What Your Best-Ever Feast of Tabernacles Is Missing

 Posted on September 11, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1242 words  |  

This post is for current “Church of God” members preparing to attend the Feast of Tabernacles, a religious festival I observed for close to 30 years before I became Catholic. Every COG sermon I’ve heard about how to have the best-ever Feast of Tabernacles offers the same advice: commit to serving others. Be an usher! Be a parking lot attendant (wave those orange cones)! Help organize and decorate the meeting hall! [Read More]
fot  prayer 

On Changing Life Forms

 Posted on August 30, 2023  |  9 minutes  |  1822 words  |  

This is a quick reply to Jeff, who commented on my guest post entitled “Bill Watson’s Doctrine of ‘Changing Life Forms’” at the Banned by HWA blog. I had taken issue with Bill (a Church of God International minister and proponent of “soul sleep”), who claims that people who believe in the immortality of the human soul don’t really believe people die, but instead merely “change life forms.” (If you’re interested in this reply, read the original post and his comments first. [Read More]
immortal soul  resurrection 

5 Reasons COGs Are Not Christian

 Posted on August 29, 2023  |  11 minutes  |  2295 words  |  

Can we apply the label “Christian” to the various COGs in the Armstrong tradition, such as the United Church of God (UCG); Church of God, a Worldwide Association (COGWA); Church of God International (CGI); Intercontinental Church of God (ICG); and all the rest? We surely agree that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (think Mormons) and The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (think Jehovah’s Witnesses) are not Christian. [Read More]
resurrection  trinity  christology 

Should We Let the Bible Interpret the Bible?

 Posted on August 21, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1047 words  |  

How often I’ve heard growing up: “Don’t interpret the Bible! Let the Bible interpret the Bible!” This is not unique to my background. It’s a common refrain in Fundamentalist Christian circles. Yet few seem to catch the irony that, amongst all who say this, there are so many different, contradictory beliefs about what Scripture means. The statement is absurd on its face, of course. The Bible interprets the Bible? That’s like saying a book reads itself. [Read More]
bible alone  born again  church fathers 

The Bible Says Death Is Like Sleep - Heres Why

 Posted on August 8, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  641 words  |  

Funerals are sobering because each one is a “wake-up” call to remind us we will all “fall asleep.” And that sleep will fall upon us sooner than we tend to think. Most people understand perfectly well what we mean by “falling asleep in death.” And when the Bible describes death in terms of “sleep,” most people don’t read too much into it. But some do. “Soul sleep” For close to 30 years in Armstongism, I was taught that the reason the Bible frequently describes death as “sleep” is to indicate that our souls will be utterly out of commission, turned off and tuned out, devoid of all awareness. [Read More]
immortal soul 

Does God Alone Have Immortality? (A Failed Prooftext)

 Posted on August 4, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  886 words  |  

Does the Bible explicitly deny that human beings were created with immortal souls? The COGs teach what some call “soul sleep,” an accurate label but one generally not embraced by COGs themselves. They teach that when we sleep in death, the soul dies along with the body so that we have no conscious interaction with reality. The “spirit in man” experiences absolutely nothing, utter darkness, until the resurrection. They believe both body and soul are mortal. [Read More]
immortal soul