Twinky

Eli and his sons, maybe. Or alternatively, Gideon, standing against the corruption of the environment in which he found himself! Or maybe two prankster kids who were just plain bored with SNS. I never heard a whisper of this before!!!

Are you a little bit bored with what's going on in your life right now, Squirrel? :rolleyes:/>

Nothing new because they can't find anything to plagiarize. Not even their own "classes."

Now that would be interesting! Rosie ... rock climbing. Sleeping out under the stars ... VPW building a campfire (as opposed to pontificating round one that had been set by someone else)...

Looks like they are only charging one man, the house owner, and not his two brothers. What, they didn't know about the women captives? If they did know, there is culpability there. Maybe that will come later when the case against the house owner is more formalised. And it looks like the women were beaten until other pregnancies miscarried. That in itself is a burden for the women to bear.

If Jesus had been reaping the "harvest" of his women followers, you can be absolutely certain that would appear in the "evidence" against him. The Pharisees would have loved it. Real evidence against him. Real contradiction of OT rulings. If Paul had been reaping the "harvest" of his women followers, there would surely be a record of the accusations against him. That he didn't practice what he preached. Don't you think this "leading about" of women and having authority over them is more a comment on the patriarchal society in which Paul found himself operating? In the same way that Arab women EVEN NOW have to have a male with them to do certain things, or at least have male consent? In Saudi Arabia women aren't even allowed to drive a car, much less go out without some male's company. Women have very few rights in some Arab countries. They have to be "led" because they're not seen as independent responsible citizens. Elsewhere Paul writes about men having power to deal with "virgins" - virgin daughters to be given (or not) in marriage. He isn't talking about "babes" that could be passed around. Nor "babes" that Paul himself helped himself to. Talk about twisting the scriptures... :confused:/>

I'm sure you will also be rejoicing, or at least happy, to hear that three girls abducted 10 years ago have now escaped. Totally amazing. Wonderful for them and for their families. A very uplifting ending to what too often ends in the discovery of remains. The three abductors look like they will be spending a long time as captives themselves...likely to be better treated than the women/girls. Shockingly, one of the abductors occasionally took a six year old to the park and to the local fast-food places. Said it was his girlfriend's daughter. In fact it appears to be his own daughter consequent on the rape of one of his victims. And he went to a wake/vigil to pray for one of his abductees. The brass neck of the man!!!!! There were several other pregnancies as well... no info yet why no other children. :eusa_clap:/> :eusa_clap:/> :eusa_clap:/>

Expand on this please Sky. How do you know this - what did you see? Who talked with you? Sometime one could wonder how much of a marriage it really was. Maybe in the early days, when the children were small.

I never got the opportunity to go LEAD. The snow was so deep in the year that I went that the event was cancelled. We were sent out Lightbearers again instead, a bit of a scratch effort, but nice all the same to be away from HQ. LEAD could have been a wonderful opportunity to spend time in the outdoors. Alone/solo/duo, whatever. I like disappearing off into the bush/wilderness all on my own, just me, with my map in my pocket and my pack on my back and if it's not in the pack, tough, I ain't got it. Many solo trips of long weekends to entire weeks or more. Went off for 6 weeks once, with a brief excursion into a tiny township for 2 days, to resupply. Walked miles and miles over challenging terrain. It can be a great time for thinking, for peacefulness, for calm, for letting the business of the world just drop away. I can't imagine that would be at all the case if one were to be constantly on the watch for what "instructors" might report back. Whether one showed sufficient "team work" or "ability to depend on God." Not so much an opportunity to grow, as an opportunity to become more stunted in fresh new areas of life, perhaps. As for hitchhiking, that can be fun. I like giving and receiving lifts. Not sure I would do it now (hitch, that is) - maybe. Loads of really interesting people out there. And a few nutters. But - there are loads of interesting people on other modes of transport that are not so risky - on a bus or train, say. But that would cost money... something the Way didn't like spending, how spiritual is that? Tightwads!!!!!!

Would that be with minks that they stole?

:offtopic:/> Allan, that's not the reason they told me, why you left. (I wonder now if even the Oirishman was told the real reason either, probably not.) Can't remember now what I was told. But that wasn't the reason!! Why am I not surprised?

