Herbraic memorabilia

Oh dear lord, why doest thou tempt me so... and more importantly, can I bid for these items using third tithe money?

Just think what that armband could do for me next trick-or-treat! Assistant deacon! Such exhalted heights to aspire to! And - gasp - it's a sanctified pre-1967 RADIO Church of God armband... Maybe if I take out another mortgage...

"Imagine the power you will have when you strap this felt badge on your arm over that polyester suit! Feel the blood throbbing in your veins as power is FINALLY given to you to rule over people."
Does David ben Ariel have one of these? Does Geoffrey Neilson? Will Craig White be putting in a bid? This thing is priceless.

And then there's the limited edition, original Systematic Theology Project... be still my beating heart! David, Geoff and Craig, though, will probably want to give this one a miss

"This is an original copy of the famed and often maligned STP Project of the Worldwide Church of God from the early 70's. This is the project that was done to set into writing the beliefs of the Worldwide Church of God. In spite of the denials of HWA in 1975 and later, he was fully aware of ALL the articles that were done for the project. It was NOT done behind HWA back inspite of the lies that some of the splinter cults put out. This is also what helped lead to the downfall of GTA (among other fun 'things'). The STP Project has been in plastic sleeves since 1975. The STP Project was handed out at a ministerial conference and then several months later [was] recalled by HWA who had them all shredded. I was one of two people that shredded them. Somehow one just followed me home one day! There has been some highlighting of some of the papers."

Live dangerously! Lean to the Laodicean side... Bid now, bid often.

Meanwhile I think I'll just make a weak cup of tea and go and have a lie down while my wallet cools off in the freezer...

Glenn Mattson on LCG

Worth checking out is a raw and honest piece - appropriate perhaps for the season - by former LCG member Glenn Mattson. It was originally posted to the JLF board, but was picked up by Felix Taylor at Post-WCG Life & Theology. I think a lot of us have been where Glenn is at the moment.

Jared of Hippo?

There are online quizzes out there for almost everything, but it'd have to be a slow day for anyone to dream up Which Church Father Are You? (there are no recognised Church Mothers apparently.)

I've got to admit, having had a stab at the quiz, that I'm hugely curious as to which of these eminent gentlemen longtime AW commentator Jared Olar would be best compared to. Jared is one of the most knowledgable persons on the ex-COG planet about the Church Fathers, and a tireless advocate for the virtues of the Western Catholic tradition. Athanasius perhaps, or even Augustine?

Another prominent figure who has devoted much time to a study of the topic is LCG's "unofficial nuncio to the Laodiceans", Bob Thiel. I'd have guessed he'd be a definite Tertullian, but seeing that's who I came out as, it's not very likely!

"You possess many gifts, but patience isn’t one of them. You’re tough on yourself — and on others. You’re independent, too, and you don’t like to be told what to do. You wish the Church would be a little tighter in discipline. As for the pagans, you’ve pretty much written them off. Sometimes you think the Church would be a better place if you were in charge."

What, little ol' liberal me? The only consolation is that Tertullian is the only church father I can think of who ended his career being regarded as a heretic. There's hope for us all!

On a somewhat related matter, former WCG member Kevin Edgecomb, now an Eastern Orthodox Christian, has his own blog. Kevin was well known for his forthright views on certain newsboards several years back, and I confess to an exchange of fire with him on several occasions (though I'm sure I never won any points decisions.) Kevin is also linking to the Church Fathers quiz, and if you scroll down his page I think you'll agree that the perspective he offers - at least for an ex-WCG member - is quite unique.

Hullabaloo

Greetings everyone, my name is Syd Hull, minister of Jesus Christ in His End Time body, the Worldwide Church of God, founded by Mr Herbert W. Armstrong.

Ahem. Can we do that again? Greetings everyone, my name is Syd Hull, minister of Jesus Christ in His End Time body, the Global Church of God, founded by Dr Roderick C. Meredith.

Um. Take three, harrumph! Greetings everyone, my name is Syd Hull, minister of Jesus Christ in His End Time body, the Living Church of God, founded by Dr Roderick C. Meredith to replace the Global Church of God which WAS His End Time Body till around last Tuesday.

Ah. Er. Ahem. Can we do that again? Greetings everyone, my name is Syd Hull, minister of Jesus Christ in His End Time body, the Restored Church of God, founded by Mr David C. Pack.

Oh shoot! Forget all that and let's take it from the top:

Greetings everyone, my name is Syd Hull, minister of Jesus Christ in His End Time body, which may or may not be the Enduring Church of God, founded by Mr Charles E. Bryce.

But regardless, brethren, GOD IS ON HIS THRONE, and Thiel STAYS disfellowshipped, so there!

(News that Syd is rumoured to have fled from Big Dave's cult - possibly to Bryce's embrace - appeared this week on Bob Thiel's website.)

Lard or Lord?

I may well get into trouble for saying so, but there seems a clear correlation between religious fanaticism and food fanaticism. In the COG/ex-COG community you can almost guarantee that those good folk who hold the most conservative views about Herbert Armstrong or the Sabbath will be the most particular about what they eat (or don't eat). Follow the discussion on one of the fundamentalist COG forums for any length of time and you'll be bombarded with well-intentioned advice on what to avoid. An outsider might be forgiven for thinking they'd run into a hippie-style organic health cult (until they read the postings on prophecy.)

