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thanks for that post, Don't Worry - very incisive! For some reason that made me think of Luke 9: 49 & 50 - where John came to Jesus Christ and said they (John and some other disciples) saw someone casting out demons in Jesus' name - we tried to stop him because he wasn't affiliated with our group (T-Bone paraphrase); Jesus responded with saying don't hinder him - whoever is not against us is for us. edited: wanted to tack on a clarification - i did not intend to convey the idea that any offshoots of TWI are doing some form of service for Jesus Christ that is similar to other groups; i merely wanted to criticize the snobbish exclusivity of offshoots - i.e. "you can't do jack-squat unless you're with us and know what we know."....and to cut everyone "some slack" - i'll speak very broadly now and say it another way: whoever is not antagonistic to Jesus Christ can't be all that bad.

Ya know.........as much as these vain babblers say they live to serve Christ by His grace and mercy, TWIt-n-vic, TLTF, STFI, wrenn, SOWERS, finnegan, rood, sides, et al, they, more than any other Christians I know of, are among the most works oriented bible idolaters on the planet. EVERYTHING in life, death, and in between has to to with their forged and foibled "Written Word of God". They even teach Jesus Christ only had "the written word" (The Old Testament) to go on for everything he said and did always. Nothing works in their ritualistic, over-structured "minustray" without the bibliolatry DPW ingrained in them. "The word, the word, and nothing but the word!" The entire context of jally's new piffle redux, JCDOA, is all wierwilleism and other smarmy bible-crap. And, it's all based on what YOU DO, or don't do according to da woid. God is completely limited by your "believing action" just like he was in TWIt. God is not in control! Either the debbil is or YOU are, BY YOUR CHOICE. So, your will trumps God's will, because no matter what, YOU must not blame God for YOUR defects in faith and practice. It's YOUR fault not His. Works get you "rewards(or not sic!) at da bema. If YOU don't do what THEY say Da Woid says you must do you lose. There's more to their eternal life than just making it to paradise. You got to make God's work in and through Christ and the salvation They accomplished better! You gots to get rewards for following Christ. How do you get them? Not by how much word you know but how much word YOU DO......WORKS. It's all up to the choices YOU make. God and Christ are powerless unless YOU choose to believe jally's version of da Woid. WOW! What an insult to God and His Son, IMO. That must be why jally's latest WWF "teaching" is all about how suffering is the key to good Christian character and victorious living. How's that working for ya jally?

I've had The Confidence Game on my Kindle for a few months now - but have to finish 3 other books i'm reading first (Going Clear on Scientology, The Proud Tower, a portrait of the world before WWI, and Life Itself, a memoir of Roger Ebert)....and besides that i've gotten lost in binge-watching Lost and coupled with some long hours at work - i'm way behind in my reading....i know - i should get my priorities in order...in that case Lost comes first ..... but seriously - thanks for sharing that quote from Confidence Game - that has given me a renewed interest in getting to that soon - thanks Rocky!

The Confidence Game: Why we fall for it every time

When it comes to figuring out what someone's thinking, 2 completely mundane methods are the COLD READ and the HOT READ. Both are used by so-called psychics all the time. The COLD READ begins with generic messages that could apply to most people, while the mentalist watches all the reactions of the person, and tailors his responses accordingly. "I see him dressed formally.... *person hesitates as if that's incorrect*....which is odd because I sense he normally doesn't dress up." The person gives things away in their reactions, and often in the responses they give. Someone saying that a child is in trouble may get the pigeon to blurt out a name-after which it's incorporated into the reading. The next thing they know, the person's agreeing to pay lots of money because they're convinced the mentalist knew things. A HOT READ is rarer, but more effective, especially when added to a cold-read. In a Hot Read, the mentalist has gotten ahold of information about the other person, like a diary, or an autobiography ("From Birth to the Corps") or someone else hands them a personal history of the pigeon. It's FAR more effective because the person has no clue that the mentalist has a mundane information source so they're more convinced. (Like when someone told cg about some problems at HQ, and the clueless people automatically assumed that God Almighty snitched on their issues because they couldn't imagine a mundane reason he would know-but we had the person who told him speak up to us, and also to them when they started imagining that.) Depending on the specifics, the skill of the mentalist, and the gullability of the audience, a mentalist can develop quite a following. We had a thread where both types were demonstrated (mostly the cold read in its most basic form) in response to the supposed "personal prophecy" nonsense that ces/stfi peddles and refuses to discuss. We saw how easy it is to set up the basics for that and make it look like it's really special knowledge of the pigeon. (Raf also demonstrated the "hot read" at one point, purely as illustration.) "Step Right Up, Get your own Personal Prophecy" was the thread.

Going back to the notion of academic research related to social and emotional intelligence, I just found this article published yesterday.

ladies and gentlemen, that is amazing !!!!! i have never mentioned on this thread that i am bass-player-centric when i listen to music!!!! let's hear it for the one and only Waysider the Magnificent !

Welcome to Grease Spot, Collateral D ! thanks for sharing your story - so interesting...one of the things you said really stood out to me "Our last trip, I don't even open my bible. I hear and scrutinize the entire presentation better than I had every encapsulated with my notes." - you did a very bold and daring thing - engaged critical thinking skills after growing up in an environment that stifled such things; i think all that note-taking i did for the most part just kept any questions at bay; it tends toward absorbing rather than analyzing. something else you said is very powerful too: "I have spiritually sherpa'd a few others out of TWI, and gotten immense satisfaction for helping them think and process, not just bad-mouthing their religion. It's rewarding to truly help people, not blanket their needs in retemories or promises of a brighter day that never comes. It's rewarding to see them break the chain of mediocrity and a quiet life of apartments and ABSing to pay for staff cars (another post). I loved helping them and reassuring them the devil will not take them should they decide to take off the name tag." - i love that - that's why i keep coming to Grease Spot - to help and be helped - to share my story and my heart that's been freed from such nonsense....and to listen to the experiences and thoughts of others; Grease Spot is to setting folks free what the Public Ex was to leading folks into captivity. thanks again for joining Grease Spot - i'm glad you're here hey, i'm not really a bourbon guy - but i'll join you with a Long Island Ice Tea - />