The Systematic Theology Project: One of Armstrongism's Biggest Bogeymen

James Malm (The Shining Light Blog) is presently spitting daggers at  COGaWA and UCG claiming that they both may be ready to do their own version of The Systematic Theology Project.  This is Armstrongism's biggest perceived millstone that they continue to wear around their martyr necks.  It is also their biggest bogeyman that they can dump their collective anger on (after Joesph Tkach Sr, of course).  Bob Thiel has also spent a considerable amount of time denigrating the project.

I was there when this project was being developed and knew many of the men involved in it.  They were not 'liberals' hell bent on destroying the church.  It was not GTA's pet project on liberalizing doctrine or his tool in getting rid of his father.  It was a sincere project on their part to systematically lay out in print what the Church actually believed and understood.

Part of the reason they wanted to do this was because of ministers like Rod Meredith who would take simple doctrines and add numerous legalistic attachments to them to where things were becoming a burden on the members.  HWA would say one thing, Meredith and crew would interpret in their own way and include lots of nonsense that they felt members should also be doing.  The doctrines of the Church had become encumbered by this addition of legalistic rules and regulations

Another reason they wanted to do this was to have a unique document that laid out for the members and the  society at large on what we actually thought and believed. 

There was no cohesive document that ever stated what the Church actually believed. No document laid out in simple language the core beliefs of the Church.  We had hundreds of booklets, form letters, and 900 some different interpretations by 900 some different ministers on doctrines and beliefs.  Not only were we making statement on who and what God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit was or was not, we were also laying down laws on what color of cars people could drive, make up, hairstyles, clothing styles, dress lengths, etc. 

Armstrongism was infecting peoples lives with rules and regulations that they had no business using.  This was these men's attempt to stop that abuse.

I was there in the Auditorium when this notebook was passed out.  HWA was present that morning.  HWA also knew about this project from day one to the day it was passed out.  The myth that Malm and Thiel promote  that HWA knew nothing about this project is a lie.  Each one of the project's papers went right by HWA's desk.  Some of the Church's most educated men worked on this document.  They knew how to do research and how to do in-depth study.  Meredith did not like this because he has always been anti-education.


Meredith and various of his henchmen always loved to mock higher education and ridicule it as best they could.  That's part of the reason to this very day that Meredithism, Flurryism and the rest of the COGism's are still stuck in late 1800's/early 1900's method's of biblical understanding.  That was the thinking prevalent when HWA started his six months of study.  In those six months of study, in a public library, using books written for less educated minds, he formulated a set of beliefs that carry on to this day.

Public Library's have never been founts of knowledge for intensive in depth studies.  If you went to a public library today to study doctrine, theology, hermeneutics, etc., you will find an overwhelming selection of syrupy sweet Evangelical thought and interpretations.  Serious, in depth books are not in great supply.  Public librarians are not educated in the types of in depth biblical criticism books that they need to stock.  For that kind of study you need to go to a university or seminary library. A serious student of theology will use serious, in depth books on theology written by men and women who have spent their lifetime studying and examining Christian belief.  But of course, since these men and women are NOT educated in COG thought they are deemed as ignorant morons and their works irrelevant. And, God forbid if a COG man ever read a book written by a woman!

However, not all conservative COG members are as scared of the project as Malm and Theil are.  Surprisingly there is a conservative COG member named Nathan Albright who decided to look past all the hoopla and anger directed towards it.  You can read his comments here:

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Systematic Theology Project?

A Brief Look at the Systematic Theology Project

While there is no doubt my understanding on certain doctrines and what Nathan believes are miles apart, I find it greatly refreshing to read his viewpoints and understanding.  If more of the leadership of the COG's were like him then there might be a glimmer of hope for the COG yet.

Comments from "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Systematic Theology Project?"

