Questioning God?
The Armstrong Churches of God have always portrayed the "truth" about God and Scripture as fragile, and something that is only revealed to a few and easily lost. In other words, they have always actively discouraged their members from questioning God or their interpretations of Scripture. For them, once you have received the "truth," your sojourn for understanding is over. Indeed, according to them, further questioning or exploration is dangerous and might lead you to lose the understanding that you have attained. Does that bring to mind one of Christ's parables? It should.
The Gospels tell us that Jesus presented the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Pounds to his disciples. In both parables, a man commits some of his resources to his servants. In the Parable of the Talents we read that "he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money." (Matthew 25:18, ESV) When the man returned, the servant explained to his master "I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours." (Verses 24-25) Likewise, in the Parable of the Pounds, the servant who had received one pound, told his master upon his return: "Lord, here is your pound, which I kept laid away in a napkin; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow." (Luke 19:20-21, RSV) Interestingly, in both of these parables, the master of the servants was very displeased with the servant who had failed to increase what had been entrusted to him. Indeed, in the Parable of the Talents, we read that the servant's master replied: "You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming, I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25:26-20) Hence, from these two parables, it is reasonable to conclude that God and Christ expect whatever understanding has been given to their servants to be increased by them. According to Jesus Christ, it isn't a one-and-done kind of deal!
Indeed, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told those same disciples to "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." (7:7-8, ESV) In the epistle of James, believers are instructed that "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." (James 1:5, ESV) And, there is also that ACOG famous quotation from Paul's second letter to Timothy: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." (II Timothy 3:16, ESV) How does that happen? By studying and asking questions! (see Acts 17:11, II Timothy 2:15, and I Peter 3:15) In conclusion, I like the way that my Bing Copilot (AI companion) put it: "In summary, the Bible encourages us to ask, seek, and knock, and it emphasizes the importance of prayer and seeking wisdom from God. 🙏" In other words, if you've never asked those questions, how can you expect to ever be able to answer the folks who are unafraid to ask them?
Miller Jones/Lonnie C Hendrix
Ah, this brings into play the "substitution axiom" from Geometry class: Things equal to each other are treated as one and the same.
ReplyDeleteIt's not so much that these Armstrongite leaders don't want you to be questioning God. They don't want you questioning them! Have you ever heard of another church or religion that distinguishes their church or ministers by constantly referring to them as "God's church", or "God's ministers"? They refer to their collection of teachings as "the truth". If ever you come across some random piece of literature, and these terms are thrown about amongst the other words, you can almost be certain that you are reading materials from some branch od Armstrongism. "Prove all things" means "get in sync with what we are telling you". Many years ago, at one of our first Feasts of Tabernacles, I remember Herbert W. Armstrong thundering that we brethren were to take every word spoken by "God's ministers" as if it had been spoken to us by Jesus Christ Himself. It was not our place to evaluate the ministers, or to question anything they said. If you were a young child, this also applied to one's parents.
I really tried to adhere to this, and to correct my attitude when something came up that made me question it. However, I always found myself fighting my own mind, which was often exclaiming "What a mess of shit!!!" The fact that it somehow would never just shut up and go "converted" (as they defined things and established members' parameters) often vexed me. When I began to realize who these people and what they teach really are, you should have heard my prayers. For months, I went through a state of mind in which I felt that if they were wrong, I actually wanted to die. I had never heard of cognitive dissonance back in those days, but once you encounter it, you either must resolve it, or you go crazy.
a good explanation thanks
ReplyDeleteAbraham politely asked God about sparing some folks before eradicating the town, in Gen. 18:23
ReplyDelete23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
We should ask it today
I've made the comparison before how the COG's in many areas have adopted the ways of "this world". The politicians forbade anyone questioning the official narrative about the shots, labeling that as being contrary to science (the TRUTH), thus causing misinformation and harm. Yet most of you are quite ok with that!
ReplyDeleteAs the world is, the world does! 1 John 4:5
Job questioned God. Job's Friends used the transactional or Deuteronomistic model of engaging God to condemn Job - the model found in the Pentateuch and Joshua, Judges 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Samuel. Job said that model did not apply to his case. God said that Job was right. And God was very angry with Job's Friends.
ReplyDeleteBut Job did not question God out of rebellion but out of sincerity. The heart make a difference.
Scout
M.J. is still going by the Bible. He's only 2000 years out of date. Not bad considering the Armstrongist hole that he crawled out of.
ReplyDelete"If ever you come across some random piece of literature, and these terms are thrown about amongst the other words, you can almost be certain that you are reading materials from some branch of Armstrongism. "Prove all things" means "get in sync with what we are telling you".
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately that's not so. I've watched televangelist programs for years, and they are all the same. They know that just the odd "the emperor has no clothes" truth teller can shatter their bundle of lies, so they all collude rather than compete. Their differences are cosmetic. They universally reject members rights such as personal freedom (from others), the right to be authentic, and especially their right to self actualization (the realization of a person's full potential). One of my ministers even gave a whole sermon condemning the humanist movement since it embraces these positive traits.
All major denominations are cultish.
Good post anon 1002.
ReplyDeleteI think you relate what I've said in times past how the Armstrongites have borrowed many of their practices from the "world".
"Get in sync with what we are telling you"??
That sounds like the politicians who labeled anyone questioning the official narrative about covid as spreaders of misinformation, conspiracy theorists, and causing great harm because they questioned the science (the TRUTH).
" All major denominations are cultish"?
As the world is, the world does (1 John 4:5).
It is interesting that there are instances where humans had discussions about possible events and questions about what is fair with God. You see this with Job, Jonah and Moses where he dissuaded the destruction of the Children of Israel after their continued disobedience. You also see it with Abraham where he bargains for the possibility of Sodom & Gomorrah being spared if 10 righteous people are found. It is striking that God is more forgiving and willing to tolerate being questioned than most of the ministry of the Worldwide tradition.
ReplyDeleteI always found it a little weird that questioning God in good faith was seen as disrespectful to him in the COGs. That certainly hasn’t been my experience when I have questioned God in my personal life. Turns out it’s some of those in the ministry that have issue with it. Not God. Trifling middlemen don’t want to be questioned.
ReplyDeleteFor years, I did not realize that the WCG had precluded me from developing negotiating skills. One was not permitted to negotiate with parents, ministers, teachers, or any other authority figures. That's a really bad sendoff for any young person hoping to be functional in his or her career, or even with friends or family.
ReplyDeleteThe man of the house, upon reaching a decision basically ruled in "my way or the highway'" fashion. You really can't do that in the business world, unless your business is law enforcement or the military, careers that were forbidden to church members most likely because they were not allowed by someone other than the ministers to make their own decisions and determine their own course.