Van Robison on "Thinking About Life"

Thinking About Life

I confess that there are so many issues about life on earth that make no sense, that it leaves me frustrated.  Sure, for those of us who experienced years of the Worldwide Church of God, we learned what truth is not.
We know that religious hierarchy stinks.  We know that men who stand in pulpits and pretend to represent God are far off base.  We know that tithing is a very false doctrine.  We know that many have made prophecies about the future and were very wrong.  We have learned that charismatic personalities can often persuade the gullible and naive.  We have learned that FEAR and GUILT are tools of control.  We have learned that the Bible is NOT infallible and inerrant, and that it is interpreted in as many different ways as there are specks of sand upon the seashores.  We have learned that anyone can potentially be caught up in cult groups and man-made religious beliefs.

Beyond all that, when we read that "they shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall recover", it does not always happen and even in most cases does not.  I have yet to see a paralyzed human being healed instantaneously, or a paraplegic restored and I have prayed for both categories of such people.  I have been in a nursing home where some human beings are nothing more than physical and or mental vegetables, and all the prayers never had any result that was positive.  I have been to two Benny Hinn "Healing Crusades" and have witnessed first hand the emotional impact such events have upon thousands of human beings in attendance.  I have read many books by the most famous "healing evangelists" or preachers known to man, such as Kathryn Kuhlman, Smith Wigglesworth, Oral Roberts, John G. Lake and others.  I even attended an Oral Roberts "healing crusade" in Amarillo, Texas as a young child and was overwhelmed with what I saw and experienced.

Once, some years ago my wife and I traveled to a church to hear a man who proclaimed that he had "raised" something like 14-people from the "dead" in Mexico, in his personal ministry and over a period of years.  During his talk, we were all spell-bound with what he had to say, and during the service, in through the doors came a family rolling a man in serious condition (Lou Gehrig's Disease, as we learned) on a hospital bed.  Naturally we expected a "miracle", because after all, here was the man standing in the pulpit who "raised people from the dead."  After the service, the guest minister was ushered over to the bedside of this man who was at death's door, and nothing happened.  The sick man went out the same way he came in.  Our disappointment was deep.

Once, my wife and I attended a service at a church where the guest speaker and his wife, had a "healing" ministry, where people supposedly had their teeth filled with "gold" where their cavities were.  The guest minister asked that anyone who wanted gold fillings to come forward, and a friend of mine and myself, along with others went forward.  The "minister" looked in our mouths with a flashlight and literally said "I see nothing but gold."  In our gullibility of course we thought that our fillings had been turned to gold.  When we went home and looked in the mirror, there was no gold.  Naturally our disappointment was enormous and such an experience only added to our loss of faith and confidence in the clergy class of people.

In my personal life, I have experienced church beyond the Worldwide Church of God.  My personal church life includes charismatic, pentecostal, baptist and other groups and even including what is called "house church", which is not controlled by any church organization.  In many organized churches they have what is called "cell groups", which I have also been a part of in years past.  Ultimately my wife and I came to the conclusion that 100% of all organized churches are man-made institutions and having nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Admittedly Jesus Christ has NEVER approached me personally, in a visible and physical form and spoken to me, so much as one word and yet I still believe in Jesus Christ.

In spite of all the negative church experiences, Jesus makes sense to my reason.  I will never embrace atheism.  I concede that what is called the "Bible" is full of myth, legend, human fabrication and yet it is astonishingly the most read "book" in the world, and argued over more than any other writings in human experience.  In fact the "Holy" books of the major religions of the world are to my thinking the reason for so many problems in human life.

Indeed God is a mystery and I have never found a satisfactory answer to human suffering.  I have never known anyone who has not suffered in human life.  Suffering is both physical and mental and life is overwhelming at times.  Who can comprehend why there are tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and what we all call "natural" disasters?  Who can comprehend why humans can be so intelligent and genius and at the same time so stupid as to be idiots, which to my thinking is what all wars are---insane?  Why can't life be for positive and constructive purposes instead of idiot and never ending wars of death and destruction?  Why sickness and disease and mental anguish and torment?

The only conclusion that I have been able to come to is that "the wisdom of God is greater than the lack of understanding of human beings."  As far as what happens after the death of the body, no one has a clue, other than what we all read in ink on paper, which is nothing more than human say so.  Atheism offers no hope.  If there were no hope of life beyond the physical human realm, then human life is to my thinking without meaning and purpose.  What makes sense about Jesus to my reason is that He taught "love your neighbor as you love yourself", "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", "blessed are the peacemakers", "blessed are the meek" and so forth.  In essence what Jesus taught in one word is LOVE.  Anything attributed to Jesus that would appear to contradict Himself, makes no sense and to me is very questionable as to its real source.  As far as we all know Jesus Christ never penned anything and all that we know of Him is strictly based upon what men write.

We can choose to believe or we can choose not to believe.  Strangely, no matter how we believe about God, it does not change the fact of His existence and if He does not exist, it does not change that reality.

Personally, I choose to believe.


Van Robison

It's A Masonic Conspiracy!

Bet you never knew that ALL the McNairs were Masons did you? What about David Hulme? Rod Meredith? Imagine Rod as a Mason - Oy! Stan Rader we have all heard about and Tkach too. Is any of it really true or is this just another conspiracy theory for the mentally disturbed in Armstrongism to latch on to in order to make themselves feel special and set apart?

Apostle Malm is on an anti-Masonry snit-fest today. It was all a Masonic conspiracy that destroyed the Church of God.  According to Apostle Malm and Christan conspiracy nutjobs, the Masons have been instructed by Satan Lucifer to infiltrate all religions and destroy them.

The Apostle notes that for decades the WCG had articles and booklets on Masonry.  Jack Elliot had written several articles on the subject.  Then along comes Stan and the brakes go on and the booklets and articles are removed.

One thing that Apostle Malm did not know about was the Auditorium.  Years ago there was a man touring the building and he informed me he was one of the people that helped construct the building through the auspices of Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall.  He claimed that the entire Auditorium was built with Masonic symbolism.  The Auditorium is a cube shape (take away the white pillars that disguise it).  It faces East so that all worshippers in the  building always faced the rising sun. There was a room in the ceiling area on the upper left side that was appropriate to Masonic symbolism in its placement.  The colors used. Various shapes in the design.  He also said that Masonic coins were located throughout the building in different locations, placed there by workers.

Nor did the Apostle mention this delightful little tidbit: the bridges over the lake intersect into a female sexual symbol with the fountain symbolising the penis with it's rigid shaft and spurting water.

Of course all of these things are nothing new.  There were rumors of this in the mid to late 70's, so much so, that GTA stood on the stage one day and said that some of these weird people who believe this kind of stuff would get "turned on by piano legs."

Never mind the fact that a huge percentage of Armstrongite churches have met in Masonic, Elks and Odd Fellows Halls over the decades.  I guess that all seeing eye staring down at us was Lucifer's way of infiltrating the church.

Van Robison On: "Splinter Group Cocoons"

Splinter Group Cocoons

In the world of religions, every group without exception lives within the walls and confines of the thinking of its founders and leaders.  Every Bible college and every Bible correspondence course is tailored to the thinking of the author or authors of those institutions and study courses.  Bible colleges are manufacturers of clones of their own making.  There is a two fold purpose for Bible schools and this is to perpetuate their peculiar beliefs and $money.  They are businesses that provide income to their existence and like a machine they make molds of their own teachings, which are rubber stamped in the young people who are caught in their web.

In the Worldwide Church of God, Ambassador College was the means to a never ending supply of Herbert W. Armstrong clones.  Young people are very impressionable, pliable and like clay---moldable.  Only those who are capable of independent thought and thinking, break out of the mold.  Many live their entire lives within the confines of their programmed minds and thinking, while some eventually break free and run as fast as they can.

This is true not only of the Worldwide Church of God and its many splinter groups who live in religious cocoons, but it is true of all groups, including Mormons (Brigham Young University),  Jehovah Witnesses (Watchtower Bible School of Gilead), Southern Baptist (many colleges), Seventh Day Adventist (Southern Adventist University), and the list is endless.  Of course many "Bible" schools and colleges also offer liberal arts and studies in non-religious venues.

Every religious group wants to perpetuate itself and there is no greater means to do so than "Bible" colleges.  In reality they are not "Bible" colleges, they are clone manufacturers of their own particular beliefs.  Many young people aspire to position and influence over others and so hence off to "Bible school" they go to become "pastors" and "preachers" of "truth."  What they really become are clones of how they have been indoctrinated to "think."  Have you ever had two people knock on your door and attempt to persuade you to listen to them or read their Jehovah Witnesses material?  Many have and I have also.  I admit that these people are generally friendly, sincere and zealous, but at the same time they are NOT independent thinkers, they are parrots.  They are programmed robots of Jehovah Witnesses indoctrination.  I always feel sorry for the two young people that I have seen with white shirts and ties walking down the street, who are intent to proselytize anyone who will give them an ear to Mormonism.