As someone who is, in principle at least, sympathetic to the idea of a systematic theology project (something which I am not afraid to openly admit and defend), I find this sort of account baffling.  Why would it be “liberal” to desire a consistent view of scriptural positions on a doctrine, so as to avoid prooftexting and an incomplete understanding of the Bible?  As readers of my blog can attest to, my own interests in consistent biblical teaching about relevant biblical laws are not liberal at all [2].  They will also know that I have a passionate desire to help provide biblical consistency in understanding and practice in a broad array of issues ranging from business practices [3] to those who struggle with addictions or the aftermath of child abuse [4].  In short, I have zero interest in corrupting doctrine, but every interest in purifying it and removing from it inconsistencies that have resulted from ad hoc decisions made over the course of decades without a full understanding of the biblical context of existing judgments and doctrine about such issues as the Sabbath.

Nonetheless, there are potential pitfalls that abound in a systematic theology project that are worth considering.  It is not only liberals but also “conservatives” who like to add and subtract from the Bible.  People may spiritualize away obligations for generosity and support unbiblical systems of class warfare against the poor and helpless, completely twisting the purpose of biblical government [6].  Likewise, people may add their own personal interpretations to scripture and then seek to enshrine those as biblical, when the biblical core of truth has been deformed almost beyond recognition by the attached speculations.  This is especially true when someone claims that a scripture can only be interpreted one way when it may have many different applications and possible valid interpretations [7].  The pitfalls generally fall into two camps:  the people engaged in the systematic theology project may have agendas to pervert scripture by applying the wrong principles to the body of scripture in order to change doctrine by stealth by getting rid of proper biblical doctrinal material under fallacious grounds.  However, let us not forget that the other (and perhaps more common) pitfall is for a systematic theology to threaten the pet doctrines and speculations of believers and leaders, and thus to lead to the rejection of religious truth on behalf of deeply held error.  There are ditches on both sides of the narrow path of proper systematic theology.

One may say this or that is a twiggy point, but it is the purpose of a systematic theology project to tie up loose ends and resolve minor inconsistencies that threaten to discredit one’s commitment to the whole structure of biblical law.  Now, whether this was what was meant by the Systematic Theology Project engaged in by the Worldwide Church of God in the 1970′s, I cannot say.  It is, however, the way in which I would support and agree with such a systematic theology project myself, and an aspect in which I believe ordinary believers should be engaged in themselves in their own lives [8].  We grow in our capacities of spiritual discernment when we begin to see the rich and full perspective of scripture and transcend our own narrow understanding and limitations of perspective, and that process of spiritual maturation makes us more capable to judge and discern, and thus more expert practical and systematic theologians, not simply out of book knowledge but out of consistency of thought, belief, and practice.

From his article "A Brief Look at the Systematic Theology Project"

Among Church of God members, the Systematic Theology Project, which can be found in its entirety online, all 400+ pages of it [1] has a legendary and cursed existence.  It is often said that this effort was intended to liberalize doctrine and water it down.  Those who were involved in the project were subject to a late 1970′s backlash by a group of so-called “conservatives” who wished to get the Worldwide Church of God “back on track” that led to the early 1980′s “rule of the Ayatollahs” that some people (myself included) find a deeply traumatic past that is too painful to want to see come alive ever again, but was a nostalgic period for others.

What is my intent is to let the mostly dead men who worked on this project speak for themselves a little bit when it comes to their intentions and goals for the project and provide some of their doctrinal statements on such areas of interest for me such as our example to the community and our views on race and ethnicity as well as the Sabbath.  After all, the men who served on this project have been slandered for decades as liberals who sought to water down the true doctrines, and as I cannot bear to let people be slandered who can no longer defend themselves, I thought it useful to let their words speak for themselves, so that we may at least give them the credit they are do for being faithful and intellectually consistent men without heretical goals.  For too long their work (and those who wrote it, or those who like me long for similar such efforts to be made) have been unjustly insulted and maligned for desiring to bring doctrine and tradition into harmony with the Bible (or to discard it, if it is unbiblical tradition) and to judge everything by the absolutely and external standard of the scriptures [2].

