Two Men in Suits Target Me
So yesterday my wife and I went shopping for much needed household organizational goods, when my poor girl starts feeling ill. She asked me to drop her off at home so she could rest on the couch. I did so knowing I a little relaxation would be just what the doctor ordered. Now, I need to be careful how I write this, because I know my baby is going to read this - my woman is very particular about the aesthetic qualities of things we bring into our house. Long story short, the risk - I would shop for hours, bring home stuff, then go right out the door and return most to all of it. We decided to shop via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) - in other words, pic messaging. Technology can be really awesome, because it worked! If I was interested in an item, I would pic message it to Amy (from multiple angles) for her approval. It worked beautifully. I thank God for little technologies like that. We didn't have them until recently.
My last stop was Target. I was in the middle of snapping a picture or the entire coat-rack/hanger aisle, when two young men in suits approached me. They asked me if I wanted to take a survey. The first thought that popped into my mind was "Uh oh, survey? Yeah right.", followed by "I bet these are Mormon Missionaries", then finally "Why are they doing this in a Target Store?". Not wanting to be rude or disrespectful I uttered "Sure", though I could have just said "No Thanks" and continued shopping. Turns out this was not a survey, no surprises there. They asked me if I believed in God. So I responded, "Yes, I am a Christian". Then they surprised me by telling me that God has a wife, a "Heavenly Mother", that it is in the Bible, and that belief in "Her" is required to go to Heaven too. I wish I would have recorded my own facial expression (it probably would have looked something like "C'mon really?").
They asked me "Can we show you in the Bible where it says this?" At this point, I had to know what they were reading and how they came to this conclusion, so I said "OK." They jumped around the New Testament, the Torah, Prophets, etc. showing me verses about the New Jerusalem, the Bride, Eve, and so on. I have read and studied these verses for years. I can - I feel, without arrogance, say that the claims they were making about these verses were wrong. They were out of context, and their interpretations - wildly extrapolated. I tried to tell them all of this in a calm and respectful tone. They were obviously going by a very tight "script" so they kept trying to up there game, and other really odd doctrines and practices started coming out of their mouths. At one, point I asked: "So what are you guys?". They said, non-denominational Christians.
I had gotten really tired of this conversation and arguing, at this point I really wanted to keep shopping for our coat rack. One of the guys said would you like to join our Bible Study to learn more about Heavenly Mother? I replied, "No thanks, I'm going to pass". They weren't too happy about that. The guy asked if he could give me my number if I had any questions. I said "No thanks. If I have anymore questions, I will research this on my own first. That is my style." "Research, how are you going to do that?" he asked. I said "Google". The other guy who was more the understudy asked me "Google? Did Jesus have Google?" I thought that was pretty funny, although he was quite serious. I answered "Jesus did not need google (He is God's Son after all). God was Jesus' google." (I hope you readers giggled at that one). I then told them that whenever people make claims like this outside of mainstream Christianity, it sends a big red flag in the air for me. The Bible is a very old book (although timelessly valuable, life-giving , and relevant) written originally in another language and culture. When one cherry picks verses and comes to "unorthodox" conclusions, one needs to step back, read the verses in context. Then look at the original language - what did it say there? Was the verse written for a very specific purpose at the time, or is it for us now? Is it most likely literal or metaphorical? When one makes a claim based off of Bible verses, it needs to be researched, shaken down, and reviewed by experts and theologians as well, ideally. More information about the Bible exists today than ever before, and it is at our fingertips. They did not like any of what I said.
So they gave up on me, but as they were leaving they said, "By the way, did you know that Christ's Second Coming actually happened in 1949 in South Korea in the form of a man named Ahnsahnghong?" So much for a "Non-Denominational" Church. I did "google" their claims the next day, and these guys were not non-denominational. They are from a church called "World Mission Society". It appears to be a fringe off-shoot of a Seventh Day Adventist movement.
So they pretty much lied to my face.
Cults are something I am not directly familiar with in my own upbringing, but they are all around us. Some would say that all religions are cults after-all What is the difference? That is a good questions and probably warrants another journal entry. What I do know and have seen are that most cults are off-shoots of a tested and orthodox belief system. These off-shoots are usually started by clever and charismatic human beings who twist a truth or a tenant so subtly that it appears to be legitimate. These "twistings" or subtle perversions of truth have seduced generations of well-meaning families and have cost them their money, their relationships with their kids, their psychological sanity, and in the worst case their lives. Cults are very dangerous, so I do not take them lightly, but I really feel compassion needs to be had on their victims. I feel for those two men in suits, because they are not just brainwashed door-to-door salesmen. They are people. So in one hand I feel the need to defend myself, in the other I feel the need to be compassionate.
