JustThinking

UncleHarry, I may have. If I did, I apologize. Moses was just one example. Do I think there has to be the one, ultimate leader. Not at all. In fact, that idea scares me silly. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Unsupervised or unchecked power is called a dictatorship. TWI is a great case. Can you give me an example of any large group of people which has successfully done what you describe? I have seen a lot of examples of failure. No real successes though. It sounds nice but doesn't seem to work with humans. Most people aren't very comfortable with no direction at all. Even the church in Acts had an organization to it. If you have an example in the Bible, it would be even better. I'm certainly willing to admit I'm wrong here, if I am. For me, I have been in management for a long time (over 15 years) and would estimate that less than 10% of the folks I meet are truly independent enough to do what you describe. The rest talk about it but really rely on someone else. For example, if people didn't have to go to work to survive, how many would get up in the morning and do something? I think it's wishful thinking that MORE would get done under that way. So it's clear to me, are you saying that if christianity dropped all forms of organization, more would get done for God? Also, is this too off-topic? Maybe we should move it to another thread? JT

PJ, Have you ever heard of: RHEMA-THE WAY, INC. CORPORATION TEXAS 1125 WASHINGTON WACO TEXAS 76703 A company filed for some trademarks in 1980 under that name. Any relation to TWI? I must confess I haven't followed this thread closely but it did make me curious about trademarking a generic name like "The Way." We used to have someone I met at twig back in my PA days who worked for a company with "The Way" in their name. I think it was a trucking company. Could be wrong though. That was a long time ago. JT

I felt like by the time I left, I was their least wanted. (Not putting myself in the same group as these other folks. Just thinking about how quickly people have been discarded by TWI) JT

Radar, Good point to not forget. P-mosh, That "confession" was pretty much the last straw for me. It was prerecorded for cryin' out loud! Then we immediately got told over and over again how the Martindale family needed our love and prayers. Oh, and now was "a time of forgiveness." Yep, we were TOLD we had to forgive him for having an affair. When the other people got tossed out on their ear for some minor "crime" we were told they were possessed or evil or some other terrible thing. Mr. "I'm blow tons o' cash on law suits" gets mandatory forgiveness. No double standard here. Another great PR stunt brought to you by TWI. JT

It seems like they don't have much choice with certain law suits. They have to do their best then settle to keep the details out of the public record. With us, they can call us names and say we're possessed. If it's their own BOT admitting things in a court of law, that's hard to deny. Now PJ's suit... ??? Not sure about that one. Maybe they have more money than we think? I just don't think we're talking about foolish or naive people. JT

Quote from UncleHarry: "Thinking a little more on this subject, I must take note, that when studying the life of Jesus, I do not see any manipulation or secrecy going on at all. No name tags, no lock boxes, no titles, no corporations, no buildings or properties, no organizational plans, no tax exempt status, no lawsuits, no rape accusations, no power echelons, no chain of commands, no political endorsements, no fund drives, bake sales or bingo nights. Jesus never asked to be paid money to teach, never handed out any loyalty oaths to be signed, was never sadistic or controlling or dishonest. Maybe twi got it wrong in a few places?" UH, This is mixed bag of comments, some of which don't even apply to TWI. They certainly have not had many or any political endorsements, for example. Now they gave them a few times. Jesus also only had 12 people in his "organization." When I go back to the old testament, I see the example of Moses who tried you're way. It nearly wore him out. Throughout the times in the Bible even when things were Godly, there was some structure just to make sure things got done. In your examples, you mix in organizational items with acts of evil. It's possible to have a framework without evil and it's also still possible to have evil without organization. They're mutually exclusive. As for money, Judas collected the money so they're was giving. Unless Jesus was moonlighting at TGISabbath, the money came from his somewhere. As for "lockboxes", there were times when he had sidebar conversations with his disciples only. I know that people abused the concept of confidentiality to hide crimes but that doesn't mean Jesus said everything to everyone. Sum up: my impression is you're painting two extremes, both of which are not good. JT

