Gerald Waterhouse on the World's Religions

Here's Gerald Waterhouse on the World Religions in 1981. He'd flip a cow pie if he saw that Armstrongism became the same thing.

“Seems like some people got so much of this world's religion, they think this world and all of its dividing religions is right, and if you don't agree, you just go out and start your own. So Martin Luther disagrees with Catholics, and he went out then others disagree with them, others disagree with them, and finally you got about 600 different protestants. And they all think this is right. You know... if you dont agree go out and start your own religion,and that's God's religion, If God were to accept that, he'd be a weak, weak … fish! Some people think God is so weak that you can come down here and coin your own religion and shove it down God's throat and he's gonna swallow it! God is the one that decides how we worship Him and no one decides that except God Almighty and he is revealing that through His apostle toward the World Tomorrow. Mr. Armstrong - no one else knows how to worship God of Himself … but God does and he's leading through Christ to build a team as the pioneers to teach the whole world, here's the way you worship God. And God will have no other way, I'll guarantee you. And then if anyone says I wont worship that way, God says, I won't force you, I'll just burn you up. God's gonna win the argument, no one's gonna argue with God and win. He says if you dont wanna worship me the way I want you too, fine! You don't have to, but won't be around. See no one's gonna argue God into their own religion. See if God were to agree with all these different... How many pieces would God have to divide Himself into? Give a part in the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, four square, three square, half a square, Anglican, dutch reform, German reform, Chez unformed, unreformed, latter day saints, early day saints, middle age saints, dead saints, live saints, no saints. How could God divide himself if they have different days? And they worship every day, and this day, and that day? The simple solution is He makes everyone conform to Him and He has one family all speaking the same thing! This world is so absolutely confused! Then some who have been in the Church they go back out and get just as confused. One minister who was a Church of Christ minister for quite a number of years jumped the track went out and he went back as a Church of Christ minister and his wife's teaching Sunday School, doesn't that sound sweet? May sound sweet but sweet will burn in the Lake of Fire, I'll guarantee you."  February 7, 1981, San Angelo, Texas       found by SHT

How many Church of God's will the church continue to divide into?  Which piece is right? We are already at around 500+ splinter groups through the last 7+  decades. Every single one of them doing what they think is right. The Church of God is so absolutely confused.

So much for that "team" being led to be teachers in the world tomorrow. Instead, we have a bunch of self-appointed narcissistic liars who have turned into little Hitlers that are wreaking havoc in the church, by leading people astray with their blasphemous lies.

The Preposterous Fiction of Literalism

What will happen to Armstrongism when we colonize the Moon and Mars?   

It's a valid question. One that these days we cannot just readily dismiss. We already have humans orbiting Earth at the International Space Station, and plans are to send men to Mars by 2020. If we can set up a colony on Mars, no matter how small, that obviously throws a lot of long-held Armstrongism beliefs into deep confusion. 

For the sake of argument - let's imagine that in the next twenty years at the minimum, and who knows how long after that, we have established some sort of colony on the Moon or on Mars. We'll go with Mars with this one. Hang with me here folks, There's a point to this. It's going to seem a little calendarish and trivial at first, but bear with the trivialities...

Here are some facts:

The Martian day lasts 1 day and 37 minutes. 

The Martian year lasts 687 days.

Spring is seven months long, summer is 6 months long, fall is 5.3 months long, and winter is just over 4 months long. 

Here is the Dorian Calendar, proposed by the Planetary Society for timekeeping on Mars:

http://www.planetary.org/explore/space-topics/mars/mars-calendar.html

Let's use this year as an example. 

Martian Spring started this year on March 23, 2019 Earth Time.

Martian Summer starts this year on October 8, 2019 Earth Time. 

Martian Fall starts this year on April 8, 2020 Earth Time. 

Martian Winter starts this year on September 2, 2020. 

Which brings in mind ethical questions:

Everything that Armstrongism stands for has to do with Earth, NOT Mars.

We all know that Armstrongism takes everything extremely literally, from the Isaiah Prophecies to the "World Tomorrow". Since they have proposed a theology deeply embedded in literalism, I will do the same with my questions. Try not to laugh too hard. 