Our Seventh-day Adventist cousins are much the same. I browsed through the local Adventist Book Center some time ago, and was amazed to find that, while you couldn't find a decent Bible commentary in stock, there were “health products” aplenty. The Adventists have some different ideas from the COGs, pushing a strict vegetarian line, but the parallels are also uncanny.

There are reasons other than the obvious ones. Food restrictions are a very effective “purity barrier” which isolates a group from the wider world. Intensive food preparation avoids the problem of “idle hands” for the ladies: who knows what terrible vices they might get up to with that extra free time. Good grief, they might read something and then ask impertinent questions of the menfolk! And you certainly need to think twice before accepting an invitation to a meal at the home of non-church members, you never know what might end up on your plate.

There's also a correlation with fringe medicine. If “medical science” is suspect, the alternatives need to be explored. How many weird “natural” regimens have been adopted by members desperate to do something to get well (or stay well) without showing “lack of faith” by visiting a doctor? Eight times out of ten the “solution” will be to further restrict their diet. Nine times out of ten it will be totally futile.

Fanaticism tends to loop back on itself and hold hands with unlikely soul mates. Stalin and Hitler came from the two extremities of the Left/Right continuum, but in their totalitarianism they were one. “Greenies” and ageing hippies are light years removed from the Bible toting brethren that dutifully troop off to PCG Sabbath services each week, but they could probably happily swap bread recipes.

American Catholic theologian Bruce Malina has an interesting theory about religious views and gardening styles as well, but that's a post for another day.

Pondering the Passover

I got home tonight to discover my letter box had been "hit" by the local Jehovah's Witnesses; a mass produced leaflet with an invitation to attend "the anniversary of Jesus' death" which "falls on Monday, April 2, after sundown." Uh, and I thought it was yesterday evening.

JW's are the other significant minority sect, outside the Churches of God, that celebrate a version of the Passover, commemorating the Last Supper, only once each year.

I'll be giving the JW version a miss, though I think it's interesting that outsiders are now welcome to attend. As I understand it, only a very few, those who believe they are among the elect group of 144,000, take the emblems of the bread and wine. Garden variety JWs simply look on.

Is there a strategy here one or more of the COGs might wish to emulate? After all, interested outsiders are usually welcome to attend the various Feast of Tabernacles services (with the exception of the very closed communities of PCG and COG-AIC.)

Every Christian community seems to have its own tradition involving a symbolic meal of bread and wine, basing it on the New Testament accounts. Mass, Eucharist, Sacramental meal, Passover, Lord's Supper; the similarities are obvious despite the different names. The annual Church of God version had its strengths and weaknesses. Footwashing never seemed to make much sense to me in a society without dusty roads and open-toed sandals, but being a once a year event it seemed to mean a lot more than the monthly "Holy Communion" service I was used to in the Lutheran church of my childhood.

Whatever else the Passover means, it's a statement of commitment. If that commitment is to the life and teachings of Jesus (rather than a sect or Elijah-figure) then maybe that's an entirely legitimate thing to do.

Moderation and a Lost Logo

Living University has lost its logo, but we're pleased to restore it for the benefit of AW readers (special thanks to "you-know-who" in Pasadena). Whoever designed it didn't take into account the shock/horror effect of anything resembling a cross on the hyper-Armstrong brethren. To be fair, it's doubtful that this rather amateur effort was ever intended to be anything other than a temporary fill-in. In any case, LCG pulled the offending artwork soon after the concerned emails started coming in from disturbed members.

Beginning with this posting comments on AW will be moderated. Hopefully this will help with the quality, and discourage the CAPS LOCK screamers. All opinions are welcome, but basic civility is definitely appreciated. Anonymous postings are fine, but preference will go to those identified by a pen name. Obviously there will be some delay between submitting and publishing, especially considering the difference in timezones between the US and New Zealand, but hopefully the payoff will be in more relevant material. The moderation policy will be reviewed mid-April.

In Step with Herb

The following comments are adapted from a recent posting by "Ripley"

In 1974 dozens of WCG ministers left over a number of points of disagreement. Sweeping excommunications followed, after which they formed the Associated Churches of God. It was the clear position of HWA, GTA and the WCG that the Associated Churches were not part of the "true church."

Ironically, four years later Garner Ted was disfellowshipped and subsequently founded the Church of God, International. He was marked. Members were to have no fellowship with him. It was clearly the position of his father and the WCG that he was not part of the "true church." Those ministers who chose to affiliate with GTA at that time or in the intervening years were not true ministers.

But today, ministers from those organizations would be viewed by most in the various COG organizations as brothers and fellow Sabbath-keeping Christians.

Why? What changed? How did they go from anathema to approved?

The fact is, the basis for no longer being part of the true church was no longer being in step with Herbert W. Armstrong. That's it. Nothing else.

