Being part of Armstrongism you naively follow along with the 'restored knowledge' that comes from the enlightened minds of the apostle, evangelists and ministers. Since they are the direct mouthpiece for God you are instructed to inculcate the words from them as God spoken. Most members only study the Bible accompanied by myriads of booklets and articles from those chosen mouthpieces. HWA, Meredith or Flurry says it and it becomes etched in stone.
But how many ACTUALLY study the Bible without using COG approved literature? Not very many! Not even those in UCG, LCG, and PCG's little 'colleges'. Their study programs are geared to promote the views and understandings of their individual churches. Anything beyond that understanding is considered demonic and unimportant.
Because of that, most COG members have no idea on how the Bible is written, who wrote it, the significance of the myth, metaphors, saga's, legends and anthropomorphism is to the story. Eschatology, hermeneutics, exegesis, are incomprehensible words to the average COG member. Armstrongism deals exclusively with eisegesis and proof-texting. Neither of which have any validity in Biblical studies.
In-depth study of the Bible is not done because if there are discrepancies found between official church teaching and things dug up during studies, then it would 'damage' the faith of the brethren.
How many have even looked into WHO wrote the books of the Bible? How many know about "Q", the four source documents: "E", "P", "D" and "J"? How many know the difference between 'fact' and 'truth'?
There is a new book that is coming out that can be useful in learning about these things. So many in Armstrongism and Evangelical Christianity have 'checked their brains at the door' and never attempt to expand their knowledge. It's not about disproving something but about learning, enriching one's mind, and moving the relevance of the Bible into the 21st century. How it can be useful for ones benefit instead of being used as a weapon.
Now I can hear the rabid Armstrongites claiming this is a book that's claiming the Bible is a forgery. Nothing could be further from the truth. Check out James McGrath's comments about this:
The subtitle gives a misleading impression of what the book is going to be about, in three important respects. First, it sounds like it could be addressing the issue of people claiming to write in God’s name, when in fact they aren’t. No, the book is about forgery in the more mundane sense – people writing in the name of other people and trying to pass their work off as genuinely by some other person. Describing the book's focus as on “the Bible’s authors” is also misleading, both because there is little about the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (there is a brief mention of Daniel) and because a great deal of attention is given to forgeries and pseudepigrapha outside of the canon. These are, to be sure, helpfully brought into the picture as examples of the broader context of New Testament forgery. But it remains the case that readers may find themselves surprised, given the subtitle, by just how much space in the book is devoted either to non-Biblical examples, or to phenomena other than forgeries in the strict sense. Finally, whether the Bible’s authors are or are not who we think they are depends on whether one has kept up-to-date on Biblical scholarship. While there are certainly a few new or distinctive suggestions in the book, for the most part the works which are discussed as not having been written by their purported authors are ones that most scholars would agree with Ehrman about.So what is the book about? It is about forgery in early Christianity, with primary (but not exclusive) interest in the New Testament. The most distinctive component is summed up well by the book’s title: Ehrman argues throughout that the attempt to sugar-coat pseudepigraphy as something acceptable, non-deceptive – in short, something other than forgery – is problematic. As Ehrman himself puts it, “The Bible…contains what almost anyone today would call lies. That is what this book is about” (p.5). The irony that Christianity historically presents itself as being focused on and offering “the Truth” is highlighted throughout. Ehrman mentions that he is working on a scholarly monograph on this topic – and emphasizes that this book is not it – but nevertheless, scholars will definitely find that even in this format, Ehrman makes suggestions that are worth reflecting on and engaging.
A more in-depth review can be found here: Book Review of FORGED
You can also checkout this book to further enrich your thinking:
