Armstrongism in Contention with Christianity: A Meditation on God and the of Attribute of Size

 

The Giant

by NC Wyeth (Fair Use)

 

 

Armstrongism in Contention with Christianity:

A Meditation on God and the of Attribute of Size

By Scout

 

When I was in the Ninth Grade, I discovered that size is an inviolable physical property of the Universe. Size is real and size has meaning. My physics textbook stated that the giant spiders that appeared in a recent horror movie could not have existed.  The reason why is that the proteins that form the hard exoskeleton of the spider could not support a creature of that weight.  If there were such a big spider, it would collapse under its own weight.  Likewise, even though dinosaurs are made of stronger materials, there is a limit to how big they can get before their weight can no longer be supported by their structure and they fall apart.  No doubt N.C. Wyeth’s great giant, illustrated above, cannot really exist either and for the same reasons. There is a range that governs the size that biological creatures can attain and humans are within that range.  This limitation is not something that evolved in the Cosmos.  It simply exists.

God is not Governed by Size

God is absolute and not relative.  Almost everything we know is relative.  (I will omit some of the spooky things in quantum physics that happen outside our zone of perception.) “That fish is bigger than this fish” is a principle that applies to everything in our environment.  Objects exist in three-dimensional space. And that space can be calibrated.  Just look at a ruler.  And every object has size as one of its properties. 

The idea that God has a body in his essence, as Armstrongists assert, means that he falls not into the absolute category but the relative category, like material objects.  He is bigger than this but smaller than that - he can move faster than this but not as fast as that,  etc. This is a great restriction because the Cosmos is very large and God, by comparison, would be very small.  So, he is confined to working remotely with the Cosmos since flying around to different parts of the enormous Cosmos to fix things up is an impossible task.  Some will propose that he works through his spirit which is like a “tractor beam” from Star Trek.  But this places God at the end of a tool as if he were a man fabricating something rather than God creating something.  The Gnostics call such a being a Demi-urge. 

If God were really big, the problem of governing the real estate of the Cosmos would not go away.   A Christian mystic, I cannot recall which, had a vision of God and he handed her a small object about the size of a walnut.  As she held it in her hand, he told her that this is all that was ever made.  The complexity of the Cosmos remains, however, independent of size.  If God is very small in comparison to the Cosmos, there is the macro problem.  His smallness is a hindrance. If he is very large in comparison to the Cosmos, there is the micro problem.   His bigness is a hindrance.  Either way, God is still like a Demi-urge, he just has to use a tool set that works for the size. 

But, of course, God can appear as big as he wants to be or as small as he wants to be because he is absolute in essence and not relative.  This is the nature of a theophany.  A theophany is presentation and not substance.  It is close to the idea of anthropomorphism.  A theophany is a presentation that is actually sensed and anthropomorphism is a presentation that is literary.  Yahweh is a storm God.  A powerful storm was about the biggest, most dramatic thing the ancient mind could encounter.  But one has to maintain perspective.  There are impressive, big storms on earth but the Red Spot on Jupiter is a storm that is 1.3 times the diameter of earth.  All of our yardsticks are relative and do not apply to God.

My guess is that if you were to ask Armstrongists how big God is, they would say that he is the same size as Jesus. This is because they misinterpret the scripture where Jesus states if you have seen me you have seen the Father.   Archaeologists know what the average Jew looked like in the time of Jesus.  If Jesus were average, and scripture does not suggest otherwise, he would be 5’ 1” and would weigh 110 pounds.  This is the logical conclusion towards which Armstrongism moves. 

But there is a problem with this conclusion and that is its implications about God’s “origin”.  Who said to God that he can be only a little guy and no larger?  He makes beings that are much larger.  I am just over six feet tall.  Did someone create God to be a certain size in his essence? This conclusion is an absurdity created by believing God is bound by size.  Jesus told us that God is a Spirit.  He transcends human categories such as size.   

My Personal Theory

I have a theory about this and I will present it in summary.  This is a conjecture and not a part of the Christian Doctrine of God that I know.   I don’t expect you to believe this but you might find it worth contemplating. I believe that God does not have boundaries and I think this implements what we call omnipresence.  And, of course, no boundaries, no size. But omnipresence is a much more limited phenomenon that what God actually is.  There is a difference between being at every location in the Cosmos and having no location at all.  

And here is the heart of my conjecture.  The Cosmos is bounded.  And the Cosmos exists within the unbounded God.  We could spend some time on the meaning of the spatial preposition “within” in this context but we can let that pass for now.  Paul said in the Sermon on Mars Hill, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being”.  If Paul had just said that we have our being inside God, I would have seen the whole statement as spiritual concept with no spatial meaning.   And the preposition “in” would be allegorical.  But he says we have our physical movements within God.  This gives the “in” our usual spatial meaning.  Paul is saying that we, citizens of the Cosmos, exist, have our being, both physically and spiritually, in (“in” both actually and allegorically) God. 

