Banned by HWA has released a post entitled Richard Armstrong and the Church of God Tradition of Beating Children into Submission discussing Richard David Armstrong's infamous letter of March 12, 1958 berating the congregation for not disciplining their children as he expected and making threats of publicly humiliating church members if their children behave in a manner he disapproved of. This letter has gained attention before back in 2013.
The comments are also quite revealing about the frighteningly abusive and authoritarian atmosphere within the Radio/Worldwide COG. Some of what is mentioned in the comments is shocking. How dare anyone claim that the Radio/Worldwide COG is somehow worthy of emulation.
Also relevant to this discussion if a sermon Richard David Armstrong made on October 13, 1957 which was mentioned in a previous post. In it he complains that children are supposed to sit still and keep quiet during the entire sermon. Here is one sick anecdote he mentions in the sermon.
One of the cutest things I've ever seen....And I've seen, and it's fantastic. I've never seen anything like this before. I've seen that boy ... take off his belt, hold it up to him, and say, Daddy, I was supposed to get a spanking this evening. (Audience laughs.) I'm not lying either. That's a fact. I've seen it happen. I've seen him remind his father that he had a spanking coming. I never did that. (Laughter.)And many within the COGs happen to view these days as Radio/Worldwide COG's golden age. What dangerous nonsense.
So, RDA from early childhood sat attentively absorbing HWA's sermons, and so he became the example to follow.
ReplyDeleteOur local minister, thinking out loud during announcements, proposed an 'alternative activity' for children during sermons, and mentioned a few teachers in the congregation who could assist. Nothing happened, and it was never mentioned again. I wonder why?
Kids in Armstrongism mostly got punished for doing things that disturbed their parents' practicing of Armstrongism. There simply was not any nurturing, mentoring, or attentiveness to the childrens' needs.
ReplyDeleteBB
I don't remember the offence, but at the Feast one year, minister from Pasadena, Paul Royer bragged that he had spanked his then 17 year old son Scott. That is telling; that kids were beaten into submission well into young adulthood. Any normal teenager would have most likely knocked his father's lights out! The last time I was beaten was at age 16, with a bread board, for a "look' on my face. The next "look" she got made her a little afraid to do it again.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the offence, but at the Feast one year, minister from Pasadena, Paul Royer bragged that he had spanked his then 17 year old son Scott. That is telling; that kids were beaten into submission well into young adulthood. Any normal teenager would have most likely knocked his father's lights out! The last time I was beaten was at age 16, with a bread board, for a "look' on my face. The next "look" she got made her a little afraid to do it again.
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