You can read the entire Systematic Theology Project here:  STP Project

WCG2 Make's It Official

WCG2 has decided that it is keeping it's name that they came up with a few weeks ago. Once again, we are treated to another deviation of HWA's Worldwide Church of God.  And as usual, none of these men could come up with something original and eye catching.

Four hundred and eleven different names were submitted and they came up with WCG2.  Pretty pathetic!

Church of God, a Worldwide Association

The Church of God a Worldwide Association  Board

Michael Hanisko, George Evans, Roger West, Ken Giese and Greg Sargent

Temporary Leadership Team

Jim Franks, Doug Horchak, Clyde Kilough, David Register and Richard Thompson.

Losing Faith In Faith

I remember well when Joseph Tkach Jr, Eternal Head of the present, almost non-existant, Worldwide Church of God, said that from what they could tell, almost 40,000 former members were staying home from any church. Others have written well about this total mismanagement of the spirituality and sincere hopes that tens of thousands had invested in over the years in that particular church, so I spare you.


I would like to talk a bit about how one, such as myself, can go from being a minister in WCG, or any church for that matter, to an informed skeptic, with the hope that human beings, somehow, are spirits trapped in a limited five sensed carbon based wet suit of sorts, for now. No, I'm really not kidding! Very metaphysical I know, but then again, you never heard of a bunch of metaphysicists declaring war, Jihad and utter annihilation upon each other unless they repent or convert to each others "faith." Most of the real history of Christianity, Islam and Judaism as practiced by those who rule over the believer is pure bullshit. Is it any wonder that people of faith, inquiry and hope simply want to be left alone?


Years ago I took a personality profile test found it so accurate, down to the kinds of gestures I use and why, that I suggest to Joe Tkach that all ministers and leader types take one. This, from my naive perspective, might just prevent sending the same, ill placed and probably not really called to serve anyone but themselves type ministers from going on and on and hurting one congregation after another. WCG had this very bad habit of transferring it's problem ministers rather than confronting them. They said no to testing. Now I know why. People hate the insecurity that comes from knowing they aren't as special as they think they are.


Being out of the loop, it took me years to figure this out. It took me years to admit that what I was seeing in WCG was happening as my ENFP personality, which is Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Perceptive, also is founded upon the idea that people like me are negotiators, ministers, counselors and even massage therapists, but simply hate conflict. Or as my son said so aptly said once, "dad, you'd take a stabbing lying down." That hurt, not the stabbing, but the fact he was right. It's my loathing of conflict I have found that some, like Dave Pack, leader of the Restored Church of God, and others, who are what I would consider abusive, personality driven and more narcissist than shepherds, actually thrive on. Or as Stanley Rader, personal counsel to Herbert Armstrong once said, "I don't care what you say about me, just spell my name right." True narcissism. And so I dismissed in my mind what my heart was telling me was so and went about the business of pastoring people in concepts I still had faith in, even if I could see that the higher up one went in the business of religion, the more your brains turned to shit and you forgot where you put your spirit.


But even more than that, even more than losing faith in a particular church, I knew I was losing faith in faith. I had seen too much that was real and did not match the great promises of the Bible. For all the conflict over healing and doctor care, make-up, and all that I generally labeled as "majoring in the minors," I never asked anyone to do or not do what I would or would not do myself. My conscience is clean when it comes to being an enforcer of stupid things in years gone by. I found that "ask and you shall not have, do not ask and all things are possible", worked just fine in most cases and the years have proven my gut feelings correct in thinking that "someday, none of these things will be issues."


