The Greek word for “voice” is phone (fo-NAY’)
DP...Fo-Nay Home!
"I'm invited? Great! See ya
soon!"
Dear Mr. Pack, (maybe I will get through if I am respectful)
I have read your entire
incredible and best ever letter written to all of COGdom. You have a very
loud voice (Fo-Nay) in print and in your Sabbath Service I am sure.
Unlike the Apostle Paul who felt he was troubled by a weak bodily presence
as well, I'm sure that's never been a problem for you either.
That being said, I'm feeling
rather anxious over my eternal future since your "fo-nay"
letter spoke so plainly about my absolute need to return to the true Church
begun by Mr. Armstrong and now continued by none other than yourself.
You said:
"The most important
and conclusive letter I have written to the Worldwide Church of God splinters has been
posted! I promise this will be the single most
crucial one you will ever read. If you do
not read it all, it will be the worst decision you have made since God called
you. Believe this!"
That was said with a loud fo-nay for sure and you got my attention. Since me making the worst
decision I could make is not reading it and I can think of some really bad
decisions I made along the way since being called already, I feel
compelled to get the answers I need to make it through.
Your loud fo-nay went on to
threaten my lack of understanding of your way of seeing all things GOD with not
only committing sin which can never be forgiven, no, not in this world or in
the next, but also a free eternal vacation of permanent
non-existence, compliments of the Lake of Fire. That's a lot of fo-nay to
handle all in one sitting. Especially since I bet both your an my enthusiasm
back in the day over what we were learning from the WCG as teens probably
matched pretty closely. My kids grew up where you were born and your kids
were babysat by my parents as they grew up, so we have ties.
Mr. Pack...never in my life
did I ever wish to speak with a phoney fo-nay. I always , like you, just
wanted to know the truth of the Bible. Now we both know you and I are
very good Bible readers. We were so very well trained at reading the
Bible. On top of that, we got really good at reading the Bible in all
sorts of orders and in all sorts of combinations to get out of it what we
needed to get out of it. We "hear a littled and there a
littled" ourselves right into any truth that needed to be proved. We
were trained "Cobblemeisters" if ever there were any. Line up
line, precept upon precept, we cobbled our way through everything from "ye
are gods..." to "will a man rob God," and beyond. We
were the "Cut n Paste Church of God," and while many churches are
also that, if not all, we were pretty good at it. Well, you still
are.
Well, throw me in the lake
of fire, I know, but I went on to other perspectives too numerous to
mention, but all very Biblical in nature and I really would love to share
them with you. After all, so much is at stake and being wrong seems to
have such severe consequences. The one scary thing about Christianity is
that one must be the very correct form of it or else. No pressure there!
We could talk about Adam and
Eve and really get lost in just the first 11 chapters of Genesis wondering if
they are literally true or a bit less than that. We can really have a
great time with women's issues, the fall, Original Sin, Noah and his Aardvarks
and just were did all our human languages come from? I'd like to discuss
evolution of all life and what in the Bible might just be mythically so
but not so literally so.
I'd just love to talk
over those Two Trees in the Garden Mr. Armstrong spoke so often about and what
they really meant . Would it not be amazing to finally get the uni-plural
rascal called Elohim straight once and for all? Who are the "let
us" and "we" El was speaking to and just what are Elohim in the
first place? Boy, we all about passed out when Mr. Armstrong said,
"There were two trees in the Garden of Eden..."
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. I always felt bad but we both had what was
to follow memorized but good. Finally, we can get it right! Would
that not be awesome?
I really have questions I'd
like you to answer for me about the Gospels including the contradictions I
think I see, Jesus birth stories and just what did happen when he died? Rod
Meredith won't talk to me about such things and he was the one who taught it
all to us. Harmony of the Gospels he called it. Whoa..no offense,
but I have found there is much less harmony than we had both been taught.
Alas...I appreciated his efforts, but he too was and is a mere Bible
reader and he never once allowed me to ask any questions he might no know the
answer to. I know you would not do that to me. Our fo-nays must be clear
on these matters if one is to feel the need to tell others how they should and
must be in this life. If we don't speak with a clear fo-nay, we might be
perceived as fo-nee. Get my drift???
Would love to discuss the
Apostle Paul and his relationship to the Apostles with you too. You and
Paul both have much in common. No one knows how the Apostle Paul got to
be an Apostle and no one can figure out just who laid hands on him to do so,
but with Bob Thiel being a Prophet without hands , we may be able to get to the
bottom of this too. You are an Apostle and I have the same question about
that as I have about the Apostle Paul but we can cover that when you invite me
to debate and discuss these things before the masses. I think it is
humorous that of the 24 times in the NT Paul is called an Apostle it is Paul
who calls himself one 22 times. Isn't that interesting? Luke, his
side kick called him one twice. Other than that, I can't find where the
original Apostles themselves said he was one. I think the original rules
for being an Apostle were that you had "seen" the resurrected Jesus ,
but those rules are confusing. Mary should have been one to then I
suppose. Paul never met Jesus so his "have I not seen the
Lord," was in his head as we know. I think that was fudging the
credentials of an Apostle. I saw Santa once come down the stairs at my
house, when I was little. I saw him so I guess I am a Santanist? No
wait...not that!!! Never mind!
At any rate, one last
time. Since my former association as both member and minister qualifies
me as one of those who will all return IF I get your story right , we gotta
talk about your story. I have some questions. I believe I will know
the answers you will give before you actually give them, but I'm not so sure
you will know mine. I don't wish to be in the Lake of Fire. I don't
want to commit any unforgivable sins (Christ must have not qualified enough to
forgive that puppy!) and I don't particularly like being threatened with such
things without a chance to question you and explain myself... Good questions
well put can't be all that frightening can they?
So how about it?
Debate me. Sit with me before your own audience of believers and followers in
the comfort of your surroundings. I will be the one to step into your
world. To be fair, I will bring one person of with me to record
accurately what is said so it can be accurately passed on to others like me who
are in this danger of unforgiven sin and eternal death. (I know how you
used to redraw church boundaries when the next door minister wasn't looking so
there would be more in your Church area, so I gotta keep an eye on ya a bit. )
Unforgivable sins and lakes of fire are not small things for us to ignore for
sure, and I'm trying not to but you gotta work with me on this one.
Give me two hours during
Unleavened Bread to sit with you during services and chat about these things
before your church. I won't bring or eat unleavened bread , pork or Jello
the whole time . To the Jew I will be a Jew and to a Gentile I can be a
Gentile. Now I never understood how one could trust an Apostle and what
he really believed who thought that way, but it sounds good. If you need
til next FOT to prepare, we can do that too.
Debate me Mr. Pack.
Invite me to discuss all things Bible together before your own friendly folk
who also claim to just want to know the truth of the Bible and if what you tell
them about it all is accurate and inerrant in all things.
And if you won't, or can't
or shouldn't...don't you ever again imply that I or any of us who have
puked our way through the drama and trauma of the World Wide Church of God are
in mortal and spiritual danger, staring both sins that can never be forgiven
and eternal damnation in a Lake of Fire, in the face, for not joining
your vision and version of the "Good News."
If nothing else...think of
the good press you will get and potential newbies you may reap if you can crush
me in public with your real truth and awesome knowledge of who and what
God and Je, Christ are doing on earth today. .
DP..fo-nay home. We
have much to speak freely about, in public and wherever you are
comfortable.
And no, I am not kidding
