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Shepherd's Chapel, Arnold Murray, and the students....Behavior
Question/Comment:
----- Original Message -----From: Email #268To: Paul StringiniSent: Friday, May 22, 2015 11:03 PMSubject: Shepherd Chapel, Arnold Murray, and the students....BehaviorHow does SC get nearly ALL their students to behave so badly, defend Arnold Murray to the Max, name call, call you of the devil and of satan if you believe different from them. Nearly every one I have come across are all the same.
----- Original Message -----From: Paul StringiniTo: Emailer #268Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2015 3:46 PMSubject: Re: Shepherd Chapel, Arnold Murray, and the students....BehaviorI've run across a good number of Chapel students, literally hundreds. I would not say they are all like that. But the ones who are polite and gracious are the rare exceptions (especially online). I think the bad behavior comes from a convergence of several factors. First, it should be said that Arnold Murray explicitly taught against many of the behaviors his devotees exhibit. For example, he taught it was OK to take a salary from ministry, and to accept donations, I get no end of grief from them for accepting donations. He would also be annoyed at the way they "plant seeds" and demonstrate impatience.I think some of it is not so much what he taught as what he did not teach. There is really no reason that believing in many of Murray's teachings should make someone a nasty person. My theory is that his personality and macho attitude attracts a high proportion of nasty arrogant people to his ministry. Nothing wrong with that, even nasty arrogant people need Jesus. But because the focus of his ministry is on his far-out teachings and not on the personal development and growth of the Christian, these individuals do not become better people for having studied with Murray, many of them become worse. They focus on the fact that they are "right" and that the rest of us are "deceived" and since Murray's moral teachings were very limited, they see the greatest moral good as having eyes to see and ears to hear Arnold Murray's teaching. THAT is what makes them a good person. And your inability to see that they are right is what makes you a bad person and possibly one of the devil's children to them.Arnold Murray does not offer them much instruction in "meekness" and "gentleness" but rather flatters their pride, because if you can see what he is trying to teach, then you are one of God's Elect, the ones who stood against Satan in the world that was, and you earned the right to be one of God's elect by making that stand, you have a purpose and a destiny. So it is very easy to see how this perversion of Christianity tends to make it's believers prideful and arrogant. Agreeing with Murray makes them SOMEBODY. (as he used to say) And giving that up is very difficult for touchy proud people. Murray uses a LOT of flattery on those who agree with him.How do I explain the "nice" ones? Well, I think people are at all kinds of stages when we encounter them. When I was one of Arnold Murrays students, I was still a polite and considerate person, Murray did not teach me to act like any differently. But when a naturally ornery person becomes a Chapel student, and stays a chapel student for many years, it is not surprising that they channel their ornery disposition into their religious zealotry. And it is not surprising that these people are the ones you encounter online. Nice people are less likely to go around picking fights online.
----- Original Message -----From: Emailer # 268To: Paul StringiniSent: Tuesday, May 26, 2015 10:06 PMSubject: Re: Shepherd Chapel, Arnold Murray, and the students....BehaviorThank you for your answer :)
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