JustThinking

For those who left without being M&A, kicked out, etc: How long was it between leaving mentally and leaving physically? There have been a number of posts about how traumatic it was so I'm assuming it typically wasn't done overnight or lightly.

A la, Sorry you are in a sour mood. :-) For what it's worth, most of the people in my church growing up weren't much better. Religion attracts a lot of crutch-seekers. Did you have any experience with an offshoot? I don't so I'd be interested if it was any different.

All, I would be interested in your examples of just silly behavior at TWI. No horror stories, just ridiculous or overly religious actions. My post from another thread: ----------------- I do have a stupid christmas story though. There was a person in my first TWI fellowship who may have been THE most religious person EVER! Instead of celebrating Christmas, he stayed home and used white out to cover EVERY center margin in his bible. Yep, every page. They're devoid of authority, ya know. The middle of his bible was so thick, it looked like he had a cigar in there. Funniest thing I'd ever seen. He was pretty offended when I lost it and couldn't stop laughing. Apparently, he must have been waiting for that dove to appear and hear "This is My Son..." ;-) ------------------ I also knew a FC who was convinced that acidophilus (Bacteria found in yogurt that help restore a supportive bacterial environment to an intestinal tract) was God's greatest cure-all. It was like a bad joke running through an "Airplane" movie. "Gee, Suzy hasn't signed up for the class yet? Is she getting any Acidophilus?" No kidding, she even recommended it for parents who had infant boys about to be circumcised! I'm sure it's in Dueteronomy somewhere. ;-) She was to Acidophilus-deficiency what LCM was to Debbil Spirits. I start this thread in the belief that TWI was a magnet for strange characters over the years. (Yes, I know some real bad ones too but I'm trying to keep this lighthearted.) We all seemed to have suffered from them. Might as well get a chuckle too.

IMO, The Way was driven by sales people. Make a product, find a market and sell, sell, sell. Convince the sales people they're on a holy mission. (Pay after death is MUCH cheaper than this life, after all) Then you grow your own sales people from the young and impressionable. Big companies still do it today. Recruit bright college grads, instill your corporate culture, make them feel special, use peer pressure to perform, etc. Hate to say it but it's a textbook approach. Want a scary moment? Find a book on the Hitler Youth and you will see some eery parallels. Recruit young, make them feel special, holy mission, everyone else is evil, blah, blah, blah. I'm not putting them in the same category but the technique has been around for a while.

Vickles, My only direct knowledge of two offshoots were sadly too much like what they claimed to dislike about TWI. Weirwille worship, supported by old grads, desperately hoping their kids would like it. An occasional new person who would get the old Way-sales job and run when they saw a bunch of weirdos hanging around talking about the old days. "The Fellowship That Time Forgot." Frozen in 1982. The leader even used VPW phrases and imitated him! SOOOoo spooky. And this wasn't even at one of their fellowships. It was over coffee at my friends house. I just happened to bump into him there. BTW, he got REALLY offended when I asked him why he talked with a Dr. Weirwille accent when he was from New Jersey! LOL! Oh well, I guess that's why I'm not on his "Ho HO card" list. ;-)

Washingtonweather, I loved your description. May I borrow it? :-)