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This comment was left on "It's not the devil… It's my baby" – A Former Member's Story on 11/18/12
Sumiyah says:
Hi. Somehow I came across your article. And I read it. And I'm SO sad that happened to you. I'm a member of the Church of God. And regardless of the many hate/threats I'm probably going to get after this comment, I HAD to reach out to you. First off, I want to apologize on behalf of anyone that hurt you. The Church of God DOES NOT TEACH arrogance or putting people down, or any of the things you have experienced. But I HAVE TO STRESS TO YOU that ANYONE in the flesh is a SINNER. So the church member you encountered may took out their own underlying problem on you. The Church of God beliefs in God the Father & God the Mother. Therefor we are a family. That sister might have been upset with you like a TYPICAL BIG SISTER. For example; if your little sister starts skipping school or something, you would get annoyed. That sister probably felt like you were "skipping church". I really believe it was a LACK OF COMMUNICATION. Why is it people HATE so much? Since I've been coming to the Church of God, I've learned what it means to care about someone other then myself. I learned what it means to let go of MY EGO, MY OPINIONS and try to humble myself. The hardest thing for a human being to do is humble themselves, be gentle…and I think EVERYONE struggles with that. As far as THE CHURCH OF GOD. You cannot discredit their teachings from a bad experience. I'm not here to throw bible verses or facts at anyone. My job isn't to convert people either. I just wish you the best of luck on the rest of your life &; I hope one day God leads you back when the time is right. It hurts me more to know people LOVE GOSSIP. They make Church of God seem like a horror movie. When in reality it's the most positive place in the world. In a society that is dominated by every form of sin, its amazing to find SOMEWHERE that teaches about God. Not about "a god" that fits my personal life….but about True God. Feel free to curse me out or whatever after this for everyone else. I just hope this girl feels how sincere I feel when I said I hope the best for you and pray for anyone else like you that walked away from God because of a sinner's bad example. We <3 you still.
This is true in some sense. The COG has taught me to be kind always, to be caring always, to be gentle always. I say always because I was taught to be this way in any situation even if I’m wronged. There are people in zion who truly care about how others are treated such as myself. When I was there, I didn’t want anyone to feel left out or disrespected….. after many, many months. My nature is to be rude and condescending. It took a long time to change that. Honestly, the COG placed a fear of god in my heart that allowed me to change. Whoever treated you poorly in the COG was not taught to be that way. But because we are imperfect beings we tend to revert to our sinful nature as its labeled. The teachings concerning the prophecies and such are false.. but there is love there. From the members who aren’t involved in whatever conspiracy.
Hello Sumiyah. Welcome. Please continue to communicate here as we would be happy to have an authentic understanding of your church from a current member.
I do accept the fact that there will certainly be some bad that comes out of good places too. So I too will not condemn the WMSCOG based on such events if they were isolated events resulting from an individual's improper conduct.
My concern is the kind of teaching of your church. I have a friend who is a member of the WMSCoG. There are three problems I encounter while communicating with my friend, a former Catholic.
1. I have yet to see a single communication from her about her church's teaching that attempts to convince purely on it's own merit. Instead, every communication is filled with hatred of the catholic church and it's perceived teachings. This former catholic has absolutely no idea about the authentic teachings of the church but accepts what WMSCOG tells her are the teachings. She is unwilling to accept anything I show to prove the errors in the WMSCOG teaching, even contradictions on other WMSCOG websites. At the same time, she is unwilling to read excerpts from the catechism of the catholic which overtly define catholic teaching. Isn't that gross prejudice? Is it that you all have strict instructions not to read any information from any other source because it is all controlled by the devil? Are you discouraged from using your own intellect to discern?
2. When she makes her points proving biblical support for the teachings of her church, she uses certain biblical verses and their interpretations. When the misinterpretation is pointed out in the context of the verse by reading the whole chapter or the surrounding verses, she just ignores the point and instead comes back with a lengthy email of another teaching. I believe all her communication is carefully controlled by someone who is guiding her.
