arrogance

June 5, 2015

Caste System

And so it begins: We don’t care, we don’t have to — we’re the ministers!

You lost your job; you’re struggling to exist? We don’t care, we don’t have to — we’re the ministers! Now send in more money so we can keep our elite privileges of easy living with our Luxury Fund.

You desperately need transportation to get to work? You need new clothes because you are threadbare? You need health care you can’t afford? We don’t care, we don’t have to — we’re the ministers! Now send in more money so we can keep our elite privileges of easy living with our Luxury Fund.

You face retirement and don’t have enough? We don’t care, we don’t have to — we’re the ministers! Now send in more money so we can keep our elite privileges of easy living with our Luxury Fund — we have our own retirement to worry about.

Any problem you face, from having mentally ill teenagers, to having a teen pregnant out of wedlock, to having to live in a poor neighborhood threatened by crime? We don’t care, we don’t have to — we’re the ministers! Now send in more money so we can keep our elite privileges of easy living with our Luxury Fund.

The ministers live a life of power and privilege not accorded to the average person in the congregation. The ministers never have to pay more than one tithe: Their feasts are paid for by you, the Prole at the bottom; their homes are paid for by you, the peasant; their fleet autos are paid for by you, the untouchable. You are lower than the low. You are worth nothing. You deserve nothing. You only exist to provide for those in the lofty castes above you. Know your place: You are nothing like the ministers who are so far superior to you in every way, led from the top by the all glorious grand leader of your cult religion.

We don’t care, we don’t have to — we’re the ministers!

You need to care about us! It is your destiny! Make every sacrifice so we don’t have to make any sacrifice.

An anonymous commenter at Banned! says:

In the early 1980s, when I was attending Worldwide in Pasadena, I was hit with a stomach virus and couldn’t seem to shake it after a pretty rough couple of days. I regained enough strength to make a trip to the store for some Pepto, juice, etc. and decided to stop at the Hall of Administration to be anointed. It was a Friday afternoon.

I entered the local church office and was face to face with one of the pastors who now chairs the council of elders of one of the splinters. He was dressed casually and was sitting on the corner of a desk in the lobby, talking to someone in a side office. I knew him, said hello, told him I’d been ill and asked to be anointed. I was shocked at his response. He said they were getting ready to leave for a department camping trip that afternoon and that he was too busy, and referred me to the Church Administration office upstairs. I stared at him for a moment with, I’m sure, a look of disbelief on my face. He just looked back at me. I thought, we’re supposed to call on the elders of the church, and that’s what I’m doing, so there’s no way he could be saying no, is there? So I asked again if he could just take a minute to do this for me. He reiterated that he was too busy but that someone upstairs would be able to help. He was doing nothing, just sitting there shooting the breeze with someone else in the office. Even the look on his face let me know that he couldn’t be bothered with my request. I was stunned. I turned around slowly and left.

I very nearly walked out of the building and out of the church. Instead I went upstairs to the Church Administration office, and was able to be anointed. But the attitude of that Pasadena “pastor” was not lost on me. It was, from my experience, consistent with the attitudes of so many pastors and Pasadena department heads who regularly lorded over people with a lofty view of their titles and offices.

Over the years I began to realize that it was not possible to separate such attitudes from the doctrines and practices taught by HWA and Co. The hierarchy, the control, the capriciousness, and the downright shoddy scholarship had everything to do with what was taught and why. It appears that it continues today, which I guess shouldn’t come as a surprise. Personally, I moved on 20 years ago. It’s sad to see that people remain under the grip of such controlling tactics in the various COG organizations.

Don’t bother us — we’re busy! We are so important that you need to drop everything for what we need and want because nothing you do has any importance in the scheme of things at all.

Certainly one of the most illustrative examples of the hubris of the elite is contained in The Failed Experiment as illustrated by the treatment of 1-W Conscientious Objectors on the Ambassador College Big Sandy Campus. The stomach turning disgusting behavior of oppressing the helpless by the members of the higher class and their teen children represent some of the worst examples of humanity.

