Ham

If I got a similar return on any other kind of investment that these poor devils did, I would get madder then he**.

It would be hard for me to imagine what it must have been like to have been on staff. Never alone, probably never a moment to relax- even in the shower!

What does suprise me is that they do not make them go to bathroom by twos. Apparently that is how they have to do everything else. Probably could give a good justification for it to. Yep- "Old Joe died in the John regurgitating and choking on the last household fellowship teaching."

Belle, for me it was a little different. I think I saw it coming for a long time. Kind of like slow withdrawl. When I finally left there were no real suprises.

And lets not forget, "A Loy by any other name stinks the same."

And it would not suprise me if the same policy is still in effect. Even at the worst job I ever had, I could get at least a short break to refresh. What does this say about TWI? I used to think staffers were so "blessed" to be near the fire, so to speak. Now I see it must have been about the worst job in the world..

There may be something to this wiping of the arse.. from other threads, I read that the poor staffers had to sign a sheet declaring that they were going to the toilet. In-friggin credible!

But it is so much more fun to say it with style!

For all of this they can call themselves "God's Elite." I would call it something else..

I wonder if the participants got what they paid for. Look what it cost: Cannot own a home. Never mind the policy that says you can own one, just no mortgage. (I have yet to find anyone, believer or unbeliever, that bought a home without one) $500+ in registration fees, plane fare, hotel and food Time that could be MUCH more profitably spent with family or friends Time and labor spent cleaning leaders' houses, cars, etc. just to be enough on their good side to be able to go. Not only cash for the event, but fifteen percent of their income donated faithfully for how long? The list could go on and on. What did they get? Old, rehashed PFAL teaching, a topical bible study that a second rate hack could produce, and a few assorted sharings. Must have really been worth it.

I remember a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away.. maybe not back that far. In the early 70's I found the leadership approachable. Exceptions were during classes, they seemed a lot less tolerant of questions then. As time went on, they were less approachable or tolerant of questions anytime.

More credibility than it deserves, in my opinion.

I think a lot of the "details" given are used to try to give the document a little more credibility.

I don't know.. may be a little too mild. But I have always been partial to Zombies. Once I too was one of those poor devils, slowly lumbering in to the teaching center to the sound of the mysterious music..

"so that ALL (is it all without exception, or all with distincton), left just as glassy-eyed as when they arrived, many hours previously." Ha ha ha ha.. DMiller, if I die laughing it is your fault!

One of the other zombies slowly straightens himself up. He mumbles back, "sheesh. why did you have to do that? Now they will probably not give any of us brains."

But one of them is shuffling slowly, dragging one foot sideways. He is out of step with the rest.. looking for something. He starts to mumble, "my name-tag, I forgot my naaaame-tag..." Looks like there is going to be some trouble.

Hopefully not coming to a theater near you.

"Play it and they will come" heh heh heh. "The morning of the living dead- thousands of glassy-eyed religious zombies stirred to life by a ghostly, mysterious tune, and they want your brains!"

You'd think he'd come up with something new and original. Even the innies must be tired of hearing "from peas to garden vegetables we always inform our vegetables of what they need to know.. etc.."

Corpse objective #5: "We will practice believing so as to use you to bring material abundance to us and the ministry"

Ex- I hear that is how it is also. That would explain the declining numbers, especially of new folk. I think the old timers that are in allow it because the changes were gradual. A hundred or two small compromises on "insignificant matters" and they really have you eating out of their trough.

But to be fair, they did get a few things right. One of the main things that I find distasteful, is that instead of doing something godly with it, may times, they used it to fortify an "us vs. them" mentality. In my opinion, I think that is why many stayed for as long as they did. Only after a long time did I decide what they had to offer was just not worth the real price.

What they get out of it must be really, really worth it. Just what do they get? "Four Crucified and scriptural buildup" (about the hundreth time) "Eve was a lesbian" (ha!) and a few assorted topics..

Seems to me that an ordinary person would be a little suspiscious if a church requested to freely rifle through their financial affairs to be allowed to participate in some of their functions..