Clearly, there were people who came to a knowledge of the Sabbath and other doctrines through the Associated Churches, and the Church of God, International; were baptized; and began worshipping entirely through those churches, having had nothing to do with the WCG. Presumably, the same thing occurred in various other of the "heretical" offshoots of that era.

But it didn't matter. They were not in step with HWA, so they were heretics. "Proofs" were trotted out to show how this was true. They were not part of the "true church."

Yet today they are! Sure, Flurry doesn't think so, and neither do Pack and a few others. But, by and large, they're considered part of the fold. Look at Ron Dart. He went with GTA, then on his own. But he's OK today, even downright popular.

It's all indicative of an ever-shifting set of principles, changed as needed to "prove" whatever is most convenient at the time. "Nothing has changed," we hear, while in fact just about everything has. And then, the ever-present beaut: "It doesn't matter what HWA did...."

It's exhausting. It's sad. It's unpredictable. It's inconsistent. And yet, adherents insist it's somehow "right," while never being able to pin the tail on the Correctness donkey.

Which means that those who disagree, including many AW readers, can only be viewed as wrong. Case closed. Ha, ha. "You lose." Bible says so.

It gets so ridiculous. "Nyah-nyah-nyah" is not an adequate substitute for genuine credibility or consistency.

University or Dead End?

The website for Living University is now up at www.livinguniv.com. One of UCG's leading bloggers has this conciliatory comment:

Whether one is a member of Living Church of God, United Church of God or any other facsimile thereof, it is in all our interests to have a biblically educated membership and a means of passing it on to the next generation.

Which is a reasonable and balanced statement. But, all invective aside, is this likely to occur in the close confines of a church-run institution?

Biblically educated means more than recounting denominational dogmas, it implies hard questions and critical thinking. It demands that authoritarian pronouncements are able to be challenged, discussed openly and even refuted. Being polite, docile and well-groomed is irrelevant.

Was that even remotely possible at Ambassador College? Those who have listened to former students like Greg Doudna know better. At best AC was a training school. You train seals; humans you educate (there is a difference). For most of its institutional life Ambassador was completely unsuitable for accreditation.

Assuming it ever gets off the ground, will Living University do any better? Here's the outline for its flagship theology course:

THL 135 Life, Ministry, and Teachings of Jesus (3-0-0-3)
Prerequisites: None.
Corequisites: None.
This course covers the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus Christ as presented in the four Gospels. Emphasis is on the analysis of the four Gospels in the context of the social, political, and religious conditions of the first century. Upon completion, students should be able to explain the background, purpose, message, and themes of the Gospels and the significance of Jesus Christ in the first century and beyond. The lecture core of this course is a series of recorded lectures presented by noted television evangelist, author, and pastor of pastors Dr. Roderick C. Meredith.

Does "noted television evangelist, author, and pastor of pastors Dr. Roderick C. Meredith" have any recognised qualification for teaching this course? Is his doctorate from a legitimate university? Is his knowledge of the subject current? Has this "noted author" ever published a peer reviewed paper? How about any book not churned out for free as a church promotional? Is listening to "Dr." Meredith's tapes a credible strategy for a core paper?

Living University is, I suspect, a folly that will bleed LCG dry. It defies belief to imagine that any competent authority would ever accredit it. To think that this "university" will attempt to offer qualifications in psychology, anthropology and "health promotion" fairly beggars the imagination.

Would you want your family doctor to have a degree from Hamburger University? Why is that not okay, while a pastor can be functionally illiterate in theology and a danger to all concerned every time he opens his mouth to offer "counselling"?

Anyone in LCG, UCG or any other CG should consider investing in a real education, not hunkering down with recordings made by a rogue amateur who is now, and always has been, out of his depth.

The blog writer is correct: "it is in all our interests to have a biblically educated membership." For that reason alone, Living University is a very bad idea.

Oh Susanna!

The postings have been a bit slow lately. I blame Susanna. Yes, that's her in the painting. She won't mind, she's used to it. In fact I got carried away with the lady and her story, which you'll find in the Book of Daniel, chapter 13.

Susanna has been the subject of the last assignment for Interpreting the Old Testament. Indulge, said the lecturer, in the "hermeneutics of imagination." Herman who?

Some wiseacre is going to point out the fact that there is no Daniel 13. Quite right, but there is in the Septuagint. Grab a Catholic translation (New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) and there it is. Feminine beauty, randy old men, spineless husbands, scandal, Perry Mason...

But while I've been dallying in the garden with Susanna, events have moved on in the Living Church of God. What's going on in Canada? Who is Ross Abasolo, and is he really joining Chuckie Bryce? Apparently so. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

And income is down, sort of. You brethren better dig deep for those Holy Day offerings.

"...there are a number of projected programs we will have to "cut" if the income level does not increase substantially. Satan's recent attacks have certainly had an effect... I am requesting that you ask the brethren to go "all out" in supporting God's Work at this critical time. Please remind them to set aside some extra large offerings for the upcoming Holy Days."
See, I wasn't kidding. Same old, same old... Susanna was a lot more fun.

I suppose it's proof - as if we needed another example - that houses built on sand wash away at full tide.