All of Armstrongism is a failed experiment: The caste system is unChristian, artificially promoting stratification of social classes where the elite does not care because it does not have to.

June 30, 2013

Hubris

Herbert Armstrong certainly had hubris, but we don’t have to recede into the past to find it: It’s right here in 2013 amongst the founders and leaders of the various sects of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong, including, but not restricted to, Davey Pack (Restored Church of God), Roderick Meredith (Living Church of God), Gerald Flurry (Philadelphia Church of God), John and Richard Rittenbaugh (Church of the Great God), Ronald Weinland (Church of God-Preaching the Kingdom of God), Robert Thiel (Continuing Church of God) and so many others, such as E. W. King and David Malm.

This is a response prompted by a comment by Bob Dixon in a previous blog entry, Monster’s Inc.:

We need a follow up story by P.T. editors to remind us of the mechanics of these monsters, as is applied to the faithful, to bring them to such condition that normal safety, reason, and logic are ignored.

In my view, it’s the fear of death, that is the root cause of all WCOG faithful. Fear of mortality. Fear is the root.

Mr. Dixon has a good thought there, and perhaps there is fear associated with the initial entry into the cult, but it is more than fear that keeps them in over time, because it is very difficult to sustain constant continuous fear over time: It’s a good initial motivator, but breaks down over time as people get used to the fear — it becomes more of a discomfort.

The thing that really does it is extreme pride and arrogance — as in “we have the truth and God will protect us and make us Kings and Priests to lord it over others in the Kingdom with power, more power than we could ever hope to have in this life time”. This arrogance is self-sustaining: Just like teenagers, there is a belief that you will live forever! Nothing can ultimately hurt you! You are going to be a winner! In spite of all the copious evidence to the contrary, you think you will come out on top: All you have to do is pay tithes, attend the Feasts and keep all those silly laws and rules your cultmeister gives you — you know, like dumping your disabled child at a shopping mall. It’s all going to work out, no matter what you do or say. That is hubris:

Hubris, also hybris, from ancient Greek, means extreme pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.

Here we are: Half of 2013 is over with already and we are heading into the hot summer of meltdown, with these cult leaders standing up and declaring how they are the greatest and how they are going to defeat all the other contenders as if they were pro wrestlers at WWE Raw. Each one struts his stuff. Davey Pack loudly declares that he’s going to be the last man standing in the churches of God, come August 30, 2013. All the rest are making similar, if not as specific claims.

This narcissism inspires confidence in the followers, just sure, in their own hubris, that they have picked the right winner. They just know that their leader is the one and only leader, bar none.

Sometimes it’s good to get the outside view from someone who doesn’t know diddly-squat about the Armstrongists — here’s a comment from one of the jurors from the Income Tax Evasion trial of Ronald Weinland:

Martin, Yes, he sure did with arrogance. It might not be verbatum but that is exactly what was expressed and or implied by Ron in his own words and actions, etc; and others in their words, whichever words he and they used in particular. Especially, in regards to being asked about how the “church money” gets distributed and spent. Obviously, the jury understood how God and “God’s money” worked. So did the judge, prosecutor, and the IRS. Fortunately, Ron forgot about Ceasar and is now paying up. Hasn’t Ron preached about the Ceasar thing? Those same principles do not apply to King Ron the God though. Do they?

Johnny H. & Steve D. both stated they just give God “God’s money” and they did not worry about how it was spent. “It’s in God’s hands.” Along with other followers on the witness stand.

Audra’s explanation on “God’s money” was “ummmm,,, huh,,, ummm, whatever my mommy or daddy tell me to do with the money.” “Whatever they tell me to pay out of whichever account.” May not be exact words, but I think the picture is clear.