Young people in general don't have the experience to discern, but with time you would think that as people become older they would become wise.  Sad to say, many never become wise to the serpents, snakes and wolves in sheep's clothing who devour.  Worldwide Church of God splinter groups are all led by clones of Herbert W. Armstrong and they are NOT "the Way, the Truth and the Life."  There is NO mediator between God and man, aside from Jesus Christ, for those who still believe in Jesus Christ.  Religious cocoons are not a new phenomenon and they have been in existence for a very long time.  Public persuaders are often pretenders.  Most likely the common factor as to why so many will follow these fake religious rulers is simply FEAR.  However, God is NOT a monster.  The "Bible" may portray God as a monster, but I would suggest that in fact the so called "Bible" so misrepresents and distorts the true character of God is so many parts, that it is the very reason so many have warped views of the true nature and character of the Creator of all life and the universe.  No loving parent would act toward their own children the way the Bible portrays God as acting toward His own human creation, in many parts of it.

Splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God, are living inside religious cocoons.  In nature, cocoons break open and the butterfly or moth is set FREE.

Van Robison

New Arabic Bibles = Beginning of the Famine of the Word (According to Armstrongites)

This week there have been several news stories about a couple of Bible translations being produced for use in Muslim dominated countries.

New Bibles: No 'Father and Son' in Trinity

New Arabic and Turkish translations of the Bible from three reputable North American Christian organizations are brewing controversy because they no longer contain the words "Father" and "Son" in the Holy Trinity. In addition, the phrase "Son of God" has been removed. Why? "These terms are offensive to Muslims," say the publishers, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers.

Yahoo! News gives three examples that are causing the controversy:

• Stories of the Prophets from Wycliffe and SIL is an Arabic Bible that uses an Arabic equivalent of "Lord" instead of "Father" and "Messiah" instead of "Son."
• Meaning of the Gospel of Christ from Frontiers and SIL is an Arabic translation that removes "Father" in reference to God and replaces it with "Allah." In addition, the word "Son" is either removed or redefined. Matthew 28:19 reads: "Cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiah and his Holy Spirit" instead of "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
• In a Turkish translation of the Gospel of Matthew, Frontiers and SIL have used the Turkish language equivalents of "guardian" for "Father" and "representative" or "proxy" for "Son."

http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/whatsnew/default.jsp?story=20120130-1307

Christian Today Australia has this to say:

The words "Father," "Son" and "Holy Spirit" are integral to preserving the true meaning of the Gospel and should never be tampered with, some ministries say. But some Bible translation organizations – such as Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), have argued that in certain cultures, keeping the literal translation creates the wrong context and does not portray the relationship between God and Jesus Christ correctly.

Controversy is swirling around the Arabic and Turkish translations of the Bible. The word "Father" is replaced with "Allah" (meaning God in Arabic), while "Son" becomes "Messiah."

One example of this change in the text concerns Matthew 28:19, which instead of "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" becomes "Cleanse them by water in the name of Allah, his Messiah and his Holy Spirit."

The reason for this modification, both Wycliffe and SIL say in similar statements released which address the concern, is so that Muslim readers of the Bible are not confused into thinking that the relationship between God and Jesus is a physical father-and-son one, where God is the biological father of Jesus.

"We, along with all other Wycliffe organizations worldwide, strongly affirm the eternal deity of Jesus Christ and require that it be preserved in all translations. Scripture translations should promote understanding of the term 'Son of God' in all its richness, including His filial relationship with God the Father, while avoiding any possible implication of sexual activity by the Father," The Wycliffe branch in Canada explained in a statement. New Arabic Bible to be translated without terms 'Father' and 'Son', sparks controversy

This of course has gotten many Armstrongites wrapped up in a tizzy.  The pretend Armstrongite Jews on Yahoo, HWA worshipers on Facebook and various splinter cult leaders jumping into the fray.  All that is missing so far is Prophet Thiel adding his two cents to the mix.