My last stop was Target. I was in the middle of snapping a picture or the entire coat-rack/hanger aisle, when two young men in suits approached me. They asked me if I wanted to take a survey. The first thought that popped into my mind was "Uh oh, survey? Yeah right.", followed by "I bet these are Mormon Missionaries", then finally "Why are they doing this in a Target Store?". Not wanting to be rude or disrespectful I uttered "Sure", though I could have just said "No Thanks" and continued shopping. Turns out this was not a survey, no surprises there. They asked me if I believed in God. So I responded, "Yes, I am a Christian". Then they surprised me by telling me that God has a wife, a "Heavenly Mother", that it is in the Bible, and that belief in "Her" is required to go to Heaven too. I wish I would have recorded my own facial expression (it probably would have looked something like "C'mon really?").
They asked me "Can we show you in the Bible where it says this?" At this point, I had to know what they were reading and how they came to this conclusion, so I said "OK." They jumped around the New Testament, the Torah, Prophets, etc. showing me verses about the New Jerusalem, the Bride, Eve, and so on. I have read and studied these verses for years. I can - I feel, without arrogance, say that the claims they were making about these verses were wrong. They were out of context, and their interpretations - wildly extrapolated. I tried to tell them all of this in a calm and respectful tone. They were obviously going by a very tight "script" so they kept trying to up there game, and other really odd doctrines and practices started coming out of their mouths. At one, point I asked: "So what are you guys?". They said, non-denominational Christians.
I had gotten really tired of this conversation and arguing, at this point I really wanted to keep shopping for our coat rack. One of the guys said would you like to join our Bible Study to learn more about Heavenly Mother? I replied, "No thanks, I'm going to pass". They weren't too happy about that. The guy asked if he could give me my number if I had any questions. I said "No thanks. If I have anymore questions, I will research this on my own first. That is my style." "Research, how are you going to do that?" he asked. I said "Google". The other guy who was more the understudy asked me "Google? Did Jesus have Google?" I thought that was pretty funny, although he was quite serious. I answered "Jesus did not need google (He is God's Son after all). God was Jesus' google." (I hope you readers giggled at that one). I then told them that whenever people make claims like this outside of mainstream Christianity, it sends a big red flag in the air for me. The Bible is a very old book (although timelessly valuable, life-giving , and relevant) written originally in another language and culture. When one cherry picks verses and comes to "unorthodox" conclusions, one needs to step back, read the verses in context. Then look at the original language - what did it say there? Was the verse written for a very specific purpose at the time, or is it for us now? Is it most likely literal or metaphorical? When one makes a claim based off of Bible verses, it needs to be researched, shaken down, and reviewed by experts and theologians as well, ideally. More information about the Bible exists today than ever before, and it is at our fingertips. They did not like any of what I said.
So they gave up on me, but as they were leaving they said, "By the way, did you know that Christ's Second Coming actually happened in 1949 in South Korea in the form of a man named Ahnsahnghong?" So much for a "Non-Denominational" Church. I did "google" their claims the next day, and these guys were not non-denominational. They are from a church called "World Mission Society". It appears to be a fringe off-shoot of a Seventh Day Adventist movement.
So they pretty much lied to my face.
- Would you like to take a survey?
- We are a non-denominational church
Cults are something I am not directly familiar with in my own upbringing, but they are all around us. Some would say that all religions are cults after-all What is the difference? That is a good questions and probably warrants another journal entry. What I do know and have seen are that most cults are off-shoots of a tested and orthodox belief system. These off-shoots are usually started by clever and charismatic human beings who twist a truth or a tenant so subtly that it appears to be legitimate. These "twistings" or subtle perversions of truth have seduced generations of well-meaning families and have cost them their money, their relationships with their kids, their psychological sanity, and in the worst case their lives. Cults are very dangerous, so I do not take them lightly, but I really feel compassion needs to be had on their victims. I feel for those two men in suits, because they are not just brainwashed door-to-door salesmen. They are people. So in one hand I feel the need to defend myself, in the other I feel the need to be compassionate.