Intelligent quotes of the day from Byker Bob!
Comment #1One thing that we don't seem to see is groups of people who really feel as if they've been screwed over by COG-7 taking to the internet to express their displeasure.From this, I believe I would conclude that they probably did not have any really detestable authoritarian leaders, running roughshod over all the brethren of COG-7. They were probably allowed to use their minds and pursue more abundant lives, without all of the threats and intimidation which were routine at WCG.Since the doctrines are pretty much the same, it would seem that HWA's basic personality is what caused all of the hatred and bitterness we sometimes associate with former members of WCG who have not as yet become very advanced in their recoveries.I really have never run across any angry ex-members of the SDA churches, either, which suggests to me that there probably weren't Hitlerian ministers in the top spots of Adventism.It would seem apparent that HWA personally was the spawn for all of the bitterness and hatred.
Comment #2
Well, that is a thought provoking question, in view of the news we occasionally see on TV or read in our newspapers. I would say this: The leadership of all the Armstrongist churches is rotten, corrupt, megalomaniacal, and evil to the core. But, the other Christian churches seem to have little patches of evil here and there, and some bad history (like the Catholics), but most of them are not what I call "institutionally rotten" Now, when I tar and feather the ACOG leaders, please understand that I believe that the vast majority of the lay members are well-intentioned, and attempting to do what they believe to be right. They've unfortunately been caught up in a horrible scam, and don't realize it.Churches having their act together? I'm not like some of the atheists (apparently like Elton John) that believe that religion is the mother of all evil, wars, oppression, etc. I've seen religion accomplish some good in people's lives that really needed some structure. I've heard a lot of good about the Universalist Unitarian Church, and also some great things about the emergent Christian movement that Big Red described to us all. I think that if you walk into any Christian church, you are going to find some sincere people, and some insincere people. Sometimes, the insincere become sincere with time. The primary way in which I judge or discern the nature of a church is whether it accomplishes predominantly good in people's lives, or more than 50% bad or evil.My grandmothers both read their Bibles in the privacy of their homes, but never went to church to my knowledge. They were known to all as good people, and taught me a number of wonderful values which I came to re-embrace after leaving WCG.
-Thoughts from good ol' Byker Bob from the WCG Alumni Message Board
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