To illustrate how ridiculous some of those comments are here is a choice tidbit from a COG Facebook page:

We always knew that there would be a "famine of God's Word" in accordance with the prophecy in Amos 8:11, but that it would be as a result of banning Bibles, but Satan is more subtle than that. Satan has produced polluted versions of the Bible based on twisted and false translations from corrupted texts.

Thank God for the internet and translations such as Fred Coulter's faithful version which preserve God's Word as far as humanly possible, by someone guided by the Holy Spirit, so that we can still "rightly divide" it.

Famine of the word?  Because of two Bible translations that exist out of HUNDREDS  of others?  What planet is this idiot on?  And then to say Fred Coulter has the RIGHT translation?  Fred Coulter???????  The "preacher" that reads bumps on peoples heads in order to diagnose what's wrong with them?  Phrenologist Fred has been attempting to promote this book for several years with gullible church people forking over  big bucks for useless garbage. Talk about a polluted bible version!

It's funny how everything attached to Armstrongism is always "preserving God's word as humanly possible" and yet the entire organization is rapidly dissolving into nothing.  Did God go and lose it all again?  Is God really that weak of a god  that so much of Armstrongism has made him out to be?

I just have a sneaky suspicion that these bibles will have more of an impact in peoples lives in those countries than any Armstrongite splinter cult ever has or will ever have.

Dennis On: Faith Without Anxiety is Dead

Faith Without Anxiety is Dead

To write or not to write?  That is the question.  I find myself in a bit of a quandary over whether to address this topic of post-WCG anxiety.  I strongly suspect it to be a great part of the experience that many have when leaving the comfortable confines of friends, church and the comfort one gets from knowing how all of life will turn out for you.  I could have never imagined the existential anxiety that is generated from the loss of religious belief and faith.  I do now.  

Evidently, I did not invent this.

Lynn Min

"Spirituality can make a significant difference in sufferers of anxiety. There exist numerous studies indicating that religious people are less likely to become anxious than their nonreligious counterparts.

In 1993, researcher Harold Koenig studied the relationship between religious involvement and anxiety in 2,969 individuals. He found that young and middle-aged individuals who attended church at least once a week were significantly less likely to have anxiety-related disorders than those who did not attend church regularly. Devotional activities such as prayer and Bible study were associated with lower incidence of agoraphobia and other forms of anxiety. Regular church attendance was also correlated with lower levels of anxiety.

Anxiety can be viewed holistically. Their beginnings manifestations are not simply psychological, physiological, or social. It is the interaction of all of the above, plus the spiritual.  Consider the following example of the spiritual component of anxiety. Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl pointed out the type of anxiety which follows from the belief that one's life has lost its meaning. In other words, if I begin to believe that my life is without purpose, the result can be anxiety. While the resulting anxiety is coined a psychological disorder, the root of it lies in the deep spiritual search for life’s meaning. "

 I am writing this while having yet another round of the anxiety that seems a genuine tendency for me personally as a result of the loss of faith, friends and fellowship along the way.  I could be smarter perhaps and keep it to myself and just get through, but what is the use of a common experience if you don't share it.  I am quite able to blow off the advice I know is out there to "come back to Jesus,"  or "you're problem is...."  I cannot help how I feel nor can I help the conclusions I have drawn, for now, over this entire WCG fiasco.  


My only choice seems to be does it dominate the rest of my life, or can I find a safe place to file it all away as just another experience meant to teach and take one further on a more genuine life journey?  The impression of being stuck has hurt personal relationships and probably contributed to the loss of friends and contact.  I also can't seem to help that as stuck is stuck and it would probably be obvious when unstuck has become the norm again.  

I find I don't find comfort in teachings I doubt or in history that is not presented as it really was or is.  I am not inspired by those who are so sure the Bible is without errors or contradictions knowing they refuse to even look at what the problems might be.  That behavior, common in the COG perspectives , simply does not work for me.  I know how COG ministers think and I know how little study outside the acceptable box they do.  I also know current COG ministers and frankly, a number of other minister types who freely admit, to me, their skepticism and realizations, but you would not know it when you hear them preach or write.  I have heard the phrase "I know that is true, but I will lose my job," more than once from these men.   There are two of them, the one inside and the one they show, and their church only sees the one they present to them.  They also seem much less inclined toward anxiety living in two worlds instead of picking one.  Something does not have to be true either literally or at all to keep the beast of anxiety at bay.  All it takes in belief that it is so, even it it isn't.