Back to the original thought. I have always been a seeker and open to new things even as a minister. Actually my internal definition of a minister seemed to contain the "keep looking" clause, but that was rare among my peers who felt they had found once and for all, as I did too, but now don't. I think my working mostly alone, apart from the big cities and multiple ministers in one place, probably saved me from scrutiny. The few times I did work with other ministers it was ongoing drama and egomania. I found it entertaining but stupid as well and it took me years to see it was more widespread than I imagined. So even as a minister in a "One True Church," I could see the Bible itself had problems that my Church and all Churches simply do not want to address. I think I ended my own ministry in the midst of WCG's "miracle from Christ" (was Jesus drunk when he did this miracle?), when I asked in a Festival Sermon at Myrtle Beach before one of last large gatherings of WCG members for such things, "Just where do babies come from," when showing how Matthew only over reached in trying to show how Jesus was born of a Virgin etc. I know most of you believe he was, but I will still ask you where do babies come from? Mark, Luke, John and Paul (not a band) knew nothing of what Matthew "knew."


Even as a kid in Sunday School, the stories in the Bible generated many questions about how such things could be in reality. Did Joshua really stop the earth from rotating so the Israelites could kill more Amelakites? Answer: NO. Not only is it bad science, but it's a just plain stupid reason to stop the rotation of the earth! Also, no one else on the planet noticed, which made me suspect.


Did 600,000 men, plus women, children and hangers on really trek around the Sinai in a group for 40 years leaving no signs of it? NO, they did not, at least not that many or for that long. I once read a study on how long it would take those in the back of a group that large to get moving once the front of the group started to move. It was weeks! It's mythology adopted to give a small insignificant people, who now get way too much attention, a history. How many times have we almost found Noah's Ark? Always a great story in the news that just goes away. It never happened, at least not in anyway the Bible describes.


Over time, I came to see that evolution of all life, including man, is generally true, details to unfold as time goes on. The defensive arguments of the Creationists are lame. Not to them, because they need to believe it, but to me, because I don't. I'm not afraid not to believe the unbelievable. I'd rather be ahead of my times than behind. I have flint hand tools in my collection that are 1.8 and 1.4 million years old, from Oldavai Gorge in Kenya made by "men" who became us over time. I can sit and hold them, and somehow it comforts and enlightens me. I have 12,000 year old Ice Age American spear points that do the same. I have a coin given to me as a tip, minted by Caligula to remind the population of Jerusalem just who really was in charge. It doesn't encourage me, but it does inform.


I have had my DNA taken back 70,000 years to Africa (I'm Dutch) and tracing the personal journey my cells, blood and spit have taken to get "me" to America. Fascinating how my saliva proves that in the distant past, "I" traveled through Yemen, Iran, Iraq, the Russian Steppes and left into Europe as Cro-Magnon, routing the Neanderthal who were already there, but lacked the imagination I had to rid the place of them in 18,000 years or so. I love that explanation and journey far more than I do those of the Bible, because it is true.


When I was a pastor and WCG was changing over from Holydays to Holidays, every doubt about the Biblical story of Jesus birth circumstances and the actual narratives came out. I felt that if they could flip over to something so theologically lame as Christmas, I could finally examine my doubts about the whole story. Needless to say, the birth narratives, over which the Church said I studied too much, are not coherent, do not agree, are two different stories, are not known by Mark, John or Paul and find their origins in pagan mythology. All Paul knew of the physical Jesus, who he never met or quoted, was that he was "born of a woman of the tribe of Judah." Nothing special there. Long story.