Just a reminder: VPW taught that the 10 Cs don't apply to us, in our administration. (And in this I'd include a wider definition of "kill" - to kill off one's ability to love God, to love life ... to kill off one's zest for life. One's "spirit" if you will, though that has connotations for all of us.) Hands up if you can spot any of these that he did observe. Wot? he didn't observe any of them? What a surprise...!

Christian Family & Sex.... Now if you delete the words "Christian" and "Family" you have a more accurate description of what that "class" was about. Or you could even more accurately describe it as soft porn. Thank God, I don't remember anything from it, at least I think not. I do remember being very disappointed - and shocked - by the content. And lack of content. Just yet another vehicle for VPW to spread his anti-Christian, anti-Godly-lifestyle morals and ideas.

I know of a fellowship - not sure if they stood with TWI still, or were operating independently, or under CFFM - anyway, two of the members of the fellowship were involved in an accident. One was okay but the other lost some teeth. The fellowship kindly paid for dental treatment as the sufferer had no means to pay for replacement teeth/bridge/whatever without help. They saw the need, and were ready and keen to help. I can see that a local fellowship that is part of a larger organisation ought to help fund the wider group - to a reasonable level. But the local fellowship is in the best place to see what local needs there are, whether for its own members or in the wider community. And the reciprocal of the wider group receiving any money is that it meets its own reasonable needs (pays a fair salary) and it itself serves and helps (genuinely!!!) local groups or communities. TWI is not alone among church groups to forget that. It's not about acquiring palaces, mansions, big buildings, accumulating paintings, gold furnishings, fancy robes or any of the other organisational stuff that churches tend to get into. It certainly isn't about accumulating a large bank balance "just in case it's needed." Like the manna - it's a day by day thing. Don't accumulate more than is needed for the day. Trust the one with sheep on 1,000 hills. He's the one with the accumulation of wealth.

I kinda see Jesus as being with God his Father from the beginning like this: A couple decide they want a child. They make sure they're both as healthy as they can be. They try to find a safe place to raise their child. They work so that they have a home, a roof over their heads - and that of their baby. They have funds in the bank to help pay the expenses of the baby. They get themselves ready. Their preparations might take years, depending on their ages and situations in life. Their child is "with" them all this time, in their thinking, their plans, their dreams, call it what you will. Others may "buy into" this - grandparents setting up trust funds, educational arrangements, etc. But the child has no existence, other than in the wannabe parents' minds. Everything we understand from the Bible tells us that Jesus was in God's thoughts and plans from the beginning. That doesn't mean he existed. We were "chosen in him before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4) - we also were in God's thoughts and plans from a long time before we were born. That doesn't mean we existed. Does it? Or do you think we were playing games with Jesus in some place in the sky before any of us landed on Earth?

I DON'T believe the Trinity because to me it is the best answer to what scripture portrays. The first link in your post works. Otherwise, Wordwolf, you could try copy and paste into your browser.

LCM was dead against the 12 Steps and thought it was a cop-out. Devilish. And I carried that view, that the 12 steps was no good, for a long time. One of the churches that I attend did a series on the 12 steps, from a spiritual perspective - release from our addiction to sin (sin in general, or some sin specifically; let the congregation take its pick ). At first I was against it. I posted something elsewhere in this forum and the responses I got made me change my mind. I think maybe the 12 steps can be very helpful, taken with the right attitude of self-reflection and a desire to beat the addiction - with the help of one's God. And I'm quite certain that God is willing to work with anyone who truly desires release, whether with the assistance of 12 steps or in any other way. Here's the link: Twelve Steps - ATW. I see you posted on it and note your post #63.

Squirrel, as noted above, they're all mustelids and they vary in size from very tiny to nearly 8 foot long. Rats are not mustelids. It's pretty hard to see how a rat and a dog could be confused. Even if the dog is small and the rat grossly overfed. All are dangerous to squirrels. Watch out!!

I didn't know that, Waysider, but it definitely wasn't a skunk, nothing like it. European polecat is something different, a critter a bit bigger than a ferret: Polecat Both still mustelids, though not closely related.

I used to know a kid at my primary school - had a polecat (a sort of large ferret) - used to walk round our village with it in a harness. Keeping ferrets is (or was) in fact a popular occupation