Ah, the memories of growing up in the church...
I was a member of WCG back in the early 80’s and a very short time in the 90’s in the Enid and Oklahoma City churches. I quit going after graduating from college. I didn’t see the point in continuing to be a part of something that I never really felt comfortable with. Private jets, mansions, private nurses, marathon sermons, obnoxious and controlling pastors, loud mouth evangelicals, empty wallet, and a very tired and sore rump pretty much did it for me. I didn’t even believe that stuff anymore. Too many things just didn’t make sense to me anymore. My journey away from that slop eventually led me to where I am now. I don’t have anything to do with any of it. It makes me sad for the people that are still being suckered into it. Makes me wonder why we are so gullible. Exit and Support Network
"My journey away from that slop ..."
ReplyDeleteThat is a perfect description of Armstrongism!
The lavish lifestyle is slowly gettin' transferred o'er to Kenya nowadays
ReplyDeleteThe 100 caucasians are funding the 3rd world to play catch-up to the 1st & 2nd world
be ye on the lookout, forsooth here comes a watered down version of D. Pack's common via el Youtub-o
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/pUQbjZpRJWA?feature=shared
In that new Youtube at time stamp 47:05 Bob says "we don't charge you for watching this stuff" (it's a fee-free TedTalk infomercial)
Delete"here comes a watered down version of D. Pack's common via el Youtub-o"
ReplyDeleteOh, brother. More nonsense from Bob Thiel. Of course he is going to demand that people should tithe to him, how else will he keep his fake ministry going? His white members must be getting tired of funding his African adventures where he is being conned by some of his so-called evangelists and church leaders.
This post referred to the 80's and 90's. But I couldn't imagine being a late teenager seeing how things unfolded during the actual years of the breakup of Worldwide in the early 1990's. Those who were young at that particular time, were probably hit the hardest. Then as a young adult, trying to navigate splinterdom was probably felt like being in a twilight zone.
ReplyDeleteI was 15 or 16 around the time I walked, which I believe was 1991 or 1992. Thankfully I never made the jump to Splinterdom. But it was definitely a messy period.
DeletePeople who censor the truth to make their website look good are evil sick pieces of shit. Gary is just such a hypocritical piece of fucking shit.
ReplyDeleteand, they expect the teens (& adult singles come to think of it) to remain hetero which means they "sorta" let ya have sex on your mind somewhat, but they expect ya to supress it & quell your dating hopes as if you're almost a Catholic priest or nun...until your local marriage-counselling minister approves your bank acct.
ReplyDeletemust have been lotta teen angst in 1974 if ya hoped to date toward marriage before 1975 hit
This post referred to the 80's and 90's. But I couldn't imagine being a late teenager seeing how things unfolded during the actual years of the breakup of Worldwide in the early 1990's. Those who were young at that particular time, were probably hit the hardest. Then as a young adult, trying to navigate splinterdom was probably felt like being in a twilight zone.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was. That period really wrecked me. I don't know how I survived.....the damage done to me during that time is incalculable but at least it led to my freedom, of sorts.
"A messy period"???
ReplyDeleteI just blew my tonsils out all over the computer screen! What a double entendre! But, yes, there was a lot of blood letting!
By the way, it would be totally appropriate to send fake tithes to a fake prophet! They give fake degrees in India, so I'd recommend finding a printer in beautiful downtown Bombay or Calcutta to print up your fake tithes for Bob!
Eh, that person was obviously not called. If you don't believe it, by all means move on.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, the most interesting phenomenon from that time was all these little zealots popping up trying to establish themselves as enforcers of the faith or experts on some fringe aspect/doctrine or shills for some splinter. And they were all looking for converts/cohorts. I was a teenager, I wanted to chill with the ladies and be out and about doing things, not listening to some unqualified old fart ramble on about his "discovery" about some random day in the Hebrew calendar that changed all the days of every month or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the phrase "get a life" had been coined yet back in the '60s. But, those old farts with their bizarre discoveries certainly did share them with the church teenagers, whom they knew would not walk away from them because they had to respect their elders. Some of them had bad breath and accidentally spit while they spoke. We had to listen to all manner of things, like about organic farming, or the benefits of health foods, or taking an enema each day. One time I was at a church wedding, and went outside the hall to catch some fresh air. It was my bad luck to encounter the guy who always lectured us on health foods, and apparently those foods did nothing good for his digestive system, because he was sequentially ripping these outrageous loud farts. I had no idea that the intestines could store so many cubic feet of waste gasses! He explained that he had come outside out of consideration for the wedding guests, so at least there was that.
ReplyDelete2:22 said. "People who censor the truth to make their website look good are evil sick pieces of shit. Gary is just such a hypocritical piece of fucking shit."
ReplyDeleteDid you mean to post this No2?
Yes, I did. He regularly posts things he thinks insults me but all I do is laugh at what a childish little man-boy he is. Mommy needs to pull him out of the closet in her basement and tell him to man up.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think one of the interesting things about that roughly 1990-1994 era is this:
ReplyDeleteThe church organism had never had to function without HWA (or at least an Armstrong). That disrupted everything, in some way or another, from the power dynamics in the head office all the way down to the newest convert. JWT could have been the most capable successor EVER in the history of the world and that disruption would still have occurred.
Now you couple that with the doctrinal uncertainty, the rumor-mongering, the second-guessing, and the sincere attempts to try to adjust to what was going on and you ended up with a lot of little mini-factions - not just the "Armstrong" camp vs the "Tkach" camp. You had people all across the spectrum working things out and a number of them appointed themselves as some sort of advisor to others, unsolicited.
Thanks for your responses about being in your youth during the downfall of Worldwide. I’m glad most of you made it through.
ReplyDeleteJesus was asked, which of the 613 laws was the greatest. You know the answer. To paraphrase: Remain loyal to the one true God and treat your neighbor in a loving manner, regardless of your feelings towards them. The greatest, or most important commandment is oftentimes ignored by church members who focus on the least important issues. In the WCG that would be avoiding lard in cookies, length of skirts for women, and hair length for men. Which day we should observe this holy day, etc. We oftentimes focused more on less significant rules which is just as off course as the Roman Catholic who focus on sacred traditions that have accumulated over the years.
ReplyDelete