For example, I have always had a problem with prayer.  Oh I know the should's and must's of it all, but it was always difficult for me.  I always had a sneaking suspicion that I was just talking to myself.  I did a lot of it though.  But then I realized how sincere the prayers of the people of faith are when they find themselves in harms way and beg God to save them and they die some horrible death.  I wonder what a Christian in Somalia feels when they get a gasoline filled tire hung around their neck and they know what's coming or have to dig their own grave while soaking in gasoline.  I know they are begging God to help them and there is no help coming...ever.  I have buried a lot of children who inspite of "Their Angels do always watch over them," are quite dead and no Angel showed up in time. Then I think how stupid my asking for a calm spirit or a bit more security in this or that area of life really must sound to a real Deity who neither helped the poor soul in Somalia begging for mercy or saved the child leaving muddy hand prints along the edge of the pool trying to get out.  I just think like that and it does indeed fuel an anxiety that simple faith, justified or not, seems to keep at bay.

I think the world needs its skeptics to keep those who use critical thinking in what they accept into their beliefs honest.  I say critical thinkers because frankly I knew few if any among my ministerial peers.  I read some of the articles they write to inspire their current followers and just shake my head over whether or not they really believe what they say or are just on auto-pilot saying what they are used to saying or are expected to say.  A recent update from LCG showing how pet store pythons left to grow big and eat the animals in the Everglades relates to prophecy is a great example of this silly kind of connections that are almost unbearable to read. I suppose runaway cudzu is also a sign that time is short.

So here I sit and spin out an anxious, which really a somewhat fearful, chemistry.  Perhaps the price of knowledge is anxiety.  I know it is a byproduct. I felt ever so much more safe in the group.  No matter what happened, I had hundreds of friends there to answer the call.  We all had each other. We all believed the same thing,  and whether it was right or wrong did not matter.  Shared errors. if never looked at, are comforting.

Critics will use the fact that those who press ahead and aren't easily sold the ideas of others having anxiety as proof that they are outside of the grace and plan of the Deity.  I don't believe that either.  If we left everything up to the church, we'd still be in the Dark Ages.  Progress is fueled by inquiry and even the anxiety caused by just standing still, or getting stuck perhaps.  If everything is totally comfortable, where is the need or motivation  to learn anything else or examine what the current belief is?  Belief is not the same as truth, but ever so much more comforting.  Is not passivity, compliance and "whatever you say," the dream state for the one man religious show to get his followers in?  I simply cannot do it.  I felt this disturbance often at the Feast when other ministers gave their standard sermons and everything in me was saying,  "and you know this?" or "yeah, yeah, fine...can you speed this up?"  My bad.

So now, during the course of writing this  (I am at school with the occasional student wanting to talk to me), I feel the anxiety lifting.  Writing off loads it for me as does talk with a patient and understanding friend.  I love study and learning the things I was never told either because they weren't known or were but not spoken.  I can only take my journey.  The Universe is beyond huge. In the scheme of things we are just one of billions of galaxies each containing millions of life yielding planets.  Quantum physics and cosmology informs us that reality is not what you think it is and we may just be one grape on a cluster  of many universes in one local vineyard.  Paleontology informs us that evolution is generally true and the mythology of Adam and Eve is merely that.  I kinda knew this all my life but now we know more than at anytime in the history of humans, we are conscious hairless apes with an amazing past.  This does not preclude the existence of a Deity, but perhaps does the cultic one of the OT.  While fundamentalists will argue for the mythologies of the Bible being literally true, they are not.  While the stories have a meaning, it is not related to literal origins of everything from the Grand Canyon, language or conscious humanity.  

So the price of breaking free seems to be a round or two of lonely, bouts of anxiety and a smattering of with  at times for good measure as meaning takes a hit. .  I suspect this is the normal progression in the lives of those that are seeking rather than judging everyone based on what they feel they have found and no longer need to let any new information in to rain on their parade.   That approach, in spite of the anxiety produced in not clinging to fables, myths and hearsay as being literally true or comforting is simply no longer acceptable or an option.  I cannot unring the bell of  skepticism formed by my WCG experience or the facts that I have let in to inform me on theology and religion.  If I could do it again...well I wouldn't have.

Thank you for listening...

Dennis C
DenniscDiehl@aol.com