3. She quite blatantly lies and denies things which she knows are true. She seems to have no qualms lying in order to defend the WMSCOG. For example, she denies that Ahn Sahng Hong wrote the book "Problems with the New Jerusalem…..". Yet along with her denial, she mentions about the woman who was a former member and who blasphemed father. Though at first I thought she may genuinely be unaware of the book, I realised she was actually aware or she would not have mentioned Umm Soo Inn in that connection at all. I am told that she lies all the time to her husband too. Do you also believe it is alright to lie for a worthwhile cause?
Finally, I know you totally believe in Father and Mother and that you will go to heaven because of the passover. But think for a moment what would happen if your belief is wrong. By accepting WMSCOG teaching to the exclusion of all else, aren't you courting eternal disaster for your soul if you might perhaps be mistaken? Wouldn't it be prudent to study the points that dispute what your church teaches and independently arrive at the truth?
yes sure the wmscog teach about letting go of your pride, your arrogancy etc that makes the teaching sounded so swell, thats why it attract people.
but the bottom line is, does typical BIG SISTERS also excommunicate and plainly "suggested" a little sister that dont reach babtisms headcounts or give a bundle to the mama to get out from the church?
Oh yes ofcourse wms never said it directly its just "suggested" anyways, right?
Yep and soon the suggestions become demands.
That article never rang well to me I do really think there was a lot more miscommunication than anything else, but as emil said itis more than these types of incidents
Yes much more happy than disney world
Moved-Comment wrote:
This comment was left on "It's not the devil… It's my baby" – A Former Member's Story on 11/18/12
Sumiyah says:
The Church of God DOES NOT TEACH arrogance or putting people down, or any of the things you have experienced.
This is inaccurate. I have seen many arrogant statemtents in the WMS literature that put people of other religions down. I would quote the literature but I do not have it with me at the moment.
Moved-Comment wrote:
This comment was left on "It's not the devil… It's my baby" – A Former Member's Story on 11/18/12
Sumiyah says:
The Church of God beliefs in God the Father & God the Mother. Therefor we are a family. That sister might have been upset with you like a TYPICAL BIG SISTER. For example; if your little sister starts skipping school or something, you would get annoyed. That sister probably felt like you were "skipping church".
Although I agree that we are all children of God, we are all adults. For example, if I feel like "skipping church", that's a choice I am making as an adult and if it annoys you, that's your problem. Which brings me to another question, why is this "big sister, little sister" hierarchy necessary in the church? It reminds me of a pyramid. Zhang and Joo at the top, then the pastors, missionaries, deacons, and regular peon members. Why does the information that you learn or are allowed to know, change depending on your level of "maturity". Why does the church decide when and what I am ready to hear?
Moved-Comment wrote:
This comment was left on "It's not the devil… It's my baby" – A Former Member's Story on 11/18/12
Sumiyah says:
But I HAVE TO STRESS TO YOU that ANYONE in the flesh is a SINNER.
Even Ahn and Zhang? Because they committed adultery and you still believe they are "gods".
Moved-Comment wrote:
This comment was left on "It's not the devil… It's my baby" – A Former Member's Story on 11/18/12
Sumiyah says:
Why is it people HATE so much? Since I've been coming to the Church of God, I've learned what it means to care about someone other then myself. I learned what it means to let go of MY EGO, MY OPINIONS and try to humble myself. The hardest thing for a human being to do is humble themselves, be gentle…and I think EVERYONE struggles with that.
I'm concerned that you confuse criticism with what you call "HATE". I understand that you may feel that you have improved as a person, but where do you draw the line when it comes to letting go of your opinions? Are you letting go of your ability to critically think? Is this how you learn to blindly accept everything that the wms teaches you? so that you don't ask questions when you have doubts? Because that's exactly what I did until a certain point when I was a member. I felt like I was being molded to behave like a puppet. Just follow and don't question. Do you ever question anything they tell you to do or say? Do you ever lie for them?
Moved-Comment wrote:
This comment was left on "It's not the devil… It's my baby" – A Former Member's Story on 11/18/12
Sumiyah says:
You cannot discredit their teachings from a bad experience. I'm not here to throw bible verses or facts at anyone.
