24AR29-06

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AR 29:6 - The rise and demise of Armstrongism

In this issue:

QI GONG - beneficial to health, or rightly condemned as "cultic?"

VIRTUAL REALITY - "The promise is in direct proportion to the peril"

WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD - J. Gordon Melton considers its demise

Apologia Report 29:6 (1,647)
February 7, 2024

QI GONG

Christianity Today (Oct 31 '23) interviews "a Christian pastor, an author, and scholars from mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore" in: "Qi Gong: A Form of Exercise, or a Doorway into the Spiritual World?" -- Isabel Ong begins her piece from a historical perspective. "In the 1980s the practice of Qi Gong became widespread in China, with more than 60 million practitioners at one point, according to Pew Research Center's study <www.tinyurl.com/yc2vvssy> on religion in the country. ...

   "Qi Gong incorporates a mix of meditation and breathing exercises accompanied by a series of languid movements or static postures. The Chinese character for qi (气) refers to energy or life force, while gong (功) refers to cultivating a skill.

   "The practice was touted by Chinese officials and scientists for its health benefits and was not regarded as a religion or a superstition but as a 'precious scientific heritage,' Pew researchers said.

   "However, Qi Gong is not free of religious meaning and is imbued with Buddhist and Daoist (Taoist) influences, argues Hsiao Guang (a pseudonym), a former Qi Gong master from China who converted to Christianity and wrote a book, <www.tinyurl.com/2ehzw6jf> first published in simplified Chinese in 1998, that examined the practice's cultural, social, and spiritual roots. ...

   "Qi Gong is also commonly considered a form of traditional Chinese medicine since it is used to promote healing. And it serves as the foundation for tai chi and other types of martial arts, where practitioners are often trained to concentrate on building qi (or chi) in particular muscles to increase strength and resistance.

   "Yet for all the popularity Qi Gong has enjoyed through the years, it has not escaped controversy. The Falun Gong movement, which the Chinese government banned in 1999, grew out of its founder Li Hongzhi's experience in Qi Gong. The movement is also regarded as a cult, as Li brands himself as a deity superior to Jesus and Buddha." <www.tinyurl.com/AR-on-Falun-Gong>

   The interview's goal is to consider "any prevailing misconceptions about Qi Gong that need to be addressed, and what the Bible has to say about this practice." Responses begin by addressing conflicts and end with areas of agreement followed by extensive elaboration (but no concluding summary). <www.tinyurl.com/mvmdjjr8>

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VIRTUAL REALITY

"Through the Digital Veil: Inside the World of VR Meditation" by Ross Nervig (Lion's Roar, Oct 13 '23) -- Assistant editor Nervig narrates: "I'm meeting with Jeremy Nickel, an executive at Tripp, a VR meditation app that offers 'mesmerizing worldscapes,' 'guided visualizations,' and 'captivating breathing exercises.' ...

   "The first place Nickel takes me is to the Zen garden. ... I turn around in a full circle, taking it all in. It's not perfect. Nobody would mistake this for the real deal, but there is a certain tranquility to the space. It's peaceful enough to make me forget that I'm wearing a brick-like pair of VR goggles on my face and holding controllers in my hands. ...

   "While VR remains almost totally the domain of the gaming industry, a few contemplative organizations like Tripp <tripp.com> have carved out spaces where VR users can learn about and practice meditation.  ...

   "I think people in this [VR] world really know they need meditation, but they don't know how to get it.

   "The people who are using our app are not the people you usually see in Buddhist communities." He continues. "They're younger, they're more male. ...

   "We enter the temple. It's empty right now, but during sessions it fills with avatars, some looking like cartoon versions of their human counterparts, others sporting purple skin, green mohawks, and robes the color of the cosmos. ...

   "Tripp also offers 'Enlighten,' a collection of teachings from accomplished mindfulness instructors, as well as 'Connect,' where VR users interested in meditation can gather together for live teachings, real-time meditation sessions, and discussions around the finer points of practice. ...

   "The CEO of Tripp, Nanea Reeves, has a term I love: the 'digital veil.' You start to realize people are more real in virtual reality than they are in physical reality because of the digital veil protecting them. ...

   "The final stop on our tour is a simulation of the 'overview effect.' The overview effect is a paradigm shift that occurs for some astronauts who've been able to view the earth from outer space."

   Buddhist teacher Andrew Holecek too "sees VR as a boon for teachers trying to reach new meditators. 'When there's no cultural adaptation taking place, that's how traditions go extinct. If you don't adapt, you die. This is an all-hands-on-deck time. This is not the time to sit back and watch with caution. Why not engage virtual reality as a skillful means instead of putting your head in the sand and hoping your tradition will maintain itself?'