From there, I discovered that the story of the dying Sons of God in history, such as Osiris, Mithras and Jesus, were retelling of the larger story of the journey the real SUN of God takes around the 12 constellations of the Zodiac every year. It is no coincidence that the SON of God and the SUN are crucified in the Spring on and around the Spring Equinox or that Jesus was the Lamb of God as was the SUN in Aries, the Lamb when it was "crucified". For Jesus to be "with you until the end of the age," means more the age of Aries which ended 2000 years ago with Jesus death and not the end of the world as fundamentalist Christians insist. It explained all those 12 tribes, 12 sons, 12 disciples, 12 Apostles etc, that surrounded the "SON" on his one year ministry, according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, but three years according to John. It's no coincidence that in Revelation, God is surrounded by 24 elders, which are the hours in the day. To me this makes perfect sense and the fact that Matthew's Gospel accounts of Jesus ministry through the twelve months of his short ministry, exactly match the story of the SUN through the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Stories in the Bible that make no sense literally on earth, (like the Magi seeing Jesus star in the East and following it West to his house) often make perfect sense when you understand them as astro-theology. The story of the dying Son/Sun of God takes place every year over our heads. Light is the great revealer, but light also hides. You won't hear that story in church! Nuther long story. I suppose years ago I did wonder why in Malachi, the "Messiah" or Jesus as Christians said it pointed to, was said to be "the Sun that arose with healing in his wings." If you know of the Egyptian sun symbol with wings, you'll see how old a concept that was.


So while I find the story of the Bible in the heavens, as below...so above etc, I don't fear the literalism of the Bible anymore, nor would I teach it. This is, in part, why I feel strongly about those that are manipulated by ignorant and pushy pastor types, into supporting something literally that is not literally to be supported. Ideas have consequences and we see that every day with religion gone amuck. Spirituality, as I have always noted, comes from within and doesn't need your money nor for you to show up Wednesday evenings, Saturday or Sunday.
Now to some, the reason I can go on this journey of discovery and enlightenment, while painful at times, is because I was never converted to the truth of past affiliations. I think I was. I was a true believer for a long time. But when I saw how quickly those in "high" places could change and demand change, everything I ever doubted bubbled up and here I am. I have both a deep resentment for those that have hurt so many and a gratefulness that I was able to get out and not have the drama of all that followed. The local church I last pastored was already using me as a punching bag in place of those they really resented enough. Remember, I don't like conflict, much less being the imagined target and cause of their anger. I learned to tell people I was never one of them, but one of "you" working for "them." I grew up Presbyterian and well outside a lifelong WCG mentality. I did manage to remind Joe Tkach that he was reinventing the wheel and that what he found so so new in Jesus, was so so old a story to the vast majority of those who came to WCG in the first place. For that I was told later that "HQ thinks you know a lot about Jesus, Dennis...but they don't think you KNOW Jesus." Uh oh.... :) Actually I think I know about Jesus more than they can possibly imagine... at least the Jesus of the Bible. It seems real contemporaries of Jesus know little or nothing of a Jesus who was known everywhere according to the Bible.


And so I have lost faith in just having faith. I like the facts more than I like faith. I understand faith and I agree that sometimes there is nothing to have but faith until facts come forward. But I do not substitute faith for facts. Even a good Buddhist will say that sometimes there is nothing left in life to do but have a good laugh. A good laugh and "faith" sometimes are the same thing. When I had my kids immunized in 1974 when it was not fashionable theologically in WCG, I did so because facts over rode my faith factors. When Herbert Armstrong said in a Bible study that dinosaurs probably couldn't reproduce because they were created by Satan who couldn't either, I went with the cover of National Geographic that displayed dino eggs. That happened a lot over the years when I listened to one minister or another on various topics they really knew little about. Mixing religion with science is lame.
So now I kid about "rubbing people the right way." It still fits my personality profile. I"m still an extrovert, intuitive, feeling and perceptive. I still do "counseling" and I still hate conflict and confrontation. I don't, however, believer I will take a stabbing lying down again. I suggest you find out what you are and you'll understand your life in much more detail. Humans are hardwired the moment the sperm hits the egg...the rest is conditioning, programming, tribal expectations, fear, guilt and shame that keeps one in line with the group, religion or organization.


Sometimes we have to loose our minds to come to our senses. You can loose a lot of other things along the way when you do that, but being more authentic is well worth it. It's what ENFP's treasure almost above all other things.

DenniscDiehl@aol.com