That’s why the Catholic Church claims to be the Kingdom of God to this day. And, they did rule with “a rod of iron” for at least a thousand years, didn’t they?

However, even they expect Jesus to show up at the consummation of the ages (end of the world). I bet a world war or an asteroid gets us first – or some other calamity that we haven’t foreseen. We will become extinct, the dinosaurs did, and eventually, we will too.

Anything can happen out here on a lone planet in the space of the universe and we can’t escape because of the vast distances between any (maybe) habitable worlds out there. We are here. People need to learn to make the best of it while we still are.

Naaaahhh. Even if “God’s True Church” dropped out of the stratosphere, whole and intact, with Herbie at the helm once again, I would probably still take the Third Resurrection over living that kind of a life again.

I say it’s because I wouldn’t want to give up eating unclean foods and breaking the Sabbath, but really the reason I would never go back is because I don’t want to give up my family. I spent the first twenty years of my life never knowing them, and now that I have learned what I’ve missed out on, I’m certainly never letting go of that again!

The only difference I did find, in that discussion thread, was the part where ex-members and protesters liken the UFO therapy cult to the movie The Truman Show. I always say WE were way more like Pleasantville, only without the happy ending.

The whole thing about “the worldly” being “under Satan’s dominion” and “demon-possessed”, I STILL find that hard to get over, most days. My default operating mode remains “Speak to no one, look at no one, try not to attract attention if you slip up and look at someone, don’t provoke strangers into conversation, and if someone you don’t know tries to talk to you, cut it short.”

Of course, the only ones who DO get through those defenses, are the ones I don’t want to deal with anyway, so I just get confirmation bias all over again…..

The first couple years after I moved to Toronto did a lot for “shattering the glass” of my church-coloured reality, even though I’d been out of the church for over five years prior. It wasn’t pleasant, but I still managed to land on my feet, and I learned one hell of a lot from the experience.

I remember the first time I dared to go out to a shopping center on the Sabbath. I laugh about it now because I made sure I didn’t do any real shopping, like for groceries or other necessities.

As I walked around the shopping center, I was actually quite surprised at how normal everyone there was. I’d been told that non-believers were pagan, yet, these people weren’t sacrificing to idols or anything else remotely pagan.

The hammer was starting to shatter my glass.

Um. Have you read the rest of the site, shortfriction? I’ve been blogging about ex-Church of God matters for going on three years now. “My First Christmas” talks about how I made the conscious decision to REPRESS what I truly believed, but I wouldn’t have written as many thousands of words about my past and the church, if I had managed to ERASE what I truly believed.

It’s an ongoing struggle, and always will be. Some days I lose the struggle, and the paranoia gets the better of me. “The world” and “the worldly” on those days sees me as cold, aloof, rude, etcetera. I just don’t have the mental energy to summon the necessary empathy for strangers I just cannot trust.

Is that the church’s fault? Maybe it was, back when I was a true believer. But it’s my fault now, for letting my former beliefs (that I no longer hold fast to) control me in such a manner. It’s just that, some days, I can’t summon what is necessary to fight that control, and I (hate this word) backslide into the old ways, minus the belief system, of course.

It’s a bit of a dichotomy for me: I happily eat ham and swiss sandwiches (om nom nom) and “break the Sabbath” without even thinking about it. No one who knows me IRL would ever suspect that I am ex-CoG. They may think I’m a bit odd or eccentric, but that’s about the extent of it. Outwardly, I present none of the “signs” that mark me as ex-CoG. It’s the inner battle I’m still waging, which is why I continue to liken it to a chronic disease: I have good days and bad days. As does everyone, I suppose. The good days are starting to outnumber the bad ones, but whether that’s age or introspection, or determined conscious attention to my reactions and behaviours, I couldn’t tell you.

“You are probably right than nothing has changed. But then I barely expect it to.”

Now that’s a shame.

I am not a wonderful person. If I am to be judged by the Law alone it will be Lake of Fire for me. But I learned many years ago that I cannot, like you did, erase what I truly believe from my mind. So instead I have tried to refine what I believe to better match the Truth (yes, I believe there is Truth) and on the way I sought Jesus Christ to direct me in this. UCG is where I fellowship. I know my brethren are, like me, not wonderful. But I don’t need them to be (actually, that would be humiliating, I think), and I don’t see any strong evidence that anywhere else is better. Whether it be another form of Christianity, or atheism, or another religion altogether – I have examined them all as objectively as I could.

You are probably right than nothing has changed. But then I barely expect it to.

I’m sorry you can’t see the legalistic extremes UCG is going to; watching Dick-head’s sermon from the GCE, and with the latest info that coming out about the Council of Evil eating its own (and misusing tithe money while they’re at it — swanky fishing trip is “spreading the Work” what?), not to mention the latest brouhaha over the property in Denton that’s been sitting idle for years and is now for sale….

I don’t think there’s any good reason you can give me for UCG being any less of “the one true church” than WCG was back in the ’80s; apart from the whole Council of Evil thing, what little I’ve seen of UCG, pretty much screams “Nothing has changed!” To me, at least.

LOL, no I’m not a “sun-worshipper”. But I do value the act of putting up lights, visiting with family and friends, and enjoying boatloads of food — to stave off the darkest part of the year, until the Earth starts to tilt back again, and the days start getting longer.

Happy New Year everyone!