Against Armstrongism: Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp in their own words
Scott C. Blue
Blurb.com
2010
This is an interesting book. Scott Blue has taken the writings of the Early Church Father’s (Ignatius, Polycarp and Chrysostom) and used their words to demolish Armstrongism. Unfortunately for Blue, most Armstrongites will never read his book. He has several strikes going against him. The book is too intellectual, it quotes writings from Roman Catholics and also Blue has converted to Roman Catholicism after leaving Armstrongism.
Armstrongites have always been taught (and still are today) by HWA and his ministers that Catholicism is the Great Whore of Babylon, the Harlot Church, the false religions and the persecutor of the brethren. The mere fact that he quotes Catholics and has become a Catholic his opinions are irrelevant and heretical in their sight.
Because he quotes Ignatius, Polycarp and John Chrysostom he is delving into intellectualism in the minds of many Armstrongites. The only relevant word of God today comes from HWA’s writings or the pen’s of various splinter cult leaders.
Other than the Author’s Note and Preface, Blue has added no written commentary to the writings. It is the Early Church Father’s speaking for themselves. As you read it you will quickly see though how these men’s words rip Armstrongism to the core.
I find the book interesting because of my interest in early church history. Many will not, unfortunately.
He has also written a book about De-mystifying the Mysteries” a debunking of Mystery of the Ages. I will order it soon to add to my collection.
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From the book:
Author’s Note
In 2006 shortly after our wedding, my wife Lauren and I were starting a family and began looking into going to church. Neither of us knew where to begin, primarily due to our completely different, however similarly negative experiences with religion as children.
My wife had attended a loosely based Pentecostal congregation as a child whose pastor’s wife sat in the front pew while his mistress sat beside him on the “stage”; obviously not leaving a great taste in her mouth concerning organized religion.
I, on the other hand, was raised in The Worldwide Church of God, a sabbatarian (7th day) non-denominational group who saw its monumental rise in the mid to late part of the 20th century. It all but imploded on itself in the mid 1980’s when it’s Pastor General, Herbert A Armstrong, died and the new leadership took a more “orthodox” approach to their doctrines.
Neither Lauren nor I had been to church in over a decade, and really had no established foundation on which to make decisions of faith and morals.
We knew we wanted our children to grow up with a faith based set of morals, however due to our own experiences as children we were skeptical about religion in general.
We started to read everything “Christian” we could get out hands on, which conflicted with one another a lot of the time on a theological level. We decided at that point to start from the beginning and take a historical approach to our decision.
This research led us to Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement of Roan, Justin Martyr, and Eusebius to name a few; what I now know to be the Apostolic Fathers and Sub Apostolic Fathers of the Church – something I discovered both Catholic and prominent Protestant scholars agreed on.
Our next step was to find a Church who matched what these early Fathers wrote. In a nutshell, our first steps towards falling in love with and embracing the Roman Catholic Church.
Our biggest grievance through our learning process, especially before going through the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), was a lack of books we could get on the early Fathers without interpretation.
Worldwide Church of God embraced many of the Hebrew holy days, kept the Jewish Sabbath, Passover, The Day of Atonement, as well as a few others and condemned Orthodoxy’s celebration of Easter, Christmas, the existence of souls and Saints, including the original Apostles souls.
Having such a conflicting background with what I was reading only increased my need to see the whole document. I needed to read the entire Epistle, not just a quoted excerpt taken from script in order to re-enforce a point. Much like the Apostle Thomas, I needed to see it with my own eyes before I believed it.
I quickly learned that many of the writings were online or in large, expensive leather bound books, the latter was not something that was affordable at the time.
I remember saying several times to my wife as I poured hour after hour over the writings online on Catholic Encyclopedia, “Someone should compile these letters into a book.”
A year later, my wife and I came into the Catholic Church. As we talked to people in passing about our conversion, Protestants as well as cradle Catholics, we always had to refer people to the internet to mixed reviews; some people just want to sit in a comfortable chair and read. Again, I found myself saying, “Someone should compile these letters into a book.”
The following RICA year, my wife and I were asked to be on the team. I found myself once again referring people to the Catholic Encyclopedia website and saying, “If there was a book that had all the letters together, that would be a great supplemental teaching tool.” Then it hit me. Stop wishing for someone to do it, and do it.
The following Epistles are the words of Sts. Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp as available on the
Catholic Encyclopedia online (
www.newadvent.corg). The translation of these Epistles are public domain.
I know a lot of people that are hurting because they feel lost and confused, specifically people who were members of the Worldwide Church of God or the children of its members. Some of them know what they don’t believe, but not what to believe at this point. The Epistles of Ignatius and Polycarp are an important link between the teachings of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church, especially when one considers that an official cannon of Christian Scripture was not first agreed upon until the end of the 4th century; some three hundred years later than the Synod of Hippo (393).
Many of the doctrines of he Worldwide Church of God are similar and in some cases identical to other denominations such as the 7th Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormon Church. I feel these Epistles can also open up the light of truth to these groups while providing a historical backdrop of the early Christian Church.
These Epistles are historical documents as well as Sacred Tradition. They stand on their own. They don’t need us near as much as we need them. As far as interpretation goes, especially verses WCG doctrine, they speak for themselves in tone, tempo and doctrine. Very little is left to the imagination.
In addition, I have included a homily on Ignatius of Antioch by St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 350-407), Bishop and Doctor of the Church and what many scholars argue is the greatest speaker ever heard from a Christian pulpit.
These letters provide faith, hope and love. Hopefully this will open the doors of ones heart and mind to let the Light in.
Scott C. Blue
