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i think he talks to me all the time not because i speak in tongues or anything, but i get thoughts and i really think they are from my loving god or jesus christ plus i talk to him/them all the time i feel really good about this and comforted, etc. i guess you could call it instinct or a mental disorder lol but i have to say, in my life, god is a great comfort and help to my soul and i've actually helped other people because of what i'm talking about but that's not my goal :) okay, let's hand the mic over to geo. mwah

I was in graduate school and paid my own way, so no need for parental "funding." They weren't happy about it, but they figured I could make up my own mind. At least it got me out of Roman Catholicism!! George

Tag, your opinion is as valid as that of any other person here. You have the right to speak. Welcome! Some people have greater insight than others of the "bigger picture" or generally have more wisdom. Many people here still profess to be Christians; others say they don't believe in any of it any more. You will have to choose for yourself (yes, for yourself! You get to choose!) who you think are the most reliable posters, and who you think has an ax to grind. You do not have to accept anyone's opinion or advice: but it's a fool who ignores the lot. You will find posters who have thought deeply about issues who can disagree, but who do it politely. Allow your mind to be flexible and to change opinions. I'm glad you found PFAL helpful. You did learn some things - some things that are true and worth holding onto. Many of these things are hard to find in churches. I never learned much of anything in my Anglican church, either. Just as ignorant as you in the RCs. Many people here have similar reports. PFAL seemed like the answer to a prayer for me, too. Perhaps it was. But just because that was the answer - doesn't mean that I should have stuck around as long as I did. Should have observed the red flags in word and action as displayed by the "believers," and not brushed the red flags off as "It's just that person." The difficulty is working out what is true without the TWI private interpretation of what they say is true. That's why it helps to consider the views of mature posters here.

Well, sorry to derail this thread somewhat, but my dad is a scumbag and has been my whole life. Basically, he abandoned my mother and I when I was a toddler, he stole his second wife from his friend who was her (his second wife's) husband, then abandoned her after a number of years. He sold drugs, he drank like an Irishman with a death wish, and he was never there for me in any way. This is why my stepfather, who is a good, albeit flawed, man, is the one who got a call from me wishing him a happy father's day. He's the one that my daughter calls "grandpa", and despite it being his fault that my mom and I ended up in TWI, he has been a mostly good influence in my life. Being a father isn't a birthright just because you are biologically a father. Being a father is about living up to the responsibility. My stepdad taught me that, and I am trying to live up to my responsibilities as a father with my daughter, and soon, with my son.

Oh, and if I may, I think your "black and white" slip is showing...

i'll have to tell you about my log sometime -- you'll certainly be "tested" here lol just keep being you, take everything with a pinch, and i don't know what else there are so many good people here with such different experiences and points of view

In reading Emerson's essay I couldn't help but notice one particular section that struck home. Having been with TWI for so long now and struggling to understand the differences between legalism / grace and supporting a leader / vs. being aware of false brethren this is quite revealing. I have also struggled mightily with the feeling of guilt that comes when you DARE to question and DARE to think for yourself and to DOUBLE CHECK what the word really says. I was able to find some courage in reading this and want to share it. Does this ring a chord with you too? "The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead t oyou is, that it scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your character. If you maintain a dead church, contribute to a dead Bible-society, vote with a great party either for the government or against it, spread your table like base housekeepers, - under all these screens I have difficulty to detect the precise man you are. And of course, so much force is withdrawn from your proper life. But do your work, and I shall know you. do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. A man must consider what a blindman's-buff is this game of conformtiy. If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument. I hear a preacher announce for his text and topic the expediency of one of the institutions of his church. Do I not know that he is pledged to himself to not look but at one side. -- the permitted side, not as a man but as a parish minister? he is a retained attorney, and these airs of the bench are the emptiest affectation. Well, most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of the communities of opinion. this conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true. their two is not the real two, their four not the real four; so that every word they say chagrins us, and we know not where to begin to set them right. Meantime, nature is not slow to equip us in the prison-uniform of the party to which we adhere. We come to wear one cut of face and figure, and acquire by degrees the gentlest assinine expression. There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history; I mean "the foolish face of praise," the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease in answer to conversation which does not interest us."