Exclusivism

Exclusivism and just how to perpetuate that specialness is a hallmark mindset and goal of most religious faiths. It is a mind virus that seems to be rearing it's rather ugly head again. One way, one belief, easily defined rights and wrongs, one law, and one common acceptable mind virus will provide all the comfort and security we need. The Bible in our culture is often misread and misapplied to perpetuate more harm than good. It's what exclusivists do best.


Most religions, denominations and even rival churches of the same denomination but with slightly different practices, teach that they are the one true path to salvation and all others will simply suffer the fates. I live and work close to Bob Jones University, where being consigned to hell for non compliance is an art form. Around here it is not uncommon to read "Love Jesus, or burn forever in Hell." Try that one one on your kids. "Love Daddy, or I will kill you." That's child abuse isn't it??? Ask a Bob Jones student what they believe and it usually comes out in some form of "whatever they say."


When intolerant fundamentalists. who are infected with exlusivism speak, the goal is to spread the virus and get others to agree and support it's propagation. Once you are in, everyone not in, is out, and the virus then endeavors to become immune from attack through bluster, fear, shame and guilt. I recently tried to read a copy of the Philadelphia Trumpet, but gave up and opted for chewing ground glass which felt ever so much more pleasant.

Tell one of God's chosen they are biblically ignorant and watch what happens. So many sincerely misguided Christians and ministers are piously convicted, to be sure, but marginally informed in their education and perspectives.


While preaching exclusivism, they tend to leave out the being ignorant of the bible part. Tell one of God's chosen they are biblically ignorant and watch what happens. Too bad the being more like Jesus and less like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi, Elijah and Paul never really caught on in the many prophecy motivated and obsessed churches and denominations. The "we only" mentality is responsible for much of the division in Christianity today. Christianity seems to thrive on division for multiplication.


So how does exclusivism work? What must happen for it to be successful?


First of all it must do two things. It must ensure it can take up a long term residence in the host (Membership or maybe Meme-bership). A meme is an idea that is passed on from one human generation to another. It's the cultural equivalent of a gene, the basic element of biological inheritance. The term was coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. Secondly, it must bring about the proper conditions for spreading itself (Evangelism).


This is how it is done:

1. Promise reward for the effort, position, power, inside knowledge and specialness. It's better if the reward is "some day."


2. Threaten punishment for failure to grow, or pay, pray, stay and obey. This can take place almost any time now and/or in the future.


3. Convince them they are the chosen, exclusive and special people. Teach them that all others are false and there is only ONE right way to think or faith to express. Teach them that right way just happens be where they are.


4. Disable their ability to challenge or disbelieve the information given. Lower their immunity. Faith is superior to reason. "The wisdom of man is foolishness with God."


5. Establish a library of true literature and correct answers, for the faithful and discourage reading outside of this one true source, usually provided by the chief virus and his team of pathogens.

Once the parasite has been injected into the host, it will need to propagate itself or the virus will die. Follow these steps.

1. Emotionally, spiritually, psychologically or literally kill all immune persons. If you can't infect them, eliminate them.


2. Those you can't kill... intimidate and discriminate against. In religion, this is being disfellowshipped, demoted, censored or made to bring the watermelon to the picnic. Isolate them because such people, if not held in isolation can pass on immunity and resistance to the virus.


3. Encourage true believers to breed faster than false ones. Evangelism is a great tool for this.


4. Censor incoming information and remember to repeat "the wisdom of man is foolishness with God."..often, along with a lot of other scriptures that promote blind obedience. Most of these will be found in the Epistles of Paul.


5. Be prepared to give out disinformation and spread lies about your rivals. Demonize them. And remember, the bigger the lies, the louder you shout it at church and the more seriously concerned you appear for the welfare of the members, the more successful you will be.

Exclusivism is really a rather evil mind set. Us vs. them, Me vs. You, Chosen vs. unchosen, Christian vs. Pagan, True vs. False as defined by one government, organization or person over another, is never going to turn out right.

DenniscDiehl@aol.com

Congregant Bill of Rights

Congregant Bill of Rights

The following are basic human, religious and spiritual rights any person has as a member of any and all
religious organizations or church congregations.

You have the right to expect the church to keep your personal contributions private and should be able to expect that any who deal with such things for accounting purposes will do the same.

You have the right to expect that your membership in any church or congregation is not contingent on how much you give or do not give. You should also expect that jobs, positions, opportunities or offices are not given based on the amount anyone gives to the church.

You have the right to say I can only give this even if it is not a tithe of your income gross or net.

You have the right to not to be spiritually judged or have your loyalty or sincerity questioned based on what you are able or unable to give financially to the church.

You have the right to ask a Pastor if he checks tithes and offereings for any of the above reasons before giving to a church.

You have the right to say "I'm tired and won't be there, " to any and all activities, plays, fundraisers, studies, seminars, prayer groups, rehearsals, practices and sermons.

You have the right to say "I don't care about that."

