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When I was first introduced to twi, I was in college.....taking marketing and management classes. My textbooks delved into the strategies, target and scope of a good marketing project. Defining one's target audience was crucial to success. So, while sitting thru pfal.....I couldn't help but see some of these strategies applied. Wierwille was targeting the 1)norms of Christian society, 2)interjecting concepts to disassociate from the status quo and 3)provide an alternative, a higher quality of living. For some, like me.....we had to wait several months before taking pfal. In the meantime, we ALREADY WERE ACCEPTING CERTAIN SOCIAL PRESSURES WITHIN TWIG....as we dutifully came week after week, sang those dorky children songs with hand gestures, listened to repetitive manifestations and swallowed the subculture of "Christian living." Sure, quietly question all you want.....but it wasn't proper to address questions or dissent in twig. The social pressure and fabric, even though it didn't seem all that pronounced......was there. So, if you had a question or two....generally, you were taken to a back room when the "overseer" highly recommended that you sit in the next class to get up to speed. How many times did you approach this crossroad?.....The choice seemed to always have only two outcomes: 1)Stay involved even though you still had these perplexing concerns or 2)Leave and dissolve all communication and contact with these people. The longer one lingers, the more social pressure creeps in the conscience of one's will. But......years later, in treading down this path, the economic, family and psychological pressures increase to a stage of mounting a counterpoint to "the social pressures of twi." And, I believe, that this cascade of reality came to the fore most significantly when wierwille died. Hidden from view, this awakening was building and building years before wierwille died.....but when he died, it unleashed this subdued controversial mindset held in check by social pressures of acceptance. .

Absolutely agree with you on that, Raf. That's why I noted "repetitive manifestations" in my first post above. Twi's version of sit/manifestations as a staple of twig fellowships added a social/acceptable conscience to the "believer's exclusionary club." If you did it right, you were accepted. No matter that it was repetitive, contrived, or whatever.....after about a decade or so of sitting thru the religious-ruse, doesn't any one look around and ask some pertinent questions? Profit? Fruit? Prevailing Power? Yep, sit/int was a small slice in the "social pressure pie." .

Yes, it played a major role in how people responded and reacted to session #12. If their reaction was less than desirable, immediate intervention ensued. Continued failure to perform at a level that conformed to the social norm almost always resolved in a predictable manner.

Not going to throw this thread off course, but social pressure ties directly into my thesis about SIT in The Way.

It was 1st Century Soap. Actually left you dirtier after you used it, but that was your fault.

Waysider....your point is well taken. In this case, one has to define "soap." Was it? 1) Scriptural truths to better Christian living 2) Wierwille's ministry and pfal class series WOW Ambassadors did NOT go forth as the "opportunity to sell the soap".....they SOLD the soap (2). The goal was to run pfal classes....ie, "the soap." All of wierwille's programs [WOW, College Division, Fellow Laborers, Way Corps] were designed to sell HIS soap, his classes....AND promote others to do it as well. The deceptive perception was that many thought this whole enchilada was about Christian living (1).

"Ever see a group say an Evangelist's primary function was NOT to "evangelize", but to GET OTHER PEOPLE TO EVANGELIZE? Only vpw was that shameless." Hmmm....let's just try to apply that sequence down the line, shall we? And.....a Pastor's primary function is to GET OTHER PEOPLE TO PASTOR THE FLOCK. And.....a Teacher's primary function is to GET OTHER PEOPLE TO TEACH THOSE TWIGS. And.....a Prophet's primary function is to GET OTHER PEOPLE TO PROPHESY IN BELIEVER'S MTGS. And.....an Apostle's primary function is to GET OTHER PEOPLE TO SHARE THIS 'NEW LIGHT.' With wierwille, it was ALWAYS the lazy road; pilfer off of others' labor and service. When did wierwille EVER go to a hospital bed and pray/minister to another? Or, when did ole vic EVER give charitable work to help the downtrodden, the homeless, the abused? The blunt fact is.....it is ludicrous for wierwille name to be co-joined with any gift-ministry label. The guy skewed and skewered nearly ever truth that he plagiarized throughout his life. Wierwille was a swindler and a fraud.....period.

My modhat is going to be half on/half off for this one. DWBH, please avoid making it personal. This thread is about the REV, not MRAP's loyalties. Whether he has discussed the questions he's raising with Lynn, Schoenheit, Graeser, Geer, Cummins, Finnegan, Wilkinson, Caballero, Townsend or Dorothea Kipp is between him and them. His questions are fair game for this forum. He is entitled to ask them. He is not entitled to a response; that's up to other posters who are interested in the material. If no one is interested MRAP: It is not reasonable to try to separate the REV from the people who produced it, and (modhat off, opinion follows) it is not possible to divorce their presuppositions from Wierwille. So to ask people to not talk about Wierwille's "junk" is reasonable if we're talking about his personal failings, but it is not reasonable if you're talking about his doctrine and/or how he developed it. Those doctrines are entirely relevant to the REV because they informed the people who produced it.