Ron and others, basically stated that God told him how to spend the “church money and the jewelry and high ticket items were for bargaining in “end times”. Who in the hell needs to bargain when it is GAME OVER? What are you going to bargain for? There should be no worries or needs. Remember, it’s GAME OVER! Coincidence that Ron and Laura wind up with all the money and goodies? I think not.

All the other numb nut “church” witnesses also repeatedly stated the King Ron chain of command. #1. God followed closely with “whatever Ron says goes, because God tells Ron so.” I could see Ronnie Boy’s head swelling with a smirk in a prideful manner as they stated this. He is one ugly bald headed bastard and I would pay money just to slap the smirk off of face. If he was green he would look like an upity and cocky UFO riding alien. Wonder if BMW produces UFO’s yet?

This was established by the prosecution to show everyone how high and mighty and in charge Ron truly is in “RON’S CHURCH.” To make it very simple, Ron and/or Laura are in charge of EVERYTHING INCLUDING THE “CHURCH MONEY” AND HOW IT IS or WAS SPENT. They decide who stays and goes within THEIR CHURCH. They decide who gets the “church scholarship money.” They decide where “God” tells them to vacation and what to buy while jet setting. They decide which personal expenses God has OK’d for them to pay. They decide who the elders and what-not are. They decided God told them to install alarm systems and buy Victoria Secret panties. So yes, the chain of command is God then Ron. God was unable to show up to testify. I am not exactly sure if Laura does not out rank Ron in the Kingdom though. She was declared one of the two witnesses. Just another coincidence? Probably.

It was very clear that Ron and God made all of the decisions together, especially when it was related to money. Remember, Martin, God reveals all to Ronnie Boy. Guess Ron figured the two witness deal, and end time prophet junk so why not lay it out there. I think Ron and his legal defense team thought this might help him to show how devoted and crazy he really is. The thought crossed my mind wondering if Ron truly believes his own bullshit and he really was that crazy. Nah, he is just a lying, money grubbing con-artist that knows exactly what he is doing while disguising it with God told me so religion, but still trying to lie his way out of it all. Shear acts of desperation from a thief con who got caught.

No one else in the court room could believe the crazy sh!t we were hearing either. Unimaginable. Bottom line, we didn’t believe it as the results show. Ron’s will…… Opps! I mean God’s Will was completely simple regarding the God in Ron’s head yet utterly unbelievable and bank account shuffling complex at the same time. Ron thinks he is God. The Money God anyway. Buzz…… eerrrnt….eerrrnt! WRONG ANSWER! NOW GO TO JAIL!

It should be noted here that the PKG members continue to follow Ronald Weinland, even though he has been proved to be a false prophet beyond a reasonable doubt and is now in Federal Prison as a felon for Income Tax Evasion. Many have been puzzled why more PKG members simply don’t leave, but it appears that they are quite comfortable with the arrangement of his being their “pastor” even though he is locked up for committing a crime. They are just sure when Jesus returns on Pentecost, they will be big winners. It’s hubris.

Herbert Armstrong did start all this, of course. In his manic state, he would go out and spend $68,000 on tableware from Harrod’s and then send out a coworker letter proclaiming that THE VERY WORK OF GOD IS GOING DOWN AND THE WORK NEEDS YOUR MONEY!!!!! No money would have been needed if he hadn’t spent it on worthless baubles — well, not worthless worthless, but you know what we mean. He typically took $50,000 in cash with him on his forays. His family wanted to go sailing while they were on the Riviera, so he rented a yacht for them. Then there was the $5 million divorce which helped Herb on his spending spree of $2 billion to $4 billion during his lifetime — and now, nothing is left of all he spent. By 1979, some of the WCG members had had enough and John Tuit initiated a lawsuit which led to the receivership. The idea was to bring accountability to the Worldwide Church of God, but in the end, Herbert Armstrong lied, circled the wagons and won.

