Charles Bryce, leader of the Enduring Church of God, has released his latest "update" (March 1). Two items caught my eye.
The unoriginal, tired, worn-out old catch-phrase "majoring in the minors" is used frequently to water down clear Bible teaching... I'd like to read something that Mr. Dean Blackwell gave me just a day or so ago on "majoring in the minors" and he said, "This term began to be used about the time of the 1973/74 blow up in the Church. 'Majoring in the minors' began to be used to refer to those in the so-called old school"--which meant my teaching on which the Church was founded, that God used to build the Church--"[those] who were strict about birthday...[who were strict about] children staying totally out of Christmas artwork and activities, make up, etc."...
In other words, there was there, for a while, ministers who wanted to do away with every booklet, that I wrote that established this Church, that built this Church on a solid foundation. They wanted to knock out that solid foundation. And put a foundation of sand under the Church and destroy the Church....
There has been a liberal movement in the Church even since that. And we've been getting away from that and back on track since. You were majoring in the minors if you spoke on health foods, on prohibition and prohibited anything to do with birthday parties and insisted on modest apparel among the women...and no long hair among the boys or men.
Mr. Armstrong taught that we must obey all of God's Word and not categorize sin into major and minor lists. Sin is sin--period!
Putting aside the atrocious punctuation and grammar (which part is Blackwell, which Armstrong and which Bryce?) Chuckie and his old mate seem to be saying that they're proud to major in the minors. Have at it chaps, play in the sandbox as long as you like.
But what about the website? Every sect needs a presence online, a place where you can grab further contact details at the very least.
I just got off of the phone with our website coordinator and he said that it is about 50% finished. The website builders are working on it part-time, day-by-day, bit-by-bit, when they can find the time. Our eager anticipation for launching this major tool in the Work grows every day, right along with yours.
Translation: Billy-Bob and John-Boy are doing it for free, but they're really busy right now with their paper rounds and nobody has suggested that it might be a good idea to put up a basic temporary page while they're still messing around with exploding star animations and mp3 clips of Dwight Armstrong hymns. Never mind, at least they have nice short haircuts.
All in all, not an auspicious start. A mini church with a minor focus. Spanky will surely be quaking in his boots.
You can read the full Bryce epistle on AW Extra.
32 comments:
It is interesting that Bryce missed the point of majoring in the minors so cleanly. I think that if one has sunk into the dark depths of Amrstrongism, one just never really sees light again.
Christ spoke of the comparative value of various laws. He spoke of the "weightier matters of the law." Would Bryce have been there to stone Jesus when he partook of the shewbread? Would he be there to stone anybody who did not defecate outside and then use a paddle to cover it? Small law but, nevertheless, a law.
Majoring in the minors really refers to having a non-discrimminating attitude towards laws. To legalists, all laws are of the same force. Just like to perfectionists, all matters are of equal importance. There is no ability prioritize.
In particular, those who major in the minors neglect the object of the law, Love, and focus on minute issues of compliance. By saying that the law should not be categorized, Bryce class himself among the non-discrimminating.
I am not anti-nomian. If Bryce can ever figure out what the New Covenant actually is, it has requirements and these requirements should be observed. But the object is love. Does Bryce understand that one can keep the letter of the 10 commandments and never really show love to anyone? Ambassador College Big Sandy was rife with people who operated in this mode?
-- Neo
Hmmmmm. Mommy has cute legs! (the ad). Wonder if she likes Harleys.
BB
I remember hear Blackwell go on and on about Prediction addiction and 1972 and how derisive he was about those people addicted to prophecy and stuff. He never admitted he did anything, but just went on insuating others, including RCM.
Months later I was talking with a friend about that message because it was so stinking emotional. We talked about 1972, they sold the family farm, it was hard on them. I asked who the pastor was.
Yep, you got it, Mr. Prediction Addiction himself, D. Blackwell. At least hearing that would have been a whole lot easier if we had heard him apologize for any part he had in it.
