Ham

Maybe I'd run that place even further down the tubes, but we'd at least have fun doing it :)-->

Well, I dunno. Even they may not be immune to pretzels, beer, schnaps and making der "whoopy". :D-->

"Matilda, do that ONE MORE TIME and its off to the refinery with you.."

Hey, that one is fairly believable.. :D-->

Apparently you don't remember.. sorry I even brought it up.

We should be honored. Somebody with a famous back yard on here.. :)-->

Coolchef, you serious?? Just a little time on the internet.. heh heh. You must be a celebrity in real life!

Ah, but the cost.. I thought HE paid the price for me, not the other way around.. I can count at least twelve people that I sacrificed to that stinkhole. Eleven of them, I've reconciled with. The last one, it was bad enough, if I run accross them, I'll volunteer to buy the bullets.. All for the organization. Personal gain to me? Zero. Personal loss? Can't fathom it. The price for "da verd" was a LITTLE higher than it was advertised.. What about you Oldies? From your posts, I know of at least one.

Thomas, I thought it was HA asking for brains, Moneyhands looking for a heart, and the cowardly loy looking for courage. But what do I know.. :D-->

Amazing where all of this studying, and "mastering" took us, is it not..

loy and vic sacrificed THOUSANDS.

and I sacrificed PEOPLE on their damned altar too.

An organization. A "social club". A not-so exclusive, "exclusive" country club. A "church".

No, being able to participate in an ORGANIZATION. Corrupt one, at that..

Interesting.. my life, at least right now, is picking up where I left off about 20+ years ago. I think a lot of the problem was substituting God's real calling for my life with participation in an organization that SEEMED to be what they said they were.. a very poor substitute, at best. I kinda find it sad.. people that have even been kicked outa that outhouse, still find it their life's dream, to somehow STILL be able to "participate". Just want everything back, like the "good old days". Pay $$$$$$ on Ebay for copies of the old, tired, worn out materials.. I saw people REAMED RAW for carrying on their mission in life, and still try to go to "twig".. All or nothing, I guess.. Nope. I wouldn't go back.

I don't entirely agree. It helps, at least NOW. Finding you p*ssed away twenty some years of life, leaves you with at least a couple of options. 1. Continue p*ssing away the few years you have left, with your head stuck up a PFAL book or something, .....or......, 2. Get mad, and DO SOMETHING! It took me a long time to get over the fear that if I stepped out and tried something new, something different, that I'd make a mistake, be a horrible failure..

Doing "something" with it. I know corps grads and others that ARE doing "something" with it. And it doesn't resemble PFAL or any of the tired worn out teachings in any way, shape or form..

No, I do not knock studying and "mastering" the word, IN ITSELF. I think everything has its place.. but seventy times through the darn thing, or even twenty- is going a little too far, no? They taught us that after hearing it SIX times, you've got about all you're gonna get. No balance in life.. what I find abhorrent is poring over the same tired concepts and teachings instead of getting on with life, finding your calling, and doing SOMETHING with it. P*sses me off- took me over twenty years to see it.. Yep. I'm redeemed, but what in the stinkin world am I DOING with it? Actually making a difference somewhere, or just hiding behind some old concepts taught in somebodies obscure, little known seminar? I have the same opinion for the "new and improved" copies. The latest and greatest seminar is not going to SUBSTANTIALLY change your life. I can almost GUARANTEE it. Especially if its a rehash of the same old tired stuff, with a new "twist" or something..

Well, getting 10 miles to the cat.. better than the opposite I guess. Driving down the road, and getting 10 cats to the mile...

Ah yes. And how many times did I go over, and over, and over "four crucified", "are the dead alive now?", etc., etc., etc. It added NO FRUIT to MY life. Can't speak for others, but for me- it didn't improve my character one bit. In fact, it made it worse. "Me, me me- I've got the ANSWERS!" Turned me from an otherwise flawed human being into a bigoted, miserable SOB.. no wonder I didn't get very many invitations to dinner anywhere..

No, not shameful at all- in itself. Sure, "the law is holy, and just and good.." Can't argue with that. But when the world was "going to hell in a handbasket", I think some were just a little too busy arguing whether there was indeed a difference between "thoroughly" and "throughly". Whether there were two crucified, whether there were four.. How many days between "good wednesday" and saturday morning.. Or boasting of the overwhelming "evidence" that WE were RIGHT.. Some of us REALLY made a difference. And I don't think it was because we were "right". It was probably DESPITE that little known "fact".

One of these could do the job, probably for less than 20,000. May need a few "improvements"

Well, I did just say a house.. not that you would really want to live there.. :D-->

Rascal, I agree pretty much. Looks like a "debriefing" after an unpleasant vey experience..

Sounds like the modern day equivalent, "masters of da word"..