UCG and Looking Back.

I started this blogspot in a heated moment about 5 years ago but didn't have any object or reason for continuing it.

But the recent crisis in the United Church of God has made me stop and think about my own experience with the turmoil that seems to dog the COGdome scene and how much my heart goes out to the people who are hurting.

Precision with dates and times has never been a strong attribute of mine so I hope anyone reading might forgive my vagueness, but about 6-7 years ago I exited the Worldwide Church of God (WWCG). 

I stuck with it through "the changes" and really tried to make a go of it.  Wanting to believe that God had performed a miracle of transformation and actually believing it to the degree expected are two different things.

While I found I agreed with much of the changes in doctrine, I became very disillusioned from the behaviors I saw.   From people who left, from people who stayed, from people who were leaders.

Overtime, I’ve come to believe that the there were many things wrong in the denomination and that doctrines had only been part of it. 

Besides doctrines, one of the many issues involved was a system of governance that was unstable and micromanaged the faiths of the individual.  The instability was in large part due to the “top down” leadership enforced by the founder, Herbert Armstrong.  Because of his complete control, the direction of the church could change quickly based on his desires or whims (usually reported as “new truth” from God).  And it did from time to time.  For those who remember, divorce and remarriage, make-up, the day of Pentecost.

After the passing of Herbert Armstrong, this pattern of behavior had not been properly addressed by those who inherited his church during "the changes".  To be fair, there were attempts but they fell short.  Those who were there might remember the “shepherds not sheriffs” catchphrase.  

While UCG tried to address this with the establishment of elected church officials and rule by consensus there doesn’t seem to have been a change in the individuals who learned their patterns of behavior from the old regime either.  It also seems to me that anyone stepping into the leadership role couldn’t truly lead but only be a guardian of the teachings of Herbert Armstrong. Which can be a bit of a moving target because they shifted over the years. 

Standing on Mr. Armstrong’s teaching might give the appearance of stability, but while you can codify a person’s teaching, you can’t so easily codify the person.  And people who believed in what he taught had different views on his teaching and behaviors from “he can do no wrong”, to “he made some mistakes but like David was a man after God’s own heart”.

In hearing about the dreadful turmoil happening in UCG, my heart aches for those who have already been bruised and battered by the previous schism that created the UCG.

Once again, there are lines in the sand being drawn and it is becoming a matter of eternal salvation as to the side you stand.  But no matter which side you are on, as long as you play the game, there will be an ever diminishing return and no-one wins.

I pray for those who are struggling with this situation.   That they will find the solution they need.  This is my reason for writing again.  To express my heartfelt sympathy and hopes for their recovery from yet another devastating blow.