Living Armstrongism: Jehovah's Witnesses and the God Family?

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Jehovah's Witnesses and the God Family?

(Update September 29, 2014. The link has been updated.)

Herbert W. Armstrong taught that God is a family of divine beings presently composed of the Father and the Son and human beings can be born into this family and become fully God as God is God, though of a lower authority.

It is generally accepted that HWA plagiarized this doctrine from Mormonism which also teaches this pluralistic view of God and also believe that human beings can become God beings. I see no reason to believe otherwise.

But I am not sure what to make of this.

I was reading this page which contained this intriguing quote. The article is discussing some of the various doctrines taught by Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Watchtower Society, which are now no longer believed by the followers of the Watchtower Society. Among these now rejected teachings cited was this:

[C. T. Russell taught] that Christians “are divine beings -- hence all such are Gods, thus we have a family of God....in the resurrection we will rise in our true character as Gods.”... Zion’s Watch Tower, December 1881, pp. 2-3 (Reprints p. 301) [Emphasis in webpage.]

So it would seem that Mormons were not the only other ones to believe in a God Family.

Again I wish to emphasize that the Watchtower Society does not teach this doctrine today. They say only God the Father is God and they do not believe anyone else, not even Jesus, can ever be actual deity worthy of being considered God.

Now personally I am somewhat skeptical that HWA got this idea from Watchtower, but that is just my opinion.

Is there a connection? Did HWA stole the idea from Watchtower and not Mormonism? What do any of you think of this? I find this fact quite fascinating and intriguing. I do not know what to make of it.

2 comments:

xHWAMay 14, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Wish I could be of some help here, RF. I haven't found anything that leads me to where/when/who HWA plagiarized this doctrine.

I'll keep looking. If you do eventually find anything, please do share with us!
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AnonymousMay 17, 2009 at 7:23 AM
I would say it's more than likely Armstrong lifted this from someone in his CoG7 group who may have been speculating along the same lines; the CoG7 did NOT have close ties with Mormonism.

Armstrong could realistically have expanded upon his own doctrine, utilizing Joseph Smith's, after he split off completely from the original Church of God.

My thoughts, for whatever they're worth, now that I've figured out how to work around the new comments system.
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Fall of Berlin Wall NOT Proof HWA was Right

It is often asserted that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 proved that HWA was right and he really did see the future.

This of course is nonsense. Herbert W. Armstrong said that Christ would return within twenty years in his book Mystery of the Ages. (PCG has since deleted those words so someone in there knows HWA spoke nonsense.) How convenient for them to forget this.

Also Herbert W. Armstrong never said the Soviet Union would collapse. He thought it would survive intact until a few years after Christ's return. It shows how biased some many in the COGs are that they never seem to notice this. This inconvenient truth is just tossed into the memory hole.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

What sort of man is he? A man who could say things like this.

"Mr. Armstrong has reminded us again that we are to disfellowship any members who attend GTA's [Garner Ted Armstrong's] campaigns, church services or other meetings. Some of our weaker members apparently do not realize that this man is in direct rebellion against God and His government! We must not allow them, or ourselves, to rationalize about this matter, to try to "help the underdog," or in any other way lend support to one whose gross immorality, whose long standing "play acting" and hypocrisy, and whose direct insubordination to the Government of God has long been and is now a source of confusion and DIVISION among God's people. So, as per Mr. Armstrong's instruction, I charge and exhort every one of you faithful ministers of the living Christ to explain this in no uncertain terms to your members, to warn them about this cause of division and then to disfellowship any who consort with GTA or any of his fellows." (Roderick C. Meredith, Pastor's Report, May 21, 1979, pp. 1-2.)

See here for this statement's context.

David Robinson on Roderick C. Meredith

WCG minister David Robinson had this to say about Roderick C. Meredith in a letter he wrote to him on September 19, 1979.

"During the ten years I have been an employee of the Worldwide Church, you have been poorly spoken of by most of the ministers and employees I have known. I vividly remember the absolute unbounded glee that was openly expressed by a good number of respected men in the church when you were first "shanghaied." [In 1972.] I could begin by naming names, which I am sure would shock you. I was one of the few who stood, where possible, for you. Your tenure as superintendent of ministers, as I believe the office was then called, was looked on as nightmarish. While you held office during the years of growth, most of those whom I know gave you very little credit for that growth. Almost everyone whom I know, whether they be former friends of yours, or continuing foes, recalls insensitive and terrible things you have done. Without exception, at least among my acquaintances, they all credit you with an unbridled lust for power and list you as one who is willing to pay the price of gaining that power, no matter what. I have, through many of the last few years, believed you had principles you would not violate. Many a man of experience in the church assured me of my error. Events have proven me wrong and them right. Mr. Armstrong has himself been widely quoted as saying of you that you were so righteous that you were so "righteous you were unrighteous." " (David Robinson, Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, Chapter 16, p. 207.)

Of course it is impossible for me to personally verify these assertions but people deserve to know what this knowledgeable man had to say about him.

Living Armstrongism

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Jehovah's Witnesses and the God Family?

2 comments:

If You are new please read this

Fall of Berlin Wall NOT Proof HWA was Right

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

The Truth About Europe and Prophecy

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Truth About The Key of David's Gerald Flurry and his PCG

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