The Passover papers

Backdrop to the Passover Papers

With out a doubt, the book Passover Papers, by Paul R. Finch, is a book of controversy. The controversy exists among the last adherents of the late World Wide Church of God leader, Herbert W. Armstrong. The World Wide Church of God was a religious organization that grew in leaps and bounds from the late19 50’s on into the early 70’s of the last century, due to radio broadcast, The World Tomorrow. But in the mid 70’s, it was apparent to many within the Church that many of Armstrong’s teachings were simply false. The Church began to splinter into various offshoots, some clinging to Armstrong’s teachings, others modifying some of his teachings, and the main branch itself repudiating just about all of his teachings. But of all of Mr. Armstrong’s doctrines, the one that has held so tenaciously by most all of these offshoot groups is Armstrong’s teaching of how the date of Passover should be calculated. Armstrong boldly believed that the Jewish people incredibly are wrong, and that he is right. He maintained that Passover should occur at the end of Nisan 13 of the Hebrew Calendar, rather than how the Jews keep it, at the end of Nisan 14. Armstrong’s arguments were so persuasive that many today still cling to his overall thesis. This was the beauty of Armstrong’s ability to produce shock doctrines that were so audacious as to boldly go where no man has gone before (except for the fact that many of his teachings were a complete rip-off of the Church of God, Seventh Day).

Those who are unfamiliar with church leader Armstrong’s teachings could never even begin to appreciate the highly toxic venue of the Passover Papers. “Outsiders” would simply consider this book, at best, as an interesting good ole’ fashion Bible Study, and nothing more. But for those who have been indoctrinated into the teachings of Mr. Armstrong, this book is not entertainment at all, but represents no less than a life or death issue for their entire belief system. Simply stated, if the theses of this book are in anyway correct, then it definitely would be the last nail in the coffin of Herbert W. Armstrong’s doctrines. And that is not an over-statement by any means.

Outsiders haven’t a clue as to how much the legacy of Armstrong’s teachings depends on this one last remaining issue that is considered beyond compromise among its latter day adherents. If the Nisan 13/14 Passover doctrine were to fall, then there is simply hardly any glue left to hold together the tattered remains of Armstrongism. It is, without question, the last bastion of doctrinal belief that belligerently persists, if only for the sake of self-existence, regardless of the facts. This is why adherents to this belief are virtually combatant to sustain its existence.

The author of this book recognized this fact as early as 1975, when he, a loyal church member, wrote a doctrinal paper to the Doctrinal Committee of the World Wide Church of God exposing the errors of this teaching. Of course, it goes without saying, that this issue was back then basically swept under the carpet and never really addressed at the time, other than by an unpublished doctrinal paper by Drs. Robert Kuhn and Lester L. Grabbe, who indirectly quoted this author. Church leader Armstrong, of course, rejected the conclusion of his own doctrinal committee, and simply dismantled that department of the Church. But then again, at that time the beleaguered Church had even bigger and more pressing issues to deal with, such as Tithing, Divorce and Remarriage, the Counting of Pentecost, and so on. Little did anyone understand (or were willing to admit) at the time that the Passover issue was just as big, or even bigger, than those issues.

Nearly three decades later, here we go again. The challenge today is whether there now exists a renewed interest in this important issue to faithfully deal with the facts, or will the same old stone-walling obstinacy continue to maintain indefensible theories because of religious bias. Surely, the smoke and mirror explanations of the past can no longer withstand the challenging premises of this book. But, will intellectual honesty prevail? --- is the real test that is herein questioned?

What Paul Finch found when studying this issue was that the Passover Nisan 13/14 theory is virtually a perfect storm of a positive thinking of ideas that produces its own self-interlocking equilibrium. Stability is only maintained by a phenomenon where each point of and by itself might seem logical enough, but when buttressed with other tightly fitting premises, then the whole structure becomes one which self-sustains the other. On the surface, the arguments seem to be an impenetrable fortress of interlocking premises that help sustain each other. Indeed, once someone accepts anyone of the premises of Herbert W. Armstrong, one is compelled to be lead into accepting the next premise, and so one, until one is so thoroughly surrounded by these interlocking ideas as to find no escape but to accept the validity of the entire premise. This produces a virtual impenetrable wall of data that appears to be reality, but is in fact ruse, a complete mirage that can only be seen by the initiated. This is why an entire book of some 300 plus pages, backed by 450 footnotes, was needed in order to disentangle each and every one of these falsely accepted ideas one by one.

Therefore, with this backdrop understood, this book becomes no longer just another simple Bible Study, but rather, it represents a case in point to a far bigger issue of how teachings like this are without a doubt the most damaging and dangerous study methods ever to be encountered. Indeed, the study methods exposed here may even transcend the premises of this book. The genius of this book is how it exposes the clever arguments and the unscrupulous methods that are advanced in order to promote and sustain one of the most ridiculous biblical theories ever to be concocted, bar none. Not only is the Nisan 13/14 Passover theory one of the greatest audacities to affront the human intellect ever, but stands out as a classic case in point in how religious deception is the scariest of all manifestations of human thought.

Bravo Paul R. Finch for your persistent effort to bring out not only the truth of this matter, but to get at the heart of why doctrines like this are indeed the most dastardly of all. The Passover Papers needed to be written. It is destined to be a classic among the literature of human ideas. Rarely does a book like this come along that has so much information, so much meaning, and so much to offer. It is a guide to the perplexed, and a refreshing treatise on common sense.

The Staff of Sunrise Publications
April 12, 2009