   "VR can teach us about our relationship to reality, whatever that is," says Jordan Quaglia, associate professor of psychology at Naropa University. "Whether lucidity is cultivated in dreams or waking experience or in virtual experiences, they all point to a similar truth - our relationship to reality isn't just happening to us. It is a more creative process that we can actively participate in.

   "According to Holecek, 'One of the ways VR can help us understand the nature of reality is through seeing the process of how we construct it, how we get lost or immersed in the display.'

   "But when I ask Holecek about the dangers of VR in meditation, he says: 'The promise is in direct proportion to the peril.'

   "Driven by money, operators in the VR industry are trying to muscle their way into the attention economy. Developers feel pressure to gamify and commodify the experiences they create. As Quaglia says, 'The companies creating these headsets are, to some degree, invested in the opposite of what we value as contemplative practitioners.'

   "I think with any technology, whether it's VR or anything else, there's a danger that the medium becomes the method,' says Haley." <www.tinyurl.com/27uxxsey>

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WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD

"Worldwide Church of God dissolves, leaving replica splinter groups in its wake" - Religion Watch, 38:12 (2023) -- "While the Worldwide Church of God no longer exists after the schisms and scandals this new religious movement experienced in the 1980s and '90s, its offshoots continue to preserve important features of the movement and show some growth, writes J. Gordon Melton in the Journal of CESNUR (September/October), published <www.tinyurl.com/mr2c79rn> by the Center on New Religions in Italy. Once considered a 'cult,' largely because of its heterodox teachings (such as denying the trinity) and connections to the British Israelite movement (which claims that the direct descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel are in the UK), the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) experienced a downward trajectory starting in the 1980s, mainly related to scandals involving then-leader Garner Ted Armstrong. The WCG's successor subsequently downplayed the church's distinctive teachings, resulting in more schisms and defections, according to Melton. Moving the WCG in an evangelical Christian direction, most of its followers and leaders reacted by deserting the church for splinter groups that tried to preserve the original WCG teachings.

   "Tracking down offshoots like the Philadelphia Church of God, United Church of God, Church of God AWA, and Grace Communion International, Melton finds that they have each tried to recreate the WCG, even publishing large circulation magazines modeled after the movement's original publication, <www.tinyurl.com/mr3hxuwr> The Plain Truth. Some of these groups, such as the Philadelphia Church of God, have sought to reissue founder Herbert W. Armstong's book [entitled Mystery of the Ages] after it was rejected by the WCG, kicking off a huge legal battle. Among the splinter groups, the most liberal has been the Living Church, which is moving closer to mainstream evangelicalism. ... Melton concludes that each of the four groups started with a relatively small membership (in the 5,000 to 20,000 range) and that they have collectively grown to more than 100,000." <www.tinyurl.com/ycy8cfn2>

Melton's unique summary of the WCG's demise includes a section with the heading "Joseph Tkach." It begins: "[Herbert W.] Armstrong died in 1986. He overrode any possible action by the church's Council of Elders to seize control, and appointed Joseph W. Tkach, Sr. (1927–1995) as his successor. Initially, Tkach was seen as inheriting all of Armstrong's autocratic powers to rule the church. Over the next few years, however, he was deeply affected by the theological critique of the WCoG's unique teachings by representatives of the Evangelical Christian counter-cult movement (Tucker 1989, Feazell 2003). Once convinced of the error of Armstrong's distinctive interpretations of the Bible, Tkach slowly informed the church's leaders of his conclusions and began the withdrawal of Armstrong's many publications from distribution. By the mid-1990s, he had moved the church into the orthodox Evangelical camp (Tkach 1997).

   "His actions created a crisis for the church's ministers and members. Should they continue to follow HWA's stance, which they had been teaching for decades, or should they support the man Armstrong appointed to lead them? Most chose the teachings, and through the mid-1990s the WCoG splintered. In the midst of the splintering, Tkach died, and was succeeded in office by his son Joseph Tkach, Jr. The younger Tkach continued the direction set by his father and in 1997, he led those who remained loyal to the WCoG into the National Association of Evangelicals. A decade later, the church's leadership concluded that they no longer represented anything created by their founder and in 2009 changed the church's name to Grace Communion International." 

   This summary is followed by a diagram naming the groups involved along with their year of origin. An elaboration of the above summary continues at length. (The name Hank Hanegraaff is not mentioned in relation to the Tkaches' influence.) <www.tinyurl.com/2yssd8vr>

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