That’s the thing: Herbert Armstrong carried on outrageous behavior and won. In his hubris, those who followed him saw that he was a winner — a sort of “underdog” — and saw him as their leader and champion. Thus it was that they inherited hubris and those who followed on in his footsteps — whether it was the Tkaches or the Cult of Herbert Armstrong spitoffs, they all carried on the hubris — starting with the leaders, flowing down to the members who became all too comfortable in their extreme pride and arrogance. It’s no wonder they all throw rocks at each other and declare the others as “Laodocean”, rich and increased in goods, while the accusers of the “brethren” are so confident in their hubris that they and they alone are “Philadelphian” — when they are actually nothing at all and not even Christian in their Olde Testament Christianity.

Into this mix came Ronald Weinland, who, in his hubris, decided he could follow the outrageous example of Herbert Armstrong to spend millions of dollars that weren’t really his (or more accurately, did not declare that were his on his income tax returns). He bought a BMW for his son in the United States and shipped it to Germany where his son was on a “scholarship” from the PKG (the only one ever issued). He bought another BMW in Germany and had it shipped to the United States. He also bought another BMW for his daughter and paid for her apartment — all on church money, undeclared as income tax. His wife bought from Victoria’s Secret. Ronald and Laura went on cruises at a time they were pushing for “the end of the work” and demanding that their followers make sacrifices to send more money. They lived it up in Las Vegas, five star restaurants and accommodations. Meanwhile, Weinland had written a book, “The Final Witness” declaring false prophecies which would certainly have caused normal people to leave in droves. It may have been hubris for Ronald Weinland and his family to spend $3.5 million of church money on themselves, but it is hubris for the members to continue the Weinlands even after Ronald Weinland was proved to be a false prophet, no fewer than three times (oops! missed the date again… well, maybe next year), and after he was convicted of felony for evading Income Taxes. The jurors at his trial were outraged by his hubris.

There isn’t much that will ignite the fire of indignation better than being defiant with arrogance in the face of civil authorities. Those of us who sat in the court room for the hearing to provide relief from a stalker in United were appalled at the behavior of the two deacons, deaconess and elder from the UCG as they treated the judge with contempt as though he was a nothing underling they could push around as if he were a lowly church member: The judge would have none of it, threatened them with clearing the court room and they almost ended up with a charge of contempt of court. They had no fear.

The leaders of the CoHA have no fear, but if they really believed Scripture, they would be terrified! They would fear for their lives! They would know for a certainty that they were headed for the Lake of Fire! Nonetheless, they act as if they are Special and as if there is no God. This applies to the members as well as the leaders: They think they can get away with their extreme arrogance and pride. They are filled with hubris.

Occam’s Razor prompts us to lean to the most simple explanation: In this case, it is not fear, it is hubris.

As long as the members of this cult association possess hubris, they will never leave, for they feel they can safely ignore Scripture when it says: “From Such Turn Away!”

The problem is that these extremely arrogant members are filled with pride and will continue to stay, no matter what, in their hubris.

It’s not In God We Trust, it’s In Hubris We Trust.

April 7, 2013

While the actor Johnny Depp was still a bachelor, a single man asked him if he could give advice on dating and Johnny Depp’s response was something like:

Don’t ask me, I don’t know, I’m as screwed up as everybody else.

It’s a good honest answer of the sort we wish we could get from the leaders and ministers of the Cult of Herbert Armstrong: Herbert Armstrong never gave such answers himself — being a “know it all” kind of End Time Apostle — and his followers since have followed in the same rut he established decades ago in the last century, being full of instant answers backed by booklets, literature, magazines and websites of every stripe answering every kind of question and even answering quite a few that were never asked, projecting full confidence that their answers are all true, useful, scientific and unassailable.

The Cult of Herbert Armstrong is full of itself, puffed up in full arrogance, confident in its overweening ego, that the only truth is here with them and you dare not go anywhere else because, if you do, disasters will surely follow, you will be in deep trouble, you will have terrible problems, living in want and fear with no one to rescue you: You will be sorry, because you should have listened! The entire venue is designed to put you in fear so you will submit to the superiority of those who dominate and manipulate you. These self-made Gurus are experts in every subject — at least every subject of any importance. They are the only ones with wisdom and knowledge of any use.