Diazbro, My 1st hand experience in TWI II. My eyes were damaged in a work accident by a very diluted mix of acid. I had blurred vision as a result and was told that I would need surgery and corrective lens for the rest of my life. My twig and family (not TWI) prayed for me. Nothing happened that day. The next morning I woke up with better vision than I had ever had in my life including before the accident. Who get's the credit? Who cares? I know that God healed me. If someone wants to collect "atta boys" let them. I'm just thankful that my heavenly Father loves me. JT

Superdy-duper advanced version: Do all this while blindfolded and guess what you are drinking. This would then be "discerning of spirits." :-) JT

Steve!, Good point. As most new people have no idea what a greek figure of speech is anyway, how about one glass for using the word "Hypocatastasis" at all! JT

Maybe the nametag indicated how "fateful" you were to God? They gave people power which one can use for good or ill. JT

As to nametags, by the early 90s I had a drawer of them. Life seemed to not be much different with that extra 1/2 oz of plastic. It was good, IMO, that I lived out in the boonies. Most name tags thought we were too small potatoes to come see us. Sounds like we didn't miss much. JT

Ok, it changed already! God must have heard. Is this a random thing and I'm just too slow to notice? If so, I feel reallllly dumb.

Brief detour: Love my new subtitle! I actually think Norm from Cheers will outlive most of the anal people in the world who worry about much and accomplish little. Now back to the thread at hand...

I would add every time LCM raises his voice but that would probably result in alcohol poisoning. JT

OMG, Raf, I did that! We had one lady who drove me CRAZY! I would have paid money to be her TC just to ask her to stop. JT

People who pray this way- "And Father just thank you for... and I just thank you for... and I just thank you for..." If you are "just" thanking him for something then it's ONLY ONE THING! JT

WW, From that perspective, it would probably be the current lawsuit plaintiffs. Sorry PJ but I don't think you case is the worst on their list. Potential expense from other cases hits the wallet hard if they lose. JT

I just wish I had another house. ;-)

I joined this site looking mostly to confirm things I had seen or suspected. What I got was an endless series of "what else can there be?" This pushes that line once again. What bastards. It really is like a bad movie except real people WERE harmed in the making. So after VPW pronounced it a good spot for LCM, they just moved in? No question, no protest? VPW said it and there was light? Once again, how could we be so stupid? JT

TWI is pushing the "LCM isn't here" approach now so I could see them going after offshoots. Catholics have been doing it for a while now. They even have done advertising for meetings where estranged RCs can come and "just talk." Maybe TWI would so the same thing?

I have a bunch of old books, some still in shring wrap. On LCM's sillybus, that would be a hoot! And the diagnosis is?!

DM, If so, at least it's only the truck that full of s**t! LOL! JT

Maybe if you wrote a big check, you could get a nice letter from him. When I sold my house to get out of debt and sent in part of the proceeds, I got a nice letter from Howard.

Shellon - Woman Of God For Our Day And Post WOGFODAP? Edit me, edit me! Please, may I have another edit? Shellon edited me and I got healed of cancer. I was SOOOOO blessed with her edits. I mean, it's obvious Shellon edits by "heavy revvy." If the church had edited like Shellon, there'd be no need for Shellon in the first place. Shellon edits like no one since the first century. God told Shellon that if Shellon would edit just as directed, he would let her edit ads for gas stations during imaginary snow storms by the gas pump. Hahahahaha....

Diazbro, I do have a first-hand experience but with a twist. A person in our twig was healed of cancer by a local, well-known rev. Let's skip the name so it doesn't look like I'm promoting him. (I was the TC at the time so knew about the illness, etc.) Follow up X-rays showed a complete, 100% healing. One visit it's ugly, next visit 2 months later and it's gone. Completely clean. BUT...BUT... here's where it gets good. The minister who healed him was actually on his way out the door to an offshoot! It wasn't a month before he was gone. So does TWI get the credit? His heart was NOT with TWI and he was just waiting to get his moving arrangements in place. They didn't want to publicize this one as it gave credit to a guy they were saying was possessed. Talk about a tough one for them. "He's possessed like a new boot in hell" they said. (What does that mean anyway?!) It was kind of sad to watch them squirm over it. They let the story die down because we couldn't mention..."him." JT