Apparently Joe Tkach could... :-)
Herbert couldn't be proven wrong when it came to divorced people being allowed to remarry as long as their first spouse was still alive either. Several local marriages were broken up from that belief until the shoe was on Herberts foot, then the scripture became flexible.
I'm sorry you felt wronged personally by Armstrong on this issue. Biblically speaking I agree with the first position. I think your parents were doing right in God's eyes and they will have rewards for doing so. But like you and me Jim, Armstrong was only human. Were your parentse free to leave the church if they didn't agree with the doctrine being taught?
The original WWCG has apologized for all the harm they caused, even though they no longer teach the doctrine of separatist you belong to, and yours still tries to divide God's people into camps as they always have.
Based on the people I know they caused more harm changing the doctrine radically then they ever did before. Don't get me wrong, I've heard of lots of things wrong in Worldwide, but they are nearly all administrative difficulties or authoritarian problems.
The original WWCG has apologized for all the harm they caused, even though they no longer teach the doctrine of separatist you belong to, and yours still tries to divide God's people into camps as they always have.
I'm sorry Jim, but that's just not accurate. You well know that our doctrine is that most people are going to be saved and given eternal life. An us against them attitude is pretty self defeating if you're going to have to spend eternity with someone whom you disagree with now.... :-)
So were to believe that God has worked for 6 thousand years to save only your little group of a couple of thousand people that are to teach and rule the billions he will call later, am I right about your belief on that?
If by "your little group" you mean United Church of God, no. If by "your little group" you mean the body of Christ, yes. Scripture teaches that the elect will live as kings and priests in God's kingdom. The number in all probability is going to well exceed a couple of thousand. The role of the elect is to teach God's ways to even more people during the milleniel kingdom.
Just as a druggie suffers when his supply is removed, he learns to begin a new life eventually, but some simply replace the hard stuff for milder drugs, such a pot or alcohol, but their still on drugs in my book.
I'm sorry Jim, but that's just not accurate. You well know that our doctrine is that most people are going to be saved and given eternal life. An us against them attitude is pretty self defeating if you're going to have to spend eternity with someone whom you disagree with now.... :-)
And the only reason it sounds good to you is because that theory puts you in final charge under Christ. and supports your belief that everyone in the world is wrong except your little spin off group which will eventually set the world straight because of your works belief, and every one will see that your recapturing Israels laws and becoming a better Jew then the Jew, as though that was what God had really wanted all along, not our faith.
In this case, Paul will not be with you, because he certainly didnt act like a Jew when he told us there is nothing that can defile a man as did Christ in Mark 7.
Ro 14: 14. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Paul used the Greek word koinos for unclean, which is caused by eating or touching something physically, not the akathartos you would like to claim, and its is used 32 times in the NT to point to spiritual unclean-ness, such as evil spirits and demonic forces, and not once does it have anything to do with meat or eating, or something tangible, being able to contaminate someone.
If by "your little group" you mean United Church of God, no. If by "your little group" you mean the body of Christ, yes. Scripture teaches that the elect will live as kings and priests in God's kingdom. The number in all probability is going to well exceed a couple of thousand. The role of the elect is to teach God's ways to even more people during the milleniel kingdom.
Thats a cop out and you know it. Your Church believes that only those who believe as you do, will be allowed into the millennium as the spiritually saved of God, and that it will be your little group of law keepers who will teach and train all of us to understand Gods will.
Thats so egotistical, and so divisive to think the whole Bible was written just for you, since only your mindset of pull your selves up by your own bootstraps mentality, could override Christ promise that our faith in Him would save us, and not that of works.
Its Christ goodness that will save us, and if your thinking youll be saved by your strict keeping of the law, I think you may be very disappointed when you find out that Christ made salvation available to all mankind, and not just to a few spiritual supremeist.
The good news is, that God still loves you anyway, and he knows why your particular personality needs physical proof of everything, so thats why you want to be able to point to a law and say Im keeping that law, then point to the next one and say ..etc.
As Paul said in 2 Cor 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
I prefer having faith that Christ will remind me of all the laws he wishes to be observed, and since you prefer holding them in your hand and touching them and constantly pointing to them as reminders of Gods laws, I guess it only means you havent the faith to trust Christ to keep you from forgetting them.
The only difference between you and the Jew, is that the Jew doesnt believe the Messiah has come, where you believe hes come, but didnt really change much except doing away with sacrifices, and helping you to be strong and overcome.
Well, Jews no longer need sacrifices either, and they are much better at keeping the legalities of the law then you or I, so where does that leave you now? IMO, :-)
JH