• When Christ returns to Earth, will Christ do a fly-by and a wave going past Mars?
• Will Mars be spared from "The Great Tribulation", including any colonies? 
• Are Martian Humans subject to the Law just as much as Earthly humans?
• If the Kingdom of God is on Earth, and Earth is Heaven, do Martian Humans really go to Heaven when they die? 
• If Earth's atmosphere is a "heaven", what is Mars' atmosphere? a Marsvean? 
• If the Millennium takes place on Earth, are Martian Colonies left out? 
• Will you be able to see The Holy City from Mars?
• What about the Sabbath and Holy Days on Mars? What meaning will these have there?
• Will sunset to sunset still apply? 
• Will the Moon become a new Feast Site? Or will all Martians go to Earth for the Feast? 
• Why are there no Mars-prophecies recorded in the Bible? 
• Why are there no Moon-prophecies recorded in the Bible?

Are these questions ludicrous? In Armstrongism, everything is ludicrous, so I jumped on the Ludicrous Train for a moment so I can bring out loud and clear what happens when you take biblical allegory and scripture LITERALLY. It brings up a bunch of questions that, clearly ridiculous, are deeply embedded in Armstrong theology. Which leads me to a final question.

Is Armstrongism so steeped in literalism that it has become an unapologetic mockery all of its own? 

If the entirety of the above questions make you smirk and squirm at it's ridiculousness, then perhaps you will get a taste at how the entirety of Armstrongism's literal theology - as incorrect as it has been proven to be - is to those who have actually studied religion and look at what Herbert did to it. Remember, Herbert was the one who said Christ would literally travel millions of miles in a day to return to Earth. So in his theology, these questions really aren't so preposterous. Right? 

Whether on Earth, Mars, in deep space, the two great commandments stand - LOVE. You can love your neighbor here or there. That transcends time, space, literalism, debate over law, seasons, times, and years. It transcends holy days, Sabbaths, and festivals. It can be practiced anywhere and everywhere humans do and will exist. The funny thing is? 

Armstrongism can't even get it together here on Earth, and as such, they miss the boat, hanging their entire doctrinal palette on literalism which has become its own genre of science fiction, ignoring the reality of love for the inferiority of the shadows. And that's the point I am trying to bring out in this somewhat ridiculous post. 

submitted by SHT

LCG to control member's charity, plus more hubbub about sex

LCG doesn't like for its members to strike out on their own and be charitable without the minister's permission. LCG wants to control the money, and prefers that you just send in all charitable gifts to headquarters so they can determine who is most deserving. If you ask your local LCG minister as this suggests, what do you think he'll tell you to do? Send in to HQ.

From the most recent weekly update:

Caution on Internet Fund Requests—Repeat AnnouncementMore and more often we see friends, relatives, church members, and total strangers requesting financial assistance over the Internet through various funding sites, such as “GoFundMe” and others. By way of examples, some requests are for medical emergencies, disaster relief, or family tragedies. Other requests are made to help fund honeymoons, business ventures, vacations, personal desires, or trips to the Feast. Members should exercise caution, using their heads as well as their hearts. Why is the request being made? Are the requests true needs or emergencies? If the request is coming from a member, it might be a good idea to seek advice from one’s minister. As in many situations involving online activities, please exercise caution when considering a donation to a funding site.—Church Administration Department

In the update there's also more obsession about sex:

There Is NO “Gay Gene”! Research just published in the highly respected journal Science contains findings that will be shocking to many. In a genome-association study of nearly 500,000 people in the U.S., U.K., and Sweden, researchers concluded, “No individual gene alone makes a person gay, lesbian or bisexual; instead, thousands of genes likely influence sexual orientation” (Live Science, August 29, 2019). The report continues (emphasis added throughout), “The biological factors that contribute to sexual orientation are largely unknown, but many scientists suspect that genetics plays a role”—meaning scientists still do not know why some humans have homosexual tendencies. The researchers also noted, “Instead, the predisposition to same-sex sexual behavior appeared influenced by a complex mix of genetic and environmental influences.” One of the study’s co-authors stated, “It’s effectively impossible to predict an individual’s sexual behavior from their genome,” demonstrating that the “gay gene” is, in the words of Live Science, “a total myth.” 

