The Stab of Pain and Grief

In the commentary thread associated with a post titled CGI Tyler Leadership and Its Cracker Barrel Blunder, I was reminded of the intense feelings of hurt and loss generated by the collapse of the theological house of cards that was the Worldwide Church of God. Scout observed that "when the theological transformation took place in the WCG under the Joe and Joe, Jr., nobody fell to the wayside and lost salvation because of mishandled marketing. The view that such a disaster could happen is to neglect the overarching influence of God himself on the Ekklesia. God deals with people in their circumstances. I would not have done the transition in the same way as the Tkaches. I would have placed more emphasis on the actual, personal wounding that people experienced rather than the simple dissemination of a new theology and a mass, published apology. I know the absence of this affected me for years. But who am I to say."

In practical terms, I thought that Scout's response was nuanced, empathetic, and compassionate. Even so, an emotional response to his comments reminded me of my own painful experiences as I emerged from the cognitive dissonance of Armstrongism. The anonymous commentator wrote: "Well that's a lie if ever I read one. Who are you fooling? Are you lying to yourself? Personal wounding is the real deal you are so proud to dish out on people. You love to wound others yourself. You follow everything Joe Snr did to people and then more so." From this person's perspective, Scout's "attacks" on Armstrongist theology and organizations are "wounding." Indeed, over the years, many of us who write and post on the "anti-Armstrongism" blogs have had similar comments directed our way. Many of these folks experience the same disorientation and pain which many of us experienced years ago when we realized that there were serious problems with Herbert Armstrong's theology. These folks take it personally. They see our commentary as an attack on THEIR faith - THEIR beliefs.

Nevertheless, the feelings which these folks are experiencing have more to do with their own sense of self, and the two-edged sword, conscience, and the Holy Spirit. They are feeling the stab of confrontation - the realization that something is amiss. In short, it can be very disorienting and unsettling to be confronted with an unpleasant truth - especially the possibility that YOU have made a serious mistake in judgment. Moreover, Scripture reveals that we can either accept the correction, OR we can ignore/dismiss it! And, as we have noted before, the ego is a powerful thing. Very often, our first impulse is to assume a defensive posture - to protect ourselves from the perceived threat. After all, anything that intrudes upon our comfort zone is by definition unwelcome and unpleasant. Even so, having personally experienced all of those feelings in times past, we should be able to understand and have compassion for our brothers and sisters who have been confronted with the truth.