tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226103369043606765.post4511226825861189062..comments2024-03-29T08:33:14.499-07:00Comments on Banned by HWA! News and Observations About Armstrongism and the Church of God Movement: Confessions of a Former Quasi-FundamentalistNO2HWAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02018654662518613623noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226103369043606765.post-50850930336736494112013-05-31T05:58:51.466-07:002013-05-31T05:58:51.466-07:00Fundamentalists are increasing being laughed at, a...Fundamentalists are increasing being laughed at, and for good reason.<br /><br />They keep praying for, and cream their pants over, the idea that's there's gonna be a big revival in JAYZUS and the idea that the Bible is the Word of God, among others.<br /><br />Thankfully, no such "revival" is appearing, and more and more people are realizing that issues leading to ideas like "the Bible is the Word of God" are far more nuanced than the dingleweed preachers spouting that crap will admit.<br /><br />The REAL "revival" is the exodus from the crap they spout!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226103369043606765.post-36588059315134432212013-05-30T20:40:33.722-07:002013-05-30T20:40:33.722-07:00I guess my story really isn't about suffering,...I guess my story really isn't about suffering, its about ridiculous beliefs and the ridiculous things one has to say and do to defend them from indisputable evidence, and the cognitive dissonance of it all. Just like members of church leadership, when a belief rises too high above its real paygrade in your list of priorities, it can escape a lot of scrutiny, and wage war to hold onto its position, keeping out what rightfully belongs in that position. So, rather than saying suspension, I would say reprioritization is perhaps a more accurate word. Once you've dared to shake up the old order and demote a belief, that sets it up to be tried and if necessary, dispatched. In my experience, that's how you take the power back from your beliefs, which is really another way of saying, taking back your power from long-dead men.<br /><br />Even though Armstrongism did teach me to behave like a fundamentalist in the sense that it taught me to be a judgmental turd, in other ways, a lot of the other bad behavior just wasn't in my DNA to begin with. I wanted to change my behavior, and that became my highest priority, and if my faith couldn't survive that, well then that alone was proof that it never was what everybody said it was.<br /><br />I can't claim to be a fundamentalist, because inside fundamentalism today its just as much about identifying with a specific set of people and their lingo and rituals as it is about holding fast to their beliefs about who Jesus was. But all the superficial stuff aside, Armstrongism and fundamentalism might have different theological "beliefs," and different "paradigms," but in my opinion, these are just different ways of accounting for mostly the same stuff. The lingo, rituals, and money is what's indispensible, anything about Jesus is just lipservice, and behavior isn't even a metric on their radar. I don't care what people say they believe. What's a belief that you don't live by? Nothing at all. So, they're both filled with a lot of comedic material. I thought the trying and failing presented a good canvas upon which to paint a humorous, but also unflinching version of my story. I mean, who really wants to adopt a label whose reputation has just been tarred and feathered? To me, that's comedy already.Head Ushernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226103369043606765.post-14939634399926501932013-05-30T18:10:01.953-07:002013-05-30T18:10:01.953-07:00Head Usher said,
"I guess I have some ri...Head Usher said,<br /> "I guess I have some right to be upset. None of those fundamental beliefs protected me from the evils of evolution and liberalism the way they were supposed to. Maybe that’s a good thing?"<br /><br />Maybe because you didn't blame your suffering on some scapegoat?<br /><br />It has always puzzled me that fundamentalists have taken it for granted that God favors those who believe in Him. Isn't it possible that the actual God is a scientific God who has little patience with beliefs founded on faith rather than evidence? What's funny to me is that fundementalists tend to be less likely to behave like Jesus Christ. I have some atheistic friends who demonstrate Christ-like behaviour more than the fundementalistic people I have grown up with. Fundamentalists believe they already have THE truth. So they are no longer searching for it. They are all about protecting and enforcing THE truth. If they get resistance or negative feedback from others, it is an opportunity for them to fervently defend THE truth. It seems to me that fundamentalists are more concerned about THE authority behind some given TRUTH. Simply looking for truth for the truth's sake is awkward for them because they lust for authority and they tend to get powermad. They miss out on all the wonderful new found possibilities of newfound truth. They will often get jealous and eventually paranoid of the people with a newfound truth. (If God wanted man to fly He would have given him wings). Since they tend to be powermad, they will see things through that filter. You are challenging their authority and they don't like that! Well, I'm of the opinion that we will never be able to know ABSOLUTE truth, but we can build and form more functional beliefs. You can do that by temporarily suspending your current belief and try out a new one. Then weigh the pros and cons. Fundementalists will never do this because of their seriously self-righteous attitude. Also, maybe they are afraid of losing the 'perceived' authority they think they have. So, how did you stop behaving like a fundementalist yourself? I'll bet that it was that you were curious about finding more truth and not looking for THE authority behind it. <br /><br />another seekeroftruthAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226103369043606765.post-89829953713998536612013-05-30T17:25:35.703-07:002013-05-30T17:25:35.703-07:00Rob Bell has this to say about fundamentalism:
&q...Rob Bell has this to say about fundamentalism:<br /><br />"I think we are witnessing the death of a particular subculture that doesn’t work. I think there is a very narrow, politically intertwined, culturally ghettoized, Evangelical subculture that was told “we’re gonna change the thing” and they haven’t. And they actually have turned away lots of people. And i think that when you’re in a part of a subculture that is dying, you make a lot more noise because it’s very painful."NO2HWAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02018654662518613623noreply@blogger.com