA author or authoress always write from the patronising angle that COG members are pre programmed robots?
ReplyDeleteDo you really think COG members are as you think they are? Clearly NO2HWA must never have been a mere member to think this way.
Why do you use questions in the same style as the COGs to make your point? Wouldn’t it be better to have substance instead? Wouldn’t using the exact same style as the cogs to hurt your case that you are trying to make about being pre-programmed?
DeleteIt is not a crime to ask a question 12:28.
DeleteWhy does the mysterious NO2HWA portray COG members as pre programmed robots?
ReplyDeleteBecause they are! Some members may slip under the radar but if you want to be in “good” standing you WILL conform. Disagree with your minister and see what happens. And for the record, NO2HWA was a member of WCG.
Isn’t it wonderful that we have men like NO2HWA who spend countless hours overseeing this blog.
Jim-AZ
Thanks Jim.
ReplyDeleteI love it when newbies pop on as authorities on everything. I was 2 when my mother joined the cult 6 decades ago.
Some of the people that pop up on here take themselves and Armstrongism far too seriously. How can anyone take it seriously anymore when it is filled with so much corruption, abuse and filled with far too many self-appointed mini-popes who can't control their mouths and say stupid shit on a daily basis. Why would anyone watch soap operas when we have the Church of God on display for us?
3.21 AM
ReplyDeleteWhat you write is so divorced from reality, that it's hard to know how to respond. Are members and former members pre programmed robots? To a good degree, yes. Members have been given a certain mental diet that has brainwashed and imprisoned their minds with many lies.
When I attended services, every third or fourth sermon was on obedience. Endless obey, yield, surrender, submit.
Rights and assertiveness were taboo, since the ministers had all rights and freedom, while members had non. I like many others, have spent a life time trying to reverse the brainwashing, and sadly many members aren't even aware that their minds have been twisted. It shows on this blog by both what commenters say and don't say.
Btw, I appreciate NO2HWAs cutting HWA ministers down to size, since many have usurped God's role.
Then more fool you in life anon 7:59. Did you go to Sabbath services as a brain washed fool? Why I think even God would tell you off for hanging a God given brain up with your coat.
DeleteMaybe the COGS need some form of "RUMSPRINGA" like the Amish practice.
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia:
Rumspringa (Pennsylvania German pronunciation: [ˈrʊmˌʃprɪŋə]),[2] also spelled Rumschpringe or Rumshpringa, is a rite of passage during adolescence, translated in English as "jumping or hopping around," used in some Amish communities. The Amish, a subsect of the Anabaptist Christian movement, intentionally segregate themselves from other communities as a part of their faith. For Amish youth, the Rumspringa normally begins around the ages of 14–16 and ends when a youth chooses either to be baptized in the Amish church or to leave the community.[3]: 10–11 For Wenger Mennonites, Rumspringa occurs between ages of 17 and 21
When Amish children turn 16, the rules change. They're encouraged to experiment and explore. The idea is that teens will come back to the church after tasting the modern world. For most, this means a tentative foray -- a trip to the local movie theater, or driving lessons. But for some, the experience, called rumspringa, is all about sex, parties and fast cars.
Not everything we were taught in WCG was bogus or worthless. One of the sayings oft repeated by GTA was that "you don't know what you don't know". That is a true statement! Specifically, in this case, the programming was so deep and so subtle (often subliminal) that preprogrammed robots do not realize that they are preprogrammed robots! An individual who has been programmed does not lose his or her ability to think. The thinking is just limited to the context of the programming. This is why most preprogrammed robots can still believe that they possess freedom of thought. It is only later, when one emerges from the programming that one realizes the extent and limitations of it.
ReplyDeleteOnly demons or demon possessed and evil people doubt and diminish a human beings individual freedom of thought. You cannot assume Christians who were baptised in the name of Jesus Christ cannot think for themselves. Yet you repeatedly do. People being pre programmed robots seems to be a strong theme amongst the owners of this blog. How very unchristian to think like that.
DeleteThere are so many things wrong with what you expressed,, 6:17, that it is difficult to know where to begin.
ReplyDeleteFirst, humans do cede their freedom of thought to other humans, or philosophies. These humans would be the submissives. Often, submissives do not realize that in reality, they are the ones in control. How are they in control? Why, the minute the submissive decides not to go along, the dominant individual's control over him or her is broken. Many individuals live their entire lives having chosen a submissive state. Dominant ones, on the other hand, are often skilled in collecting submissive types, and bringing them under their control. Particularly skillful, and simultaneously scary, are those who have the ability to persuade others that they speak for God. Brainwashing, Stockholm Syndrome, reprogramming, or turning the beliefs of others are all real activities, with numerous case histories to prove their existence. There are indeed some among us who have been reduced to being incapable of free thought.
We all had some experiences in Armstrongism, in which it was said that so and so was never truly converted. That is, in retrospect, their baptism in the name of JC was thought not to have taken. In fact, that was not something which was pulled from their posteriors, it is described in so many words in the parable of the seed. So, in fact, Christians need to constantly examine themselves to determine whether they are bearing fruits of the Holy Spirit, or simply, by sheer willpower, establishing behavioral patterns which have been dictated to them by their controllers. One is genuine and involves transformation. The other is simply acting, behaving as the proverbial Pavlovian dog.
I would tend to agree with you to the extent that you meant to say that we as humans do not know what is in each others's hearts.
"Why would anyone watch soap operas when we have the Church of God on display for us?"
ReplyDeleteThat sums it up No2HWA.
Although it's a deadly watch like eating chips and cola in the process..
Nck
Not to be demeaning, but it all depends on when you grew up in the WCG. The 50s/60s/70s were absolutely the most orthodox and hardest time for a kid to grow up in. Most parents were in their "first love," and were zealous and fanatical about practicing what they were preached. Of course there are the spin offs today that are as extreme, subsequently that's why there are no young people left. We live in a different age of Internet and information that we never had as kids. As much as I still have great personal faith, I think later generations have it much better by walking away. You may have to deal with spiteful parents, but you can walk away from them too!
ReplyDelete9.06 AM
Delete"Old-timers" use to tell me how in the 60s and 70s, you had to be a human dynamo. Members were expected to participate in endless church group activities. Their thinking was that they would do all things together, including marching into the Kingdom together. The problem is that this approach conflicts with mankind's mind being made in Gods image. Every person is physically separate from others, and likewise mentally separate as well. A design parallel. Hence "workout your salvation with fear and and trembling." There's no "we" here but rather a "I." This group Marxist-commie attitude is still rampant in the ACOGs, and used by the ministry to justify their tyranny. It is not God's social system, and condemned by many scriptures. But as usual, bully morality prevails in these groups. Does bully morality "work?" Of course it does. Esau got his bowl of stew, right?
WOW!!!! If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was the one who wrote this (except for the going to AC part). On many occasions, I told the story that being brought up in church and going to Imperial taught at least one thing.... How to be sneaky.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of the book "When God Becomes A Drug"
by Leo Booth?
Thank you for the article. :)
OH! and by-the-way, NO WAY would my parents have let us have cell phones. We only had pagers for work and a single phone in the house. My parents used to try to listen to my conversations through the door. I am SO THANKFUL we did not have today's technology. I wouldn't have had the tiny life I was able to sneak by with.
ReplyDelete