These arrogant Gurus suck you in with something you’ve never thought of, attracting you with curiosity, snaring you initially with something you agree and believe in, gaining your trust with something familiar and then leading you down the primrose path of kook insanity.

Here is an analogy which may help you understand the process:

The world is NOT Flat!!!! We can prove that the earth is absolutely NOT Flat!!!! Brethren (gaining your trust by sucking you into the conspiracy of the brotherhood), you KNOW what I am saying is true!!!! You KNOW I have the truth!!!! You all know (making you part of a collective) the Earth is not flat!!!! People who tell you the earth is flat are WRONG!!!! They know it is wrong, yet they continue to spread this terrible lie!!! I can prove the world is not flat!! You know what I say is true!!! Haven’t you wondered about this truth???!!!? Have you proved it for yourself???!!!?? Write for our free booklets, The Earth is NOT Flat and Seven Proofs the Earth is not Flat! You need this information, never brought to you before!! For 1900 years, this truth has been hidden — a few have known — but now you can know!!! There is no obligation, no one will call on you — it is all free of charge.

Now you know the world is not flat, but did you know that the sun revolves around the earth???!!!??? You may not have thought about it, but you see it every day: The sun comes up over the horizon of the round earth and runs its course in the heavens and sets in the West!!! You’ve never heard this truth before! Scientists are trying to cover this up! But don’t believe me, believe your Bible! The Earth is round and it is in the center of the Universe because God has chosen us to make us gods! I am the only one with this truth! You can become God as God is God, but only if you believe in the truth of key to Godhood, which is that the sun revolves around the earth!!!! Be sure to write for our free booklet, You can become God because the Sun Revolves Around the Earth!

This is all delivered with confidence to the point of arrogance so you will believe that he believes and in believing he believes, you will believe.

Johnny Depp said:

I think everybody’s nuts.

There may be some truth to that.

Consider the absolute arrogance of a man who belongs to an organization and then begins to think that he, and he alone, has been touched by God with an understanding that no one else has, and his mission is now to go forth to preach this new truth to everyone, no matter how silly and stupid it is. Often, this “revelation” is accompanied by a psychotic break, leading to the manic phase of the bipolar disease cycle. This self-styled Guru will insist that he was humbled — a recounting of his initial depression — where he was nothing but “burned out junk”, but when the manic phase kicks in, he will be able to recount the “joy” that his God has renewed him and given him a spirit of understanding that others do not have. And then we are off and running.

Even as unqualified as our new Guru may be, steeped in arrogant incompetence, he manages to dig himself deeper into his pit of arrogance studying without any real understanding of subjects he’s undertaken in his pursuit of his new “truth”. He’s already lost his business / job. He is mentally incapacitated. Yet he is self-deluded that he’s been given brilliance given to him by the endorphins stimulated by sleep deprivation in his manic mode. He has “up” times and he has “down” times. Sometimes the “down” times leave him in such a state of depression he can’t even get out of bed, or, if he does, he won’t be up until mid afternoon. He can disappear and be unavailable for weeks at a time, shunning human contact or at least severely limiting it. After months of this, he finally emerges fully engaged in arrogant narcissism to take on the world as some new savior just emerging from his cocoon. He then thunders his message to the world. Or if he’s like Robert Thiel, he does significant squeaking.

The problem is that arrogance is infectious, like a virus that mutates as it is transmitted from person to person. Once caught, the arrogance does its damage and often becomes chronic. Now when it is transmitted from Guru to simple follower it is transmogrified to be an arrogance that the follower now knows special secret knowledge — but much less than the Guru. This sort of infection makes the follower proud, but it also propels him or her to infect others, but in the process, the followers do not gain infected followers for themselves, but direct the newly diseased to the Guru.