You have the right to question the advice, counsel or sermon of any minister, elder, deacon or any other person in authority.

You have the right to question authority and to still expect to be allowed to attend your church.

You have the right to question a minister who declares himself one or both of the Two Witnesses of Revelation, a Prophet, the Supreme Watcher of Mankind for God, The Only True Apostle in this Age and any other title or position he can come up with to impress you as to why you need to support him.

You have the right to suggest a pastor get spiritual or psychological help should the need arise.

You have the right to tell him that the congregation is noticing a trend here.

You have the right to ask why the church believes what it does when the Bible might say otherwise, or why the Bible says something that the church practices that seems scary, weird, inappropriate for this time, out of date or controlling.

You have the right to notice that ministers often quote scriptures out of context or fail to enforce or address the rest of the story that does not agree with the point they are trying to make.

You have the right to ask all the "how can that be," "how could that happen," "why does it say this here and that there," questions you can come up and expect an intelligent answer. If you are told that you are using human reasoning, ask the pastor what kind of reasoning he uses. If he says "God's," find another church.

You have the right to not want elders, deacons or your friends accompanying the minister on visits to your home to talk to you.

You have the right to discuss or not discuss your life with the minister as you see fit.

You have the right to expect absolute confidentiality and for your story not to show up in the sermon next week, even though "I won't say the name."

You have a right to be called ahead of time when the pastor wants to ask about stopping over.

You have the right , when he calls to say, "I'm tired," "I'm busy," "No, but I appreciate the call," without repercussions.

You have the right to keep a dirty home, grass not mowed perfectly, an older car, red in color and kids that don't say "yes sir, nice to see you sir," in just the right way.

You have the right to watch and read what you wish even if the pastor just got done bashing that particular program, movie or book from the pulpit in his sermon on "Demons in Your Home--Six Ways to Assure Your Eternal Death."

You have the right to ask the pastor not to call on you at work, even if you own the business.

You have the right to say, "I can't afford to take you to lunch." "I can't afford to give you free wood or brick." "I can't afford to fix your house up free," "I can't fix all your teeth," to your pastor should he expect professional courtesies, even if he offers to do your funeral free.

You have a right to expect free use of your church for weddings and funerals.

You have the right to expect these usages are not dependent on you, your parents or children living a sinless life six months prior to the date of the event.

You have the right   to not to answer questions your pastor may ask you or your children about your sexual practices. If he insists, then insist that you all share together.

You have the right to not let the pastor inform you as to who you can and cannot date or marry.

You have the right to enjoy your sexuality free of church or pastoral approval. Something that is wrong for the pastor is not necessarily wrong for you in how you express yourself to your partner. There is no Bible prohibition against....well you know. And if there were, you'd have the right to disagree with that too.

You have the right to not share which or if you are taking medications of any sort with the pastor.

You have the right to take such medication and not be judged as having a lack of faith or trust in God to heal you.

You have the right to seek professional help without informing your Pastor of the nature of the help and you have the right to not be helped solely by the pastor under threat of repercussions.

You have the right to insist the pastor get professional help should the need arise and the man is causing more harm than good. You have the right to remind him that God does not directly speak to him nor express His will only through the mind of the pastor and that makes you uncomfortable if he thinks that is so.

You have the right to be wrong about a many things.

You have the right to believe you are correct about many things without repercussions.

You have the right not to care about everything that others think you must care about to be a good Christian.

You have the right to tell the pastor he is wrong, mistaken or exaggerating.

You have the right to dress as you wish, wear the jewelry you wish and make up you wish or not wish without being labeled a whore or a goody goody.

You have the right to feel that dressing as if it was still 1957 and only watching Disney Movies or How the West Was Won as proof of your pureness is baloney.

You have the right to not be told that the best times for entertainment, movies and TV was when the Pastor was a boy.

You have the right to like the food he does not like and to not like the foods he does.

You have the right to like the schools he doesn't and not like the ones he does.

You have the right  to not to bear your soul to the ministers wife.

You have the right to like or not like, agree or not agree with the ministers wife.

You have the right to not view the world through the pastor's eyes morally or politically.

You have the right to hate the war while he believes the war in Iraq is God's will and thinks it's all in the Bible.

You have the right to expect him to speak clearly where he thinks the Bible speaks for us today and to walk slowly and drink cool water where it doesn't.

You have the right to tell the pastor that that is his opinion and not necessarily the only true opinion on earth.

You have the right for you, your children, your partner and your friends to be themselves.

These are but a few of the rights any member of any Church, congregation or religious organization has.
 

In short, you have the right to not be required to check your brains, your insights, your perspectives and your free will at the door to be welcome and a member of any church.

DenniscDiehl@aol.com

WCG2 (COGaWA) Janaury 11 Conference Updates

Conference Update

January 11, 2011 – The meetings began as Interim Board President Mike Hanisko called upon Kevin Epps for the opening prayer. Mr.Hanisko then announced the result of the ballot for our church name. Of the 118 ballots cast, 78 chose "Church of God, a Worldwide Association," making the temporary name official.

