Posted on 03/24/2013 7:29:58 PM PDT by Colofornian
It may not be the same word (Hebrew don’t equal Greek duh), but the IDEA is the same.
Because the UCG is an offshoot of the Armstrong movement as I pointed out.
But to be fair I will add some UCG doctrine to compare.
The United Church of God, an International Association (UCGIA or simply UCG)[1] is a Christian religious denomination based in the United States, an offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) founded by Herbert W. Armstrong. It is one of many Sabbatarian Churches of God to split from WCG...
Belief in Biblical tithing, a donation of 10 percent of a member’s income to the church to fund the organization’s gospel mission. [14] Another 10 percent is set aside for the church’s annual religious festivals.[15]
Belief in a non-Trinitarian view of God. Specifically, the belief that the Holy Spirit is the spirit/power of God and of Christ Jesus rather than a separate person in the Godhead. God ‘the Father’ and Jesus Christ are viewed as distinct ‘God beings’ in the ‘God family’.[13]
Belief that Christians are begotten as children in the Family of God and will at their resurrection become “spirit-born divine beings who are part of Elohim, the universe-ruling family of God.”[16]
Belief that the core of Jesus Christ’s message was the coming of a literal earthly Kingdom and that people who are ‘saved’ will not go to heaven, but will live and rule eternally with Jesus Christ on earth after his second coming, and will subsequently share rulership over the entire universe as part of the ‘God Family’. UCG also asserts that the final destination of the unrepentant wicked is not everlasting torture, but annihilation or permanent destruction.[17]
Belief in British Israelism, which is the teaching that people of Western European descent, primarily the original British colonies and the United States, are direct physical descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of the northern kingdom of ancient Israel, whereas the historical Jews (and modern-day Israel) are descendants of the ancient southern kingdom of Judah.[18]
Belief that the basic Old Testament law is not “done away with” and is carried over into the “New Covenant” such that certain commandments apply to Christians today, including the Ten Commandments and teachings such as clean and unclean meats, literal observance of Holy Day festivals such as eating unleavened bread during the ‘Days of Unleavened Bread’, and living in ‘temporary habitations’ during the ‘Feast of Tabernacles’. These beliefs exclude civil and sacrificial temple laws,[19] but includes the literal observance of the seventh-day Sabbath and the Holy Days of the Old Testament Hebrew calendar,[20] dietary restrictions,[21] and the condemnation of homosexuality.[22]
Belief that today’s mainstream Christian teachings resulted from doctrinal corruption under the influence of Greco-Roman philosophy which occurred early in the history of the church, so that the major Christian churches now teach various pagan ideas and practices under the guise of Christianity. UCG preaches the ancient pagan origins of traditional Christian celebrations (especially Christmas and Easter) render them inappropriate for true Christians.[23][24][25][26][27][28] Members believe that the doctrines and practices of the United Church of God can be traced to the original teachings of Jesus Christ and the early ‘Church of God’ as described in the New Testament.[29][30][31]
Belief that people who do not know or understand the truth of the Bible during their lifetimes will be given time to learn these teachings after the ‘second resurrection’ to a new physical life. After living again in the Millennial world under God’s Kingdom, those who continue to reject God’s Holy Spirit and way of life will be annihilated after the “Third Resurrection” along with unrepentant former believers who had turned away from God. They are destroyed in the third resurrection (the “resurrection of fire”) in the Lake of Fire, along with Satan and his demons
It may not be the same word (Hebrew don’t equal Greek - duh), but the IDEA is the same.
Have some more...
Philippians 2:15
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
First time I’ve seen a double post with another reply in between them!
Well yes and no. Many of the members of UCG when it was first started were once in Worldwide Church of God which as you know was formed by Herbert Armstrong. But not all. What you posted were pejorative comments about certain beliefs, the organization and Herbert Armstrong.
Though one will a sound knowledge of Christianity will know them for what they are, rather heretical and most decidedly not Christian.
And is this the basis for the hostility and bitterness shown in your responses?:-)
I will grant that what I believe falls outside of orthodox within traditional Christianity. But it's also evident from scripture and history that traditional Christianity has departed from Christ more so...at least when one uses scripture as the final authority on Christianity.
I draw no real interests in inner-cult conflict, since it normally arrases from conflicts with various leadership personalities.
That's certainly true whether it's cultic, traditional or orthodox.
You realize that I was referencing the LXX, or Septuagint, the greek old testament...right?
For sure....
Actually this post was pretty fair, though incomplete.
The 10% tithe is accurate and is the same as most church organizations.
The 10% festival tithe is saved by individuals so they can celebrate the feasts of the Lord Jesus Christ as he commanded his followers to do. Most choose to observe these festivals with other believers and so this money is set aside for meals, travel and lodging at organized sites.
For more information on this feel free to study:
Again, mostly accurate...thanks!
A cursory study of history will clearly show that the trinity doctrine was "evolved" over centuries by what later became the Catholic church. When protestants split with Catholics most of them took the trinity tradition with them. But early Christians did not recognize the holy spirit as being within the Godhead. For example, in all examples where the heavenly realm is shown there is never a being known as "the holy spirit". There are numerous examples of "two" though...for example:
Dan 7:13 "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
Dan 7:14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.
