By CW, (Contributing Writer )
If you’re not one who has ever been a follower of Armstrongism, trying to understand someone who does can be perplexing. It doesn’t matter what old covenant believing organization one gravitates to; the question is why?
I can’t speak for everyone, but my granddad (pre-HWA), my mother and others I know of, started from a singular point. And it’s the (what Armstrongites call the “worldly”) churches that created the trap these people fell into. However good an external law the Ten Commandments may be, the fact that these churches teach that they are God’s eternal law start the dominoes tumbling. And calling Sunday the Sabbath makes the trap complete.
The story goes that my Granddad looked at the list of commands and noticed that Sabbath keeping is commanded. He reasoned that he should keep it as God instructed. The next domino was the realization that human beings had changed the Sabbath to another day. My Granddad thought to himself,”How can I see this obvious irregularity and other Christians don’t?” At this point his entire mindset was primed, he had swallowed the bait and the next domino was about to fall.
My Granddad continued reasoning to himself that if Christians are wrong about the Sabbath, they could be wrong about everything. What he was seeing, to him was willful disobedience, and the disobedient cannot be of God. Now he questioned how he came to have the scales removed from his eyes, and virtually everyone else was still blind. “Wow,” he said to himself, only God can do this; I must be specially chosen. Feeling special, he vowed to be worthy of this unique calling, and diligently obey every detail of the law.
Granddad was so overwrought by the apparent rebellion of the church, where he was a longtime member and a deacon, that he wrote a dissertation on the need to obey God by keeping the correct day as Sabbath, and he nailed it to the front door of his church, much to my Grandmothers embarrassment.
What is obsolete & aging will soon disappear.
Armstrong doctrine has certain pillars of belief that are used to interpret everything else in the bible. One such belief is the idea that the “spiritual law” the Ten Commandments, holy days etc. are separate from the “ceremonial law.” A handful of verses that appear to back up the idea that the eternal law of God is the Ten Commandments outweigh all other evidence in the eyes of followers of Armstrong theology. ‘Never mind’ that everything preceding Ex 24:3 is referred to in the oath that Israel took upon entering into the old covenant, "Everything the LORD has said, we will do." This is repeated in v.24:7 before the covenant (contract) was sealed with animal blood. Also ‘never mind’ that the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments (Deut 10:4), are the tablets of the covenant, Deut 9:9-11.
In the minds of Armstrong followers the old covenant is embodied in the “ceremonial law.” Therefore, Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear, to them means only the rituals/ceremonies are done away. Since Hebrews focuses on the discontinuation of rituals, this is seen as proof that the remainder of the Law is still in effect. They’ll read right over Heb 9:19 When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. I suppose they would prefer this to read “When Moses had proclaimed every ritual of the ceremonial law," but it doesn't. The Ten Commandments are part of the old covenant.
The old law is good (Rom 7: 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.). Paul said It is holy and good because it fulfills a purpose (Rom 3:20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.). God gave a concrete set of external examples to reveal the state of the inner person. Armstrongites say, “If the law is good it must still be required.” Paul wrote in Gal 4:4 (But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law,). The Armstrongites say, (Jesus kept the law, so we should too). That law remained in effect until it was finished by Jesus’ death on the cross. So yes, he did keep it, and he did so, perfectly, so we could move on to the higher law. Rom 13:8, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Check out some of the lists of wickedness like 1Cor 6:9; Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
This covers a few things the Ten Commandments do not. But there are plenty of other pre Ex 24 scriptures that do, and there’s nothing ceremonial about them. It's funny how people who think they must keep Old Testament law pick and choose what part of the law is to be kept. James 3:10 says: For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
The next ‘proof’, of the old testament law still being in effect, quoted by the Armstrong followers is: Matt 5:17" Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen; will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Rom 14:23 everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
Because my Granddad believed in Old Testament law, he was always harsh, a stickler for the rules. Unforgiving, and unbending, he grew old and bitter in his legalism. His children ended up resenting him, having grown up fearing him, and his justice. This isn’t always the case, but like Granddad, Old Testament law is harsh and unforgiving. He became like the law he believed in.
Gal 5:14 the entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
You may also want to read: 'Ron Weinland's Imperfect Law and God's Law...A Must Read!
Even Jesus himself observed Gods laws and annual holy days??