What Is Wrong with the COG's?
In short, the thing that is wrong with the COG's is they are crazy.
Crazy does not describe the splinters themselves, so much as it
describes what you become when subjected its many contradictions. When I
say contradiction, I mean, when your senses, your instincts, and your
innate intelligence all tell you one thing, and every human being you
come in contact with offers a totally contradictory account of the same
or similar experiences. You become divided, one half believing your
observations, the other half believing the social proof. We have good
reasons to believe both, even though we know, somewhere deep down, that
both cannot be true simultaneously,
nevertheless, we bend everything else around to rationalize them, to
try to make them both make sense simultaneously. That is how people who
are searching for something, can become more lost than ever.
Organizations that they trust will help them make sense out of life,
instead create environments that facilitate the twisting of young,
naïve, or weak people's psyches until they resemble a carnival's hall of
mirrors. For anyone who has seen the film, just like the talking
computer HAL from Stanley Kubrik's "2001: A Space Odyssey," who went
crazy from contradictory instructions, so too do we became "crazy" in
exactly the same way.
The biggest example of crazy I have come to
perceive within Armstrongism (the recognition of which has begun to
shepherd me in the general direction of sanity) is as follows:
1)
The only things that are recognized as sins in COG's are not tithing,
not keeping the sabbath or holy days, keeping the world's holidays,
eating unclean meats, murder (that's criminal), not showing sufficient
deference and respect for a minister (the eleventh commandment), and
sexual dalliances (although those are "private" matters, which should be
covered up). And then there are the pet peeves that are
splinter-specific, like sacred names, new moons, calendar, etc.
Everything else is just a shoulder issue, like hair length, proper
attire, substance abuse, or not praying and studying daily, which might
be regarded as sin technically, but in practice no one ever makes a big
deal about. That's the whole enchilada right there.
2) But by
anyone's standard, you can lie, cheat, steal, and abuse others in
COUNTLESS other ways, and no one is even going to raise an eyebrow, so
long as you otherwise put on a show of niceness, reasonableness, and
otherwise general respectability. The Golden Rule is, "Do unto others
before they do it unto you." Even though the bible is pretty clear that
these
things are all sins too, (lying and stealing are part of the Ten
Commandments even) the reason why this is not recognized as being sin
within the COG's is because this type of behavior is the "minister's"
bread and butter. They make their living off of abusing other people and
making it seem "reasonable," and as a result, it becomes "normal" and
"acceptable."
When we try to rationalize these two sets of facts,
and force them to make sense in relationship to the bible, the result
is we start to become "crazy." And rightly so, because if we succeed,
then we have lost touch with reality. It doesn't matter whether you're
talking about Armstrong, Meredith, Pack, Flurry, UCG, COGWA, or the
bounty of self-appointed prophets and apostles. They are ALL like this.
But
I wrote "by anyone's standard" because, if you go to any other
religious organization, the Catholics or Protestants, or any other
Christian outfit, some of the things in the FIRST
paragraph are going to change, but NOTHING in the SECOND paragraph will
change. (Notice that I numbered these paragraphs for easy reference. I
will keep referring back to them.)
Jesus said that the pharisees
were hypocrites because they tithed and were careful about all the
nitpicky observances, but completely neglected "the weightier matters of
the law." And that is my point. The FIRST paragraph is the obvious, but
"non-weighty" portion, while NOT DOING the SECOND paragraph is the less
obvious perhaps, but definitely "weightier" portion. If the general
outlines I have laid out here are essentially correct, then Christians,
by and large, are basically hypocrites. Using that definition, there are
approximately 2 billion Christian "pharisees" in the world today. How
sad.
But why stop there? Let's consider all the secular
organizations too, including for-profit corporations, governments of all
sorts, and, heck, why not even throw in the Mafia
for good measure. Hey, there's honor, even among thieves. Just change
the FIRST paragraph. Simple. Everybody does the SECOND paragraph.
Everybody.
Christians are different though. No, it's true. Just
not in the way that they would have you believe. They will TELL you
they're different because they play by the rules of Jesus, instead of
the world's rules. They would have you BELIEVE they are different
UNDERNEATH. But this is just a charade. Certainly at the organizational
level, if not the individual level, people don't play by Jesus' rules.
The only thing that makes Christians different is the charade. The REAL
difference with Christians is that they're the least likely to be HONEST
about themselves. The real difference with Christians is the charade.
Al Capone may have been a murderer, but one thing he wasn't, was a
hypocrite. The bottom line is we're ALL the same underneath because we
all do the SECOND paragraph. Yes, even
Christians.