In the new testament:
Rev 22:3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.
NO throne for a "being" known as the holy spirit. Revelation has numerous glimpses at the heavenly realm and nowhere is there a being known as the "holy spirit" up there. Scripture can't be much clearer on that account.
God ‘the Father’ and Jesus Christ are viewed as distinct ‘God beings’ in the ‘God family’.[13]
Well, yes and no. The purpose and unity of the God and father are identical. They're unified through love...that is their overwhelming characteristic. A good way for our puny minds to comprehend this is to imagine a perfectly married couple. They are united in purpose and love toward each other. There's no thought of "me", there's no thought of a clash of wills....only a perfect, harmonious, loving relationship. Our earthly marriages were originally meant to symbolize this relationship.
For the trinity see:
As pointed out to Elsie there are numerous scriptures that show this as a reality. I'm continually amazed that people who call themselves Christians don't believe scripture when it plainly states that our destiny is to spirit born children of God!
Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Rom 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Rom 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
The language here is unmistakable and it's too bad that much of Christianity has erased this truth from their doctrine because they're missing out on really what is the real reason why we're here...to join our Lord Jesus Christ and our father in an eternal, loving relationship...to be forever children of our loving Lord!
What is Your Destiny is a good place to explore this further...thanks for the opportunity to share this!
Not really just a "belief" but about as plain a biblical fact as there can be! Just a LITTLE bit of bible study shows this to be so obvious as to be ridiculous. For example Daniels prophecy show this as such:
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
Dan 2:45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."
The good news of the kingdom was the main focus of the teaching of Jesus Christ as shown by scriptures too numerous to dispute:
Mat_24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Mat 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
It's even in the prayer that Christ told his followers to model our prayers after!
Luk_11:2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
In other words, his kingdom will COME to earth. I'm not even sure why this is brought up...it's rather an orthodox belief among many that Christ will return to establish his kingdom.
and that people who are ‘saved’ will not go to heaven, but will live and rule eternally with Jesus Christ on earth after his second coming, and will subsequently share rulership over the entire universe as part of the ‘God Family’.
Well, yeah, as heirs of the Lord God himself of course. But "rulership" is a word loaded with negative connotations. Christians are first and foremost loving servants. Rulership in this sense would be to bring others into the love of God and of his family. Some would take a narrowminded, fleshly view of this and think that it means some kind of power trip over others. Nothing could be further from the truth.
UCG also asserts that the final destination of the unrepentant wicked is not everlasting torture, but annihilation or permanent destruction.[17]
UCG repeat this because it's what Christ taught and what scripture teaches!
The most famous scripture in the bible states this exactly!
Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus equals eternal life. Not Jesus equals PERISH...or as the greek word really mean, total annihilation...an end to existence...fully destroyed.
Somewhere along the line someone decided that people could live eternally WITHOUT Christ.
Paul says this:
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Without Christ, we DIE. The GIFT of God is eternal life. This truth has been twisted to mean that God gives the gift BEFORE people know Christ...in other words, we're already immortal....already eternal...and don't need Christ to be this way. The reality is that we're flesh and blood and will DIE forever without the gift of eternal life.
I know that's probably hard for you and many others to wrap their minds around because the traditional church mostly bases it's thoughts of the hereafter around the images in Dante's Inferno....but THAT was fiction.
There's a couple of good resources here:
Heaven and Hell: What Does the Bible Really Teach?
Again, thanks for the opportunity to share this!
To WHOM are the lessons directed?
Jews; who had a MASSIVE temple complex to fund; or Gentiles mentioned in Acts chapter 15 and in
2 Corinthians 9:7
(KJV) Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
(NIV) Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
John Chapter 3
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
Romans 11:12-13
But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.
HMMMmmm...
Mark 9:43-48
“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,[where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] “If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.
HMMMmmm...
Hell here is the greek word "gehenna". Gehenna, in the time of Christ, was basically a dump that was continuously burning. Christ was saying the fate of the wicked was to be burned to death. The rotting bodies in Gehanna had eggs laid in the thus there were always maggots or worms. The fires of Gehanna were continually burning. Christ used the analogy to get his point across...that the wicked would die and be discarded.
This is entirely consistent with the teaching of old testament scripture:
Mal 4:1 "For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up," Says the LORD of hosts, "That will leave them neither root nor branch.
The fate of the wicked is to be burned up. They will be stubble.
More at this link.
Yup, if you're not in the book of life you die. The GIFT of God is eternal LIFE through Jesus Christ...your name will be in his book of life. Those not in Christ will perish, will be destroyed fully, will be burned up leaving neither root nor branch...will die.
Man does not and cannot have immortality or eternal life in any way shape or form without our Lord and savior giving us that gift...and that only happens through Christ.
Without it, no one will ever come to the genuine faith in Jesus Christ, no matter how winsome our discussion.
We are only commanded to "go tell," not to convince non-believers in the truthfulness of the Good News.
Your story is just grand, I only wish I could work it with my Mormon daughter and her family. Pray for me/them please.
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