The first presentation of the day was given by Dave Myers on youth camp programs. We don't have a lot of definition yet but we can review the importance of it. One of our core values is to teach our children God's way of life. In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 we find a directive to do this. Additionally, in Luke 9:47-48 we see Christ telling us to receive little children. Receive means "to receive into one's family, to educate."

Numbers 32:24 speaks of a tribe of Israel taking care of its "little ones" and providing "sheepfolds" for its sheep. In a sense, we are taking care of our little ones via our camps. Matthew 18:10 also speaks of not despising (disdaining or thinking little of) "little ones."

Camp is effective because it takes youth away from their normal routines. It puts them in God's creation and away from electronics. We're familiar with the concept of the "Zone" and will continue to provide a godly environment.

We will also continue our pre-teen camp programs. We may be able to use the same location for both a pre-teen camp and a teen camp. Regarding staff, we have 11 trained teen camp directors, seven experienced pre-teen camp directors and two Challenger II directors. We have very talented people and we will take care of our young people. We intend to continue allowing people of other fellowships to attend as space is available.

We will begin with a demographic study to plan locations of camps and to determine the number of teens we will need to serve. The administration will need to appoint an overall Program Director and camp directors. An application process also needs to be developed. While respecting the rights of our previous organization, we have already made calls to find camps and it looks likely that we will have camps in California, Texas, Missouri, in Alabama or Georgia, and in Ohio or Pennsylvania.

Next, David Treybig gave a presentation on developing a literature base. Prior to speaking of possible ways to produce literature, he discussed the importance of reading. Coupling the second commandment that prohibits the worship of idols with Deuteronomy 6:9 which instructed the Israelites to write the commandments on their doorposts, Mr. Treybig said that it is obvious that God expected His people to be literate. True worship of God involves the intellect as opposed to worshipping an image.

Arthur W. Hunt III in his book The Vanishing Word wrote: "The Judeo-Christian heritage, which characteristically has been word-dependent, is contrasted with paganism, which typically has been image-dependent…A church cut from its word-based heritage and a nation stripped of word-based modes of learning do not have the rhetorical or mental resources to guard against despotism" (p. 26).
The importance of reading is also seen in Acts 17 where we note that many of the Bereans believed what they heard from Paul possibly because they "searched the Scriptures daily" (v. 11). Reading disciplines the mind and helps one retain information.

As for producing literature, our organization has many experienced writers and reviewers who know how to work remotely. Many of these talented people have indicated that they are ready to go to work.
Basic, first-contact literature could be produced first and posted online. More in-depth material could then be generated later. And instead of producing multiple booklets on closely related subjects, one booklet could suffice. Since the Internet is so cost effective, this may serve as our primary delivery tool, although we will certainly want some materials in hard copy, too.

Doug Horchak next discussed planning for the Feast of Tabernacles. He noted that Hebrews 11:13 speaks of our vision of the future. We keep the Feast because doing so reminds us that we are strangers and pilgrims here on earth who are convicted of and assured of the coming kingdom of God. We have 20 or more past Feast coordinators.

Last Friday, many of these men here at the conference met to discuss possible locations for observing the Feast. Of course, we will respect the contracts of our previous organization. At this time, we believe we will have four to six sites in the United States. We may also need to provide some satellite locations that receive webcasts of the services.

Starting from scratch is not something any of us like to do but there can be valuable lessons in doing so. In such a situation, we realize that we need to "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33) and that we need to work together in unity.

Andre Van Belkum, from New Zealand, presented the closing address. He began by thanking everyone for the positive, encouraging environment at this conference. He then told a story about a potential aircraft disaster in which the pilot focused on the systems that were functioning and successfully landed the plane. "How can we stay positively focused?" he asked.

The example of the trial the Macedonian churches faced is instructive. Facing this "great trial of affliction," the brethren "first gave their own selves to the Lord" (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). "First a willing mind" (verse 12) is also of critical importance.

Turning to James 1, Mr. Van Belkum then spoke of having joy when we face difficulties (verse 2) and asking for the wisdom of God (verse 5) to know how to move forward. He also cautioned that we must guard against pride and operate with humility.

The life of Elijah is also instructive. Though Elijah was discouraged, he came to realize that God was all powerful and fully capable of caring for His people. We have talented, capable men and we need to go to work. In Acts 14 we read that Paul was stoned. Yet we see that he rose up and went back to work preaching the gospel (verses 20, 21).

Christ has allowed all that has happened. He knows of this meeting. Let's pray for His direction. If we are faithful, we can be confident that God will finish His work in us (Philippians 1:6).

The conference came to an end with Todd Carey leading everyone in the hymn "All Things Work Together" and Greg Sargent giving a closing prayer. There were 876 English connections and 38 Spanish connections to today's meetings.