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.