So, what do Captain Kirk and Spock see when the come to the boundary of the Cosmos, the really final frontier?  They don’t see anything.  Because human eyes cannot see spirit.  Kirk and Spock can see only as far as the boundary.  And on the other side of the boundary is God infinitely and God cannot be seen.  He is invisible to us.  So, what cannot be seen, appears to our retinas as the darkest dark that you can imagine - no photons, no image.  My guess.

Conclusion

God transcends the human notion of size which is bound to the physics of the Cosmos.  This does not make the Old Testament scriptures a lie but, rather, makes the scriptures poetic.  The problem is that some people do not want to admit that the Bible is literary and it uses figures of speech about God that are anthropomorphisms..  They insist on a literal Bible but who gave them the right to require that?  God gave the message he wanted to give and human curators added their verbiage as well.  It is what it is.  And it serves its intended purpose.  

Why Isn't God A Better Judge Of Feast Site Locations?

 

Living Church of God just released this statement about their Palmetto, Florida Feast site. God had originally placed His name specifically upon this spot for their faithful to experience a foretaste of the Kingdom of God. Apparently, God was not aware that there were two hurricanes bearing down on Florida.

As hurricane Milton approached and the situation developed, it became clear that God decided to move the Feast site from Palmetto to beautiful Fernandina Beach, FL. Services will be held in a modern hotel, within the beautiful setting of Amelia Island. There are a number of items still developing with the site, so check back here and look out for more emails regarding activities. Also, we posted two links showcasing some of the millennial-esque qualities of the surrounding area.

As a reminder, while we are so thank ful He has guided us to this new location, we ask that you continue to pray for those still in the path of the storm. 

 

For more information about this Festival site, please contact the Festival Coordinator, Mr. Ryan Dawson.

Festival Coordinator

Gerald Flurry To Personally Deliver The Final Message To Christ When He Returns

 

There are two absolutely batshit crazy elements in the following letter from the Exit and Support Network site.

First off is this:

Gerald Flurry has declared it a SIN to not refer to their mini-me auditorium as God's House:

October 6, 2024 

 

I am writing about two very concerning things that have recently come from Gerald Flurry. 

 

The first being from the latest Royal Vision magazine. September/October 2024 in an article titled “Two Psalms That Make You Stop and Think” by Gerald Flurry. 

 

On page 6 he says: 

 

“That house [speaking about their Armstrong Auditorium] is called by God’s name! What kind of a sin it is to call it a different name, or not call it God’s house! What a terrible attitude that shows. This is God’s house!” 

 

So now that GF has declared it a sin not to call their silly little auditorium “God’s house” we shall all be waiting for them to publicly make this change–hopefully starting with their web page, X account, Facebook, Instagram account and even their Pinterest page! Let’s see if GF can put his money where his mouth is……. Or would that public proclamation interfere with the image they are trying to cultivate in the community? “We aren’t a cult!”

You can guarantee that there is no way the Philadelphia Church of God will start announcing concerts performing in "God's House" instead of the Amstrong Auditorium. This is all meant for his dumb sheeple to keep them under control. Flurry uses this phrase because Herbert did the same thing with his Ambassador Auditorium. No one called it God's House back then other than in a few limited articles and appeal letters. 

That building was soon a den of iniquity where alcohol and drugs flowed freely and where molestations, sexual assaults, thefts, and enough gay and straight sex that it would have taken weeks to sanitize it. Demons were reported to be active in it. Yet, it was God's House, at least Armstrongism's version where we pollute anything we came into contact with.

Next, we move on to the blasphemous King Gerald Flurry and this utter balderdash about where he will deliver spoken words in a final message to Jesus Christ when he returns.

Second, in a recent Key of David program, titled “Who is that Prophet? (2024)” the narcissistic, megalomaniac Gerald Flurry, made one of his craziest declarations thus far! At approximately 50 seconds into the program, he stated, 

 

“this man, who is ‘that Prophet’ is going to deliver the final message to Jesus Christ when he returns.” 

 

This blasphemous statement was also printed along the bottom of the screen, no mistake was made. And for those who may be new to learning about the PCG, Gerald Flurry claims he is “That Prophet,” among other tiles such as Apostle, King, etc. (Read: Biblical Titles Gerald Flurry Has Appropriated for Himself) 

 

So to clarify, GF has claimed that he receives revelation from Christ both through scriptures and hearing voices. This then begs the question, if GF has to give this message to Christ, who then who is actually “revealing“ these messages to GF? He actually believes he is so special that God will use him to deliver a message to His son Jesus Christ. Absolute insanity! He is essentially placing himself in a position above Jesus Christ! 

 

Those familiar with the workings of a cult and cult leaders will already know that things like this often happen with leaders. 

 

If this won’t raise a few eyebrows of the mind-controlled members, then at the very least hopefully it prevents new people from joining this religious cult, as their leader continues to escalate. –Z. A. Exit and Support Network

In spite of all this craziness, Armstrongism in its various imaginations claims they are God breathed into existence. God supposedly speaks directly to various leaders telling them all kinds of super fantastical tales and they then feel the need to report it to their dwindling flocks. There is no message that so many of these crazy loons proclaim that has worth for humanity. Jesus is never the center of attention of these groups.