Old Home Week at the PCG Compound
Prophet Flurry over at the Trumpet web site (www.thetrumpet.com) makes a plea in the current editorial for all of God's sons to return to Him. Flurry urges all ex-members to recall the glory days under Herbert Armstrong, the Elijah, and become like Elisha. The inference is that Flurry and to some extent the PCG is Elisha the Prophet crying, "my father, my father." If only the ex-members would return to their senses and to God they would come home to the Philadelphia Church of God. The eternal lives of these people hang in the balance.
Maybe I'm just getting too old and cranky. Perhaps I am truly lost and headed for eternal destruction. If it saves me from being ruled by Gerald Flurry, I think I will enjoy the peace and quiet of non-existence. There are many coggers I would rather not listen to for eternity along with the other zealots and religous tyrants of the past and present.
Many people are hung up on the idea of eternal life. It seems to be a top-seller among humans seeking devoted followers. We exist in a finite universe, and do not have the capacity of mind to contemplate eternity, but we want it anyhow. Most people don't want to die, myself included. That seems like a natural way of thinking for beings that know they are going to die. My guess is that bees don't spend a lot of time in churches praying.
A question one might ask is why do we think this way? Some say that god placed the human spirit in us. This is a black box in the human brain that you can't see on an MRI, but was invented by religious types as a matter of faith. It gives us our consciousness and the ability to ponder God. We can't detect it by our senses, but we know it's there because...why else would we act like this? Sound reasoning at its best. Oh yes, and this "spirit", well it can transcend the boundaries between the physical universe and the dimension beyond time (where god lives). Pretty slick.
I pose an alternate. Our genes combined with our environment make us act/react in the ways we do. No demon influences, no angelic hosts, no invisible spirits pushing and pulling at us. We are physical and act on physical changes in our bodies. That means thinking by electro-chemical changes in the brain.
Eternity--makes a nice bumper sticker, and fills the collection plate.
Maybe I'm just getting too old and cranky. Perhaps I am truly lost and headed for eternal destruction. If it saves me from being ruled by Gerald Flurry, I think I will enjoy the peace and quiet of non-existence. There are many coggers I would rather not listen to for eternity along with the other zealots and religous tyrants of the past and present.
Many people are hung up on the idea of eternal life. It seems to be a top-seller among humans seeking devoted followers. We exist in a finite universe, and do not have the capacity of mind to contemplate eternity, but we want it anyhow. Most people don't want to die, myself included. That seems like a natural way of thinking for beings that know they are going to die. My guess is that bees don't spend a lot of time in churches praying.
A question one might ask is why do we think this way? Some say that god placed the human spirit in us. This is a black box in the human brain that you can't see on an MRI, but was invented by religious types as a matter of faith. It gives us our consciousness and the ability to ponder God. We can't detect it by our senses, but we know it's there because...why else would we act like this? Sound reasoning at its best. Oh yes, and this "spirit", well it can transcend the boundaries between the physical universe and the dimension beyond time (where god lives). Pretty slick.
I pose an alternate. Our genes combined with our environment make us act/react in the ways we do. No demon influences, no angelic hosts, no invisible spirits pushing and pulling at us. We are physical and act on physical changes in our bodies. That means thinking by electro-chemical changes in the brain.
Eternity--makes a nice bumper sticker, and fills the collection plate.
posted by Fred at 9:43 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Brian, maybe you misunderstood my posting. I am not pro-PCG. After reading my posts, what gave you that idea?
I choose to remain anonymous. My name is irrelevant, and given what happened at the Living Church of God, I like the added security of being unknown. Just in case some person suffering from a mental disorder wants to convert me by the sword, or punish me on God's behalf.
If I take your comments at face value, you think I am deceived. I would have agreed with you at one time. However, I would suggest that you re-evaluate some of the items you have accepted as fact, such as the history of Armstrong's true church e.g. Peter Waldo and his true beliefs and practices, Armstrong's personal conduct e.g. incest, and British Israelism in the light of new DNA evidence.
In fact, DNA reasearch is shedding a new light on many long held religious tenets such as race, and sexual orientation.
I encourage you to have an open mind and to live with compassion.
I am free from the cog world and it feels great.
Thanks for writing.
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