No but you can discredit their teachings just by reading the context around the verses in the Bible. Some facts would be nice but there are plenty on the homepage of this site.
Moved-Comment wrote:
This comment was left on "It's not the devil… It's my baby" – A Former Member's Story on 11/18/12
Sumiyah says:
I just wish you the best of luck on the rest of your life &; I hope one day God leads you back when the time is right. It hurts me more to know people LOVE GOSSIP. They make Church of God seem like a horror movie. When in reality it's the most positive place in the world.
You bring up some interesting points. Yes it is the most positive place in the world…in the beginning. When everyone is all smiles and you are fresh meat. Once you begin to question, or annoy (as you said) your "big brothers and sisters" by not giving in to the demands of the church, then it is a horror movie. Btw, people sharing their experiences, whether positive or negative, is not gossip. People are not on this forum just to hear themselves talk. And some of us actually want to make others aware of what they experienced so that they don't suffer the same loses. But calling it gossip is a pretty good way of dismissing it though.
To say something with confidence and to say something with arrogance are 2 different things. I know there is a fine line between them but they are different. When I preached, I definitely preached with arrogance. But there are some sisters who you can tell preach with confidence in f&m. They don’t teach arrogance but that doesn’t mean people aren’t arrogant. I don’t teach anaya to be mean but that doesn’t mean she’s nice all the time.
I fear we may never see Sumiyah posting here again.
correct, theres a big difference between confidence and arrogance, but i call the most common line spat out by the wmscog such as branding the other people or religions as a satan worshipper and fools who will go to hell is a fine example of arrogancy.
Well.. Christians say the same thing about Muslims, Buddhist, Jews… etc… etc… Isnt that arrogancy as well?
Yep. And I’ve been told by jews that I was foolish to follow a man who was not god. That seems arrogant. Bottom line, everyone has some kind of arrogance within then. We are born with arrogance. This is why babies give you those nasty but oh so cute looks when you tell them no. Its as if they’re thinking, did you really just tell ME no?? And sumiyah is right, its not something we can say “forgive me lord” and continue to do. We ALL have to work on it regardless of what religion we practice.
But she came back…… there’s something in her that is curious because what she’s doing isn’t considered preaching. She’s being disobedient according to the COG. She doesn’t want to become a member because she’s afraid of what she might find.
Mr anderson, yes it is a form of arrogancy too, but does your statement imply that wmscog also practiced arrogancy because everybody else also doing that?
what make wmscog the sure shot of getting to heaven then? a god figure? jews, moslems and other christians also have that, what make wmscog a better choice?
maybe I talked about it with my deacon when i came here was never really rebuked. very little here is actually that deep Imo you just gotta find one thing though.
she really is right though a lot of the teachings standing alone are not bad mothers teachings aren’t that bad other than the source
I do find it distressing she thinks all females outside wmscog are sex objects though I see many strong females who are so much more
or what makes a the wmscog the TRUE way while the others is the devil ways? the secret mana skill of cutting, editing and combining verses from the bible? theres enough words in the bible which if anybody smart enough and wont mind going into a long process of editing, that person can even make a whole new story from words taken from the bible.
Simon………. she didn’t say every other female is a sex symbol. But what’s true is more often than not, females her age (I’m guessing she in her 20s maybe) are looked at as sex symbols. She’s speaking generally. Learn how to recognize it.
Kc, the truth is what separates anyone from anything. Just because we all have judges doesn’t mean they’re all honest. The cog believes they have it right because they believe they have the truth about god. And as the bible says, the truth shall set you free. Only the truth can get you to heaven and they believe they have it.. just like jews believe they have it and the muslims and the hindus and whoever…. everyone has the truth which isn’t true.
KC wrote:
Mr anderson, yes it is a form of arrogancy too, but does your statement imply that wmscog also practiced arrogancy because everybody else also doing that?
No. I'm just saying that if saying "We are the truth" is arrogant, then YHWH is arrogant, Jesus is super arrogant, Apostle Paul is very arrogant, and of course, the WMSCOG is arrogant.
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