Happy, Happy, Happy

As I took the 30 Lessons Bible study, I was captivated by the idea that the true, authentic message of Jesus was discovered by Jung, rescued from the clutches of the mainstream evangelical "get everyone saved and throw tracts at them if you have to" church. I still feel Providence has a lot right that much of the Christian church doesn't, and back then I sensed this, and this drew me to Jung and his teachings.

But slowly the shiny veneer of these angels who taught me the Bible study peeled back, and a lifestyle revealed itself that I believe has several self-deceiving aspects. Today I'm focusing on the insistence in Providence that you smile whenever you're around people. In the group I was involved with, they advocated a big toothy grin, and that you do it often to present yourself well and attract people to the new truth.

After I left Providence, I continued having conversations with a member of the group. In one conversation, I asked him if life was hard. He paused for a moment, then finally shrugged and said "not really." For him, life was easy and without problems as long as you have the right mentality. It's all about the mentality, so to ever be unhappy, stressed, sad, depressed, etc. is a breakdown of our mentality and a failure to live in harmony with the new history. With the new truth, we should be happy and full of peace all the time.

I personally believe this is simply not reality. In reality, there is death, pain, hurt feelings, rejection, tragedy, lost opportunities, separation, hunger, torture, etc. To be able to read this blog, to have an Internet connection and food to eat, means we are quite blessed. But no matter how prosperous we are or how many friends keep us company, there is always something lacking. Maybe the person of our dreams turned us down. Maybe we lost our job and don't know how we'll pay the bills or feed our family. Maybe our spouse or child died. Such experiences can bring the human soul to its lowest depths. It's unreal to expect human beings to be perpetually happy and smile their faces off when we go through the difficulties of life.

I like it when people are real, when they are honest with how they feel. There's something beautiful and authentic in that. It gives us freedom when we realize we don't have to be happy all the time, that we're not being ungrateful, whether we're in Providence or Christianity or no religion at all. And this gets to one of the core problems, in my mind, of Providence. Jung presents a beautiful picture of how life works, but it's not how life really works, and it eats you up inside. According to him, the new history has arrived, and with the right mentality you can transcend the problems of this world, become perfect or near-perfect, and live in perpetual bliss. Maybe you feel this is possible once you make yourself well enough through great effort, but I don't believe that's how life works. No matter how much character you have, how noble your thoughts and how much integrity you have, life can really suck and it's okay to cry and be sad when circumstances really get you down. You don't have to pretend everything is okay when you're around other people.

Reflections 6 Months Later

I started this blog six months ago, very excited about Jung Myung-Seok's rape conviction. I remember when I was looking for answers, I went to jmscult.com, and through the forums I found a compelling case that Jung is not the Messiah and that Providence, for whatever reasons and convictions they hold, keeps information hidden from members they feel are not ready to receive it yet. Although the site helped, I felt it would have greatly helped to have strong apologetics that breaks down and refutes all of Providence doctrine point-by-point through careful study of the Scriptures. When I faced my former 30 Lessons teacher to discuss with him my intentions to leave Providence, I had to gut out some tough questions he asked me, with not much to say on my part at the time.

Realizing that with the rape conviction, several Providence members may be more open to looking at outside sources for the truth, I made this blog to fill the need I had when I was searching for answers, and that others would now have.

This blog has been inactive since last August. I haven't forgotten about it, but I've been busy, and to be honest, moved on from Providence and lost the urge to continue my efforts. I still check jmscult.com's forums every now and then for updates on Providence. Recently, Jung's sentence was upgraded to 10 years, and one of American Providence's leaders, Ralph, has made a surprising move in reaching out to the "anti-Providence" community and admitting mistakes on Providence's part, even admitting the existence of the Lover's Principle (atonement for sins through sex with Jung).

I feel it's time I posted some sort of update to this blog in case anyone actually reads it or ever does. People ultimately do not choose to follow a certain way because of an intellectual argument. Providence's most powerful argument (and what worked on me) is to "look at our members to see the truth of this." They are good people, and they have great community. They accept you and tell you that you are great, that you can make yourself into an amazing person with God's help and change the world. They have something that we all want in our lives.

You're not going to convince someone in that context that they are following someone who has deceived them for his own good when you use an intellectual argument. So I question whether my initial approach was the best way to reach out to the Providence community. I doubt that remarks like "deceptive and dangerous cult" and "smaller, second-rate derivative of the Unification Church" will lead to communication and openness with Providence members.

So I apologize if I offended anyone in Providence with my tone in the previous posts of this blog. I want to reach out to you with an open mind and a desire to understand your way of seeing things. I don't pretend I know everything, or that Christians have everything figured out. We're trying to figure out the truth in this messy world, just like everyone else.

I'll leave the previous posts up, as they have information that hopefully is of some help to somebody who may read it someday. I might do more analysis on Providence doctrine in the future, with a more respectful attitude. Ultimately, I hope that someday all the facts will be accessible to everyone, and that both sides can have honest and respectful discussion with each other.