Moreover, the Guru, finding a modest success in infecting others through his arrogance and making them arrogant themselves, but still subservient to him as “Patient Zero”, he trains some of a small cadre of followers in his special laboratory of infectious virtual mental disease to be special carriers of the virus of arrogance. These manifest the disease with different symptoms: They are special and seize arrogant power over the followers of the Guru while remaining in his domain of disease. They lord it over the followers as being superior by virtue of the fact that they know more crap than the follower simpletons do and the followers are impressed with the advanced qualities of the leaders as being superior to them.

It should be noted that this sort of arrogance of ignorance is widely spread. According to the Watchers of Deniers, scientific literacy has reached ever plunging lows showing that United States Adults and Students believe:

Sound travels faster than light (14%);
Disagree that the center of the earth is very hot (20%);
Disagree that the Earth goes around the Sun once a year (33%);
Disagree that astrology is not at all scientific (41%);
Think antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria (45%);
Think that ordinary tomatoes do not have genes but genetically modified tomatoes do (49%).

According to the article — to be much more clear — one-third of of American Adults / Students believe the Sun revolves around the Earth.

Really.

They believe.

33%

We’re stunned.

Very disturbing.

Imagine if you must, how much damage an arrogant Guru can do?

Imagine if you must, how much damage an arrogant Guru can do by inducing his followers to believe in British Israelism as the Key to Prophecy — managing to get all of the prophecies wrong — but having the followers believe that he is the End Time Elijah, which we must point out, that Elijah was a prophet, so no matter how you slice it, Herbert Armstrong actually was a false prophet.

There is, however, a built in mechanism to defend the arrogance of the leader, authorities and followers against being inoculated with the truth: Bald face arrogant lies. The Fragmentation of a Sect: Schism in the Worldwide Church of God by Dr. David V. Barrett quotes Richard Nichols, Herbert Armstrong and Richard T. Rittenbaugh to show how this works:

The offshoots deal with the problem of Armstrong’s failed prophecies in different ways. Richard C. Nickles, of Giving and Sharing Ministry, quotes Armstrong himself from an early World Tomorrow radio broadcast:

A terrible famine is coming on the United States, that is going to ruin us as a nation inside of less than twenty more years. Alright, I stuck my neck out right there. You just wait twenty years and see whether I told you the truth. God says, if a man tells you what’s going to happen, wait and see. If it doesn’t happen, he was not speaking the word of God, he’s speaking out of his own mind. If it happens, you know God sent him.

Nickels comments, “The twenty years is long past! Herbert Armstrong labeled himself a false prophet.”

But Richard T. Ritenbaugh, of the Church of the Great God, comes to a different conclusion. Although he accepts that Armstrong “made many predictions during his ministry, and many of them have not come to pass. Some were plain wrong. Some were vague. Some were specific,” he then argues:

So what are all those predictions Herbert Armstrong made? Rather than call them prophecies (which they were not) and him a false prophet (which he was not), his predictions were more correctly speculations, theories based on true but insufficient and unclear evidence. Speculation is not sin.

It is if you sign it “In Jesus’ Name”.

Richard T. Rittenbaugh.

Liar.

What a Dick.

At minimum, a religious leader that makes wild prognostications [make that read: Prophecies] which do not come to pass, simply cannot be trusted to get anything right [make that read: Is a false prophet]. Read 1975 in Prophecy again [published in 1956] and if you aren’t embarrassed to have believed it at some point, there’s something seriously wrong with you.

It is arrogance that moves the leaders to declare that white is black, black is white, lies are truth, truth is lies, love is hate, hate is love, poverty is prosperity, prosperity is poverty, speculation isn’t prophecies and that failed prophecies don’t make a man a false prophet, but it gets worse, because if it were just the arrogance of the leaders, the membership would bolt like scared rabbits.

