Armstrongism has always had a lot of quirks to its legacy. After the great apostasy (as PCG sees it) PCG set about restoring "true" biblical values. Gone are days of naming your children after COG evangelists, ministers, and other people. The trend in the PCG has been to name their children after Old Testament personalities. Very few ever get a New Testament name and God forbid if Spanish speaking member named the child Jesus.
September 21, 2022Ever notice how the “ministers/leaders” in PCG have been hung up on naming their boys “Bible names?” (I won’t mention the Bible names they’ve given their girls.) And realize when I say this I am not against Bible names since we “in the world” have heard of, or named our own children, good Bible names such as “David,” “Joshua,” “Philip” “Daniel” or “Jonathan” but these PCG members seem to choosing less common “biblical” names like: Jude, Ezekiel, Micah, Benjamin, Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jordan, or Jonah. Next thing you know one of them will be naming their baby boy Adaiah, Hosea, Obadiah, Azariah, Habakkuk, Elijah (no I don’t think they will choose that one), or how about Jaasiel (that one means “God’s Work”)–and who knows, maybe some PCG parents already have. I wonder if they think that if they give their boy a “biblical name” he will grow up to be just like his name and be a strong committed PCG member. To the contrary, many of these “biblically named children” have ended up washing their hands of PCG and leaving. –J. J.
29 comments:
After little Paris and Vienna were born, was there a flurry of city names in PCG? Did the PCG college ever receive an application from a darling young Glasgow, or Edinburgh, or Berlin?
If they ever admitted a Sandy, I hope he/she wasn't overweight.
These are not uncommon Biblical names. They are some of the most popular baby names in America right now.
This " biblical names" is nothing new. John Calvin, the tyrant of Geneva, ordered Genevans to give their children Biblical names, instead of French names. Those that didn't comply were fined. Well, it's better than being burned at the stake!
It's rare that you also have a child named Moses.
Like Children of the Corn?
The first kid to leave PCG was "Jumpin' Jehoshaphat"
In the black community, such naming is still common today. I have known a number of black folks named Abraham, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Zipporah, Apollos, Naomi, Aquila, Cornelius and the like. But that trend also co-exists with ancestor naming - and since slave owners sometimes liked to use classical names like Demetrius, Virgil, Titus, Psyche, Persephone, Josephus, Cadmus and so on, a lot of grandkids and greatgrandkids got those names.
White folks use Biblical names too. Lincoln once remarked about how many Mordecais were in his family.
The obvious question seems to me to be with PCG doing it, are they trying to score points on that heavenly scoreboard theyre so concerned with?
Middle initial madness was also a WCG thing too.
Ronald L Dart
Raymond F McNair
Roderick C Meredith
Herman L. Hoeh
and several more, all so they could keep up with Herbert "W", which I understand was just created by himself , just to sound more important and distinguished!
When is BETO THIEL going to add a middle initial? He already added other initials like THD and DR !
Judas was never popularšš
I'm surprised that there aren't dozens of kids in the ACOGs named "Leviticus".
Maybe some in LCG should be named Dorcus, adventuress, Perdita, or how about Idolatress.
Name all your kids after Herbert Armstrong.
Today there are more differently-named people than ever, which will definitely help those kids in the world, whether or not they stay with PCG.
Why, with the likes of PCG and the other ultra-strict COG’s, is it always Old Testament (i.e. Old Covenant) names?
Heh, I know a few Moseses... or is that Mosi?
Hopefully it never gets as bad as the "Madison" craze. That was getting sooooo redundant!
Well, even the most excellent actor Meharshalalhashbaz Ali eventually shortened his first name to Maher.
Totally random and not knowing the delivery date, we had a son named Aaron who happen to have been born on the day of atonement. Argghhh. Lol
Question asked was: "Ever notice how the “ministers/leaders” in PCG have been hung up on naming their boys “Bible names?"
I haven't noticed the PCG hang up, but should they ever really desire a unique Bible name, one may want to consider the name in Ezra 4:10.
"And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought over, and set in the cities of Samaria, and the rest [that are] on this side the river, and at such a time."
This individual was great and noble! What a name! Asnappar! However, beware, be forewarned: one may have to be very careful as to how to pronounce that name.
Has anyone, or will anyone, in the PCG use the name of such a great and noble individual?
Time will tell...
John
But the most prominent African in the Bible that's named is Ebed-melech. Never met one of those! Just as well, I suppose, because thats probably a title and not a name anyway.
In some ministerial report from the 1970s, after HWA went to Africa parents were naming children "Plain Truth" and "Herbert W Armstrong".
GTA made fun of an old lady who said his boys (Mark, Matthew, David ?) had "good Gospel names".
...or Jezebel.
Well, in Muslim countries, children sometimes have unofficial honorific names that are used when the honoree is present. I wonder if that's what was happening or its as fake as the grade school "this one lady named her kid diarrhea" tale.
This ACOG practice goes back to WCG. In my own family we had Biblical names Rebecca, Rachel, Sarah, Aaron and Michael (the archangel).
Ozark folklore has a story about one woman who named all of her children from the Bible. Eventually she ran out of common ones and searched the pages for more. When the preacher asked what name she had given her most recent offspring, she replied, Pizlam Siv. He said he didn't think that name came from the Bible.
She said, "No, it's right here." She flipped through the pages and showed him Psalm one hundred and four.
I always liked the girls' name "Trinity". Also Magdalena. Ahasuerus seemed like a cool name. Can anyone imagine a WCG member naming their child Korah? Saul? Simon? Ananias? How about Rahab? Imagine going into the ladies room at church and hearing a mother call into the stalls, "Come on, Bathsheba! Hurry it up! Services are about to begin!"
ROFL! I've never met a Bathsheba, but you're right. I did meet a Tea Tephi once amid the WCG though!
Sounds like the moronic Mormons.
Why dont they know that ? Think about it.
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