Hey Biker, hope you don't at every ad that way, you will change our perspective of how we view what you usually write.....
All:
I will prime the pump with some "Major Minors" that seemed to occupy many in the ministry. Add some more!
Birthdays
Oral Sex
Make Up
Tampon Use by Teens
Calling ministers “Mr.”
Women wearing pants.
Men parting their hair in the middle
Anything being “pink” like a shirt et al on a man
Counseling about car purchases
Eating white sugar
Eating white flour
Getting immunized
Eating a ‘Candy Cane”
Watching Television
Saying “Jimony Cricket”
AC people dating non AC WCG people
...AND MANY MORE!
Lussenheide
Hey Biker Bob,
Didn't Garner Ted Armstrong say the same thing about AC coeds on many occaisions???
Marrying someone who is divorced.
http://www.minibite.com/oldies/humble.htm
Dean Blackwell died four years ago, how could he have given Bryce something "just a day or so ago"?
that's what I was thinking....lol
(but I couldn't remember how long ago he died)
You'll want to catch the new version:
Oh Lord It's Hard to be
Humble!
Back eons ago, I had just arrived on the Big Sandy campus of Ambassador College. Shortly thereafter, a group of people departed the congregation over mushrooms, strawberries and bananas. They believed these items were not for human consumption because they violated the Genesis description of "herbs bearing seed".
If one wants to worship the law and endlessly elaborate on it to create a burdensome and idiosyncratic Talmud, that can be done. But this, per se, has nothing to do with salvation and it misses the point of the Gospel.
-- Neo
Strawberries and bananas do have seeds. You can see the seeds on the outer surface of the strawberries, and you find banana seeds in the soft internal core.
Mushrooms, however, are I believe a fungus.
Wannabe Hippie WCG teenagers, back in the '70s, used to quote that same passage regarding herbs bearing seeds to "prove" that Yahweh sanctioned the use of marijuana, at least for baking in brownies, if not for smoking. With what we now know about the "high" priests and kaneh bosm, they may indeed have been right.
Byker Bob said...
Hmmmmm. Mommy has cute legs! (the ad). Wonder if she likes Harleys.
I'm sorry, BB, I usually pick up on that. I missed it until you said something. There always has to be a hot chick in a "car picture".
Steve
"Mr. Armstrong taught that we must obey all of God's Word and not categorize sin into major and minor lists. Sin is sin--period!"
Ahhh. The Law. The Nurturing Mother and Flaming Sword of the COG Jihad. Hypocrites. When Herbert gave The Law to Christendom at the foot of Mt. Pasedena, it was a Law that God wouldn't recognize. It was the Law Lite- a helter skelter hodgepodge of commands carefully selected from the Torah; commands that would ensure not too heavy a burden on the modern Christian (at least for HWA and his Nazgul) yet give the new denomination a strong "back to the basics" Biblical flavor that would appeal to many. Yet the Bible does not view the Law in this manner; it is all or none. You obey all of it, or don't even bother.
Yet, insanely, Armstrongites have the temerity to denounce the entire world as lawless heathen when they do not even observe The Law themselves.
Steve,
I was happy to see the ad for several very good reasons. Seeing it on the top spot surely makes for a much more pleasant blogsite than did the smiling likeness of Herbert W. Incest! LOL!
BB
Herbie just won't go away, will he? But HWA is here, and still alive in his minions(Flurry, Pack, Meredith, LeBlanc, Billingsley, Kilough, McNair, Bryce, etc.) Each is trying desperately to prove that their particular organization is the best follower of HWA that is now available to the sheep. And, the rest of us keep him alive because we are trying desperately to prove that he was a liar, a thief, and a charlatan...and rightly so, but it seems that not many are listening. More and more Herbie churches spring up around the world, mainly with recycled Herbie followers. We are small and helpless in warning the unsuspecting who haven't been trapped in the spiders' webs yet, and we are not even considered a threat by the money-making religious organizations such as UCG and WCG.