It is arrogance that keeps the members in place, even after their leader is proved to be wrong, a false prophet, crazy and even a convicted felon. Members of Ronald Weinland’s Church of God – Preaching the Kingdom of God (PKG) continue to not just follow him but continue to give him their money so his wife can go travelling, buy underwear from Victoria Secret and have all those diamonds she sports, even as he sits in prison for Income Tax Evasion as a convicted felon. He isn’t going anywhere for the next three years and neither are his followers. They believe in him. They lap up all the crap he spews at them. They won’t leave. They continue to defend him, even though his absolute set dates (multiple and progressive) for the return of Jesus Christ come and go, come and go and still, no Jesus. The next date is coming up less than 50 days from now. It too, will come and go, but the PKG membership will stay because of their infernal arrogance. They will not admit they are wrong. They will not change. They don’t stop following their false prophet proved wrong again and again. That takes a LOT of arrogance.

History has repeated itself: You just wait twenty years and see whether I told you the truth. God says, if a man tells you what’s going to happen, wait and see. If it doesn’t happen, he was not speaking the word of God, he’s speaking out of his own mind. If it happens, you know God sent him. The only thing that is different is the time period. Ronald Weinland said essentially the same thing. He’s proved himself a false prophet. Since the other Cult of Herbert Armstrong sects have been making the same prophecies (but most don’t set specific dates — it’s always 5 to 7 years away), they too are false prophets. Ronald Weinland is just one who’s the worst one caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Roderick Meredith has been able to be a false prophet for 60 years — a record hardly anyone in the CoHA sects can rival, but he keeps going on and on and on (he may die shortly, so if he does before this article is published, I apologize, but, after all, I didn’t prophesy it, one way or another).

The arrogance of the leaders and the membership is asinine, but one man, Dixon Cartwright, has put together The Journal which manages to keep the arrogance alive and prosper in one place. He knows that most of the stuff in the rag is pure drivel, but he publishes it anyway. He gives nearly everyone to have a dialog, even though it should be obvious they are spewing. The Journal actively supports and promotes arrogance in its own way, to keep the arrogance alive, thereby giving the arrogant advertisers opportunity to promote their emphatic empathy entropy and the writers an opportunity to have arguments which are totally meaningless given that the assumptions upon which they are based are quite daft. There is month after month, page after page publications of stupidity disguised as arrogant confidence.

No one is about to give up the arrogance. It holds everything and everybody in place. It is the glue that holds the cultists together, except they aren’t glued together, they are screwed together — but they are too bull headed to admit there’s anything wrong with their wrong headed religion. It can’t work and it doesn’t, but they aren’t about to admit it because of their arrogance, so the dysfunctional disease continues unabated. A few escape, but often it takes quite a lot at the personal level to prompt them to leave when they get to the point they just can’t stand it any more.

And after they do leave, they look back at the arrogant “friends” and “family” they left behind, with their glorious erstwhile leaders, and see, even if not perceive, the great arrogance of the cult which held them prisoners for so long.

There are over 7 billion people on planet earth. Each one of us is just a small part of a giant crowd. Very few rise to the level of being noticed — but what if, what if, you had something that distinguished you as special? Suppose you had secret knowledge? Suppose that you were one of just a small few that was selected of God to have truth that no one else has? Suppose that you could feel different, special, superior? Suppose that you are so very special that you have the entitlement to be arrogant? Suppose you will become a king, priest, god, to lord over all your former critics, enemies and those who don’t even notice you, let alone pay any attention to you? You can now ignore science. You can now ignore the experts. You can now ignore anyone who disagrees with you. You can remain confident that you are better than anyone else (except your Guru and his appointees) and no one can tell you anything. You are right and everyone else is wrong. You are better. You are superior. Soon, the whole world will see how special you are. You will be validated. You are a winner!

This is really heady stuff. It is the stuff of arrogance. It is for losers.

If you need to know, the earth is not flat and the earth revolves around the sun.

The rest you should be able to figure out for yourself if you’re not too arrogant.