This cutting-edge study was roughly 100 times larger than any previous study, carrying with it a tremendous amount of weight and a high degree of credibility. The study relied on data collected through the U.S.-based 23andME and the U.K. BioBank, as well as survey questions.  

It is surprising that this study was published and relayed by the press, when its findings contradict popular public opinions. However, the findings support the assertion that homosexuality is not something fixed and determined from birth, as well as the fact that “God does not make people homosexual.” With that in mind, it makes more sense when we read biblical injunctions that homosexual behavior is wrong (Romans 1:26–28)! A loving God would never condemn a behavior if people had no choice but to engage in it. For more on this topic, be sure to read “The Plain Truth About Homosexuality.”—Scott Winnail, Francine Prater, Chris Sookdeo, Richard Franz, and John Wheeler

From an LCG source

A Short Public Service Announcement...

I recognize that matters of faith, hope and belief are unique to each of us as is our experience in coming to, going through and passing out of the WCG experience.  We all have our story and the thoughts, feelings and emotions that go along with them for having had that experience.  Once burned, twice smart as we say.

I also recognize there are, or should be boundaries in the topics expressed here.  The purpose of Banned is well stated in the Blog Header.  Each of us, I am sure, only ever wanted to know what is true in life and what is not.  We all come to different conclusions and like it or not, what is true for one is heresy and annoying to another.

I do consider the criticism received here, though please know, I express my own experiences and journey through all this in my own life sincerely. We all think others will "get it" if we just explain it well. But ultimately it is each to their own and we all have a right to the personal outcomes in our hearts and minds for having had this experience.

All that to say, I take the criticism to heart. It is not my purpose to offend, destroy faith or take one's crown.  I only ever wished to share my own perspectives , interests now able to be better expressed and conclusions for myself in my own life if it helped others in some way.  As a former member and pastor, I simply wished to share my own journey out of both.

I  do apologize for straying too often outside the boundaries of the intent of this Blog and will tighten it up to reflect appropriate observations about the  WCG experience and all the reminders out there of why are very glad to be free of it.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled program

Preaching the Gospel in the Internet Age

New Beyond Today TV Studio Set Installed

Preaching the Gospel in the Internet Age

By Jack Oakes

United Church of God (UCG) recently spent one million dollars on a new TV studio. But has this money actually achieved anything? The new studio has not increased audiences.

The UCG TV studio is an example of where most of the Church of God (COG) community are going wrong. Their thinking on preaching is still stuck in the 1980’s or even earlier. They are not adapting their preaching to current times.

To assess the impact of the new TV studio, I tracked its performance on the UCG YouTube station Beyond Today TV. In June 2018 The Beyond Today TV station had 32,000 subscribers. By the time the first programs recorded in the new TV studio were placed on YouTube in January 2019, seven months later, it had approximately 43,000 subscribers. This was a subscriber growth of 11,000 or 35%. In the seven months since January, it has grown by 7,400 or 17% to 50,800 subscribers. The new TV station has had no impact on subscriber growth.

UCG Beyond Today TV Program shows no increase in the growth rate of subscribers since the use of their new TV Studio which started in January 2019. Fig 1 UCG Beyond Today YouTube subscribers.(1)

TV ratings are on the decline, especially among young people.(2) The 4 main US TV networks combined audience declined by 4.8 million viewers or 16% in the 4 years from 2014 to 2017.(3)Popular current affairs programs such as 60 Minutes ratings have declined from the 20’s up until the mid 1990’s to as low as 7.7 in 2015-16 to recover to 12.5 in 2016-17.(4)

To take an old-style talking heads TV format, supplant it into social media such as YouTube, does not fix the problem of declining TV audiences. COG’s need to reassess how they preach.

Let me quote from Professor Peter Horsfield, Professor of Communication at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia who previously worked for the United church (a mainstream Australian Protestant church). He sums it up this way.