Steve K
It's true. Herb will not go away. I urge people to visit Fred Coulter's web site and just listen to his sermons on tithing. He is defending it will all his might, and he is doing it by expertly twisting the scriptures. Without a doubt, he is the champion scripture twister in this sick business.
Typo error. That's with all his might.
"Mr. Armstrong taught that we must obey all of God's Word and not categorize sin into major and minor lists. Sin is sin--period!"
I remember once a member demanding an answer from me on what the difference was "to God" if someone was a drunk and someone else was fat and a glutton as he saw it. The Bible said it was better to put a knife to your throat than to be a glutton...
I looked at him and all I could come up with was that I would much rather have a fat person coming at me in a car than a drunk...
"I looked at him and all I could come up with was that I would much rather have a fat person coming at me in a car than a drunk... "
Dennis, we need to have a place for you for "Best Real Answers to Members Questions." What a hoot.
There is one of those ethical dilemmas: Which would you rather have operate on you, an experienced alcoholic drunken surgeon or a fourth year med student intern?
I think I'd want to know more about the intern... is he fat?
The O'Reilly Factor program had a short commercial recently showing the face of Herb giving his warning message to the world, with war in the background. Then the advertisement about the "Raising The Ruins" book by Steven Flurry came into the picture. Big time advertisement. Bill O'Reilly is supposed to be America's number 1 news show.
Hey, I've been doing a little reading of some transcripts of HWA's sermons, and I read one where Herb said he DID believe that there were some sins that were worse than others. (Hmmm...which were the big bad ones and which were the little bitty ones to HIS mind, I wonder"
Doesn't exactly stack up with Bryce's ideas does it?
I'll try to pin down that quote and give a web address when I do.
I recall HWA telling us that he ate unclean food at times at banquets in foreign countries. He said it was "just a physical sin" and so didn't fret over it.
-- Neo
What an amazing human evolution we have experienced over the passage of time...
A. Afarensis (Lucy) to Homo Habilis to Ergaster to Eretus to Neanderthalensis to Sapiens to Worldwidegensis to UCGensis to Homo Globalis to Livingensis to Philidelphensis to Hetero-Restoregensis to Charbrycensis and bingo....truth boiled down to it's essence.
While many branches of Homo Churchagoddesensis have evolved, most have proved to be dead ends. In time, we feel there will be just one pure Churchagodensis left on earth and those who have evolved in a more healthy direction will not give a...thingy about it all.
We've come a long way baby...
OLD AND I DO MEAN OLD BRYCE GRIP REALLY NEEDS TO FIND GOD. CAN ANYONE HELP HIM?
Of the handle, something the AW of the past posted was this:
"Hanegraaff's infamous EMERGENCY "The Post Office
Lost Our Mail and another company threw it out" fundraising plea of
January 2005..."
http://www.waltermartin.org/blog.html
The Outcome!
HWA ate unclean food to make a good impression on dignitaries and heads of state? No biggie because it was only a "physical" sin?
Gosh, I wonder what he might have done in ancient times if proclaiming his message in Sodom and Gomorrah
You can see the seeds on the outer surface of the strawberries, and you find banana seeds in the soft internal core.
How can anybody who has ever eaten a strawberry or banana not know they have seeds? In any case, if the seed was not borne in the fruit, where exactly would it be? A fruit is always seed-bearing.
I have maintained for several years -- and been kicked out of an "open-minded and progressive" COG message board for saying so -- that there is no good biblical, scientific or other reason to single out cannabis for demonization. To do so takes some pretty screwy logic, not to mention some amazing feats of eisegesis. While the case for "kaneh bosm" being cannabis seems a little iffy to me (admittedly I haven't done a lot of research, beyond a few Web sites), I would have absolutely no problem with believing that cannabis was used in anointing oil or other aspects of worship. I think it would be quite an enhancement to worship -- as it can be to relaxation, pain relief, creative thinking, relaxation of inhibitions and general feeling of well-being.
Mushrooms have no seeds. They are not herbs.
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