HWA and all the COG's trying to preserve his legacy
have always thought of themselves as being so DIFFERENT from the rest of
Christianity, but from this point of view, they are actually quite
MAINSTREAM. Perhaps even ORTHODOX. From this point of view, there's just
as much difference between a COG and the Catholics as there is between
the Catholics and the Mafia. Which is to say, the differences between
all three of them are superficial. When it comes to how they LIVE as
opposed to merely what they preach, COG's have much more in common with
everyone else in the world than they would like to believe. For example,
during the process of copying and pasting the Evangelical's FIRST
paragraph over to become WCG's FIRST paragraph (becoming "doctrinally"
mainstream), the Tkach's made HEAVY use of the WHOLE SECOND paragraph as
though there was nothing wrong with doing any of that. And no one even
noticed.
How come? Because Christians,
not just the leaders, but the lay members too, think the stuff in the
FIRST paragraph is ALL there is to being a Christian. They are literally
BLIND to HALF, the more IMPORTANT half, of what SHOULD BE their
doctrine! Maybe it's not half, but let's just say half for simplicity's
sake. Anyway, because they are blind, they cannot see anything wrong,
AND because of their blindness they DECEIVE themselves into believing
they can see BETTER than anyone else! Tragic really.
I could here
use the bible to eviscerate not just the COG's, but also the entire
establishment of Christendom regarding blindness, being deceived,
Laodicea, Emperor's new clothes, and so forth, but will limit myself to
the earlier statement of Jesus that I have already cited, regarding
hypocrisy, which is my point.
Not being distracted by all the
petty "doctrines," non-religious people can see both halves clearly, but
generally think that avoiding doing the SECOND paragraph is
the only part that is important, and so they merely DISPENSE with the
entire FIRST paragraph. Not coincidentally, while that wasn't exactly
what Jesus said to do, it might be CLOSER to what he said than what
Christians do.
Is it possible that non-believers who don't
participate in formal religious observance, but nonetheless make a good
faith effort to live moral and ethical lives, are actually better at
practicing the teachings of Jesus Christ than those who profess to be
Christians? I didn't say they were perfect. True, they don't tithe on
their mint, anise, or cumin. Also, don’t forget that everyone practices
the SECOND paragraph. But here's the rub: non-believers don't have the
same vested interest in being DISHONEST about that fact. Unwittingly,
they are free to be MORE observant of the "weightier matters" both
because they are not blind to it, and because they believe that is where
the emphasis should be placed. I suppose there
remains the issue of faith still to be resolved. I wouldn't expect even
a "good faith" non-believer to claim faithfulness. On the other hand,
are they any LESS faithful than the pharisees? If we just called that
particular death-match a draw, it seems that the "good-faith"
non-believer comes out ahead of the average professing Christian by a
fair margin. Notice, I stopped short of declaring any "winners" here
though.
If it were not for this terrible example of hypocrisy
that Christianity sets, there would probably be a lot fewer atheists and
agnostics. Christianity certainly puts a lot of wind in their sails. I
am sure part of the calculations of the typical non-believer include the
fact that they find the abuse in religious institutions morally and
ethically objectionable, and can't fathom that any higher power could
possibly be at work there because the whole thing is so sickening. That
sickening feeling may be the foundation upon which they
then conclude that the religious are silly people who will believe
anything without good reason, atheism's major talking point today. Or
maybe it's just the main reason why people wind up leaving Christianity
to become non-believers.
Despite all the money Christians spend
trying to get out the "gospel," their example powerfully negates their
message. What a waste! How counterproductive! But isn't that exactly
what we should expect from people who are so deeply divided within
themselves? Shouldn't we expect self-sabotaging behaviors to be among
the symptoms of being diagnosed as a certifiable Christian?
Whenever
people form any organization, secular or religious, the scum always
seems to rise to the top. Everyone else either follows or they get
forced out, thus purifying and concentrating the scum. But only the
Christian variety of scum claims that the only suitable preparation for
an environment (heaven) where no "sewage" can seep in, is
to spend the rest of your life soaking together in "sewage!" But then
the COG’s declare that not just any "sewage" will do. No, it must be
THEIR specific concoction of "sewage!" Did I say crazy already?
If
Jesus is who he said he was, then I cannot imagine that he would
sponsor ANY Christian organization, because such organizations don't
seem to be able to stop themselves from teaching through their example
that a life of systematic lying, cheating and stealing is "God's way."
They don't seem to be able to help but to lead people AWAY from what
everyone EXCEPT Christians intuitively seems to know are the weightier
matters of life. Organizations always seem to be hostile environments
for practicing the teachings of Jesus Christ. They're great places for
practicing Christianity though. Isn't it crazy that those two should
have so little in common?
Crazy, yes, but when you are finally
able to sit down and think it all through clearly,
and in the proper context, it all winds up making perfect sense. That's
when the confusion subsides and you can begin moving to the next stage
of the grieving process: anger.
"Men go crazy in congregations, they only get better one by one." -Sting, "All This Time"