“When you look at the history of Christianity, it has been a history of writing based and printing based institutions organised around power structures and sustained by having elite leaders who are educated in writing and printing. Most of the mainline denominations are fundamentally print based organisations. They operate institutionally out of bureaucracies for example.” (5)

Sound familiar? Herbert Armstrong’s background was print advertising. Horsfield goes on to say -

What digital media has done is that they have not only challenged the way in which churches communicate, they have actually changed the fundamental media environment which previously sustained the sort of organisation that Christianity has had. It is changing quite considerably and that partly explains the decline in the number of people in mainline churches now. And the increasing age of members because churches still address a culture that is now a past culture.(5)

Horsfield is writing about mainline Protestant churches, but he could just as well have been talking about COG’s. 

However, there are Christian YouTube channels that are growing very fast. For example, The Bible Project YouTube station(6). The Bible Project was started by 2 individuals in 2014 and has grown to 1.45 million subscribers by August 2019. Good News started in 2006 and has just managed to reach 50,800 subscribers by August 2019.

The Bible Project uses short animated videos to reach its audience; not talking heads.

In comparison to the Good News TV station subscriber growth of 7,400 or 17% since January, The Bible Project has grown by 280,000 or 24% to 1.45 million subscribers.

.

The Bible Project YouTube station is growing much faster than UCG Beyond Today TV Program. The Bible Project added 280,000 subscribers compared to 7,400 for Beyond Today between January and August 2019. Fig 2 UCG Beyond Today YouTube compared to The Bible Project subscribers.(1)

Another example of YouTube success is the conservative commentator Denis Prager. 

Prager changed his YouTube format to animation-based mode in 2013. This change resulted in a increase in subscribers. 

“This year [2015] 1we will have more than 50 million views as confirmed by YouTube and Facebook,” Prager says in an email to The Daily Signal, adding that “the largest single demographic of our videos are people under 35 years of age.”(7)

COG’s more specialised message will never have the mass appeal of a more general Bible message like The Bible Project. However, it would have been more effective for UCG to spend their members/donors $1 million on a different format to talking heads such as an animation-based model.

My plea is for COG’s review their media preaching and move into the twenty first century. 

References :

(1) I regularly accessed the Beyond Today TV and The Bible Project YouTube stations on the internet to progressively record their subscriber numbers. I realise this is not the only platform UCG use, nor am I aware of any advertising support they may have used to support their YouTube results.

Subscribers usually indicate an interest in the station. Views on the other hand can be fleeting and hard to evaluate their quality of interest.

YouTube Subscribers
Date	Beyond Today	The Bible Project
25-Jun-18	32,110	878,364
19-Jan-19	43,426	1,174,863
19-Aug-19	50,841	1,454,823

(2)  Why Traditional TV Is in Trouble.  No Choice for Marketers But to Rethink TV Ads. New York Times May 14, 2018 Sapna Maheshwari and John Koblin

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/media/television-advertising.html [Accessed 18 August 2019]

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings. [Accessed 18 July 2019]. 

(4)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_Minutes. [Accessed 18 July 2019]

(5) The Medium is the Message. ABC Radio RN. The Spirit of Things. 23 August 2015 Professor Peter Horsfield. Professor of Communication at RMIT University, Melbourne, Peter was Dean of the Uniting Church Theological Hall, Melbourne, from 1987-1996 and Lecturer in Applied Theology at the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne. From 1997-2005, Peter was a member of the International Study Commission on Media Religion and Culture. Author of many books including “From Jesus to the Internet: A History of Christianity and Media (2015)”.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/spiritofthings/the-media-is-the--message/6703146 [Accessed 18 August 2019]

(6) The Bible Project was started in 2014 by Timothy Mackie and Jonathan Collins  who originally met at the Multnomah Bible College. Their stated goal - ” The Bible is one unified story that leads to Jesus, but we don't always treat it that way. At The Bible Project, we make animated videos that explore the books and themes of the Bible.”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVfwlh9XpX2Y_tQfjeln9QA [Accessed 19 July 2019]

(7) How Dennis Prager’s Conservative Online University Reaches Millions Madaline Donnelly   November 04, 2015. The Daily Signal

https://www.dailysignal.com/2015/11/04/how-dennis-pragers-conservative-online-university-reaches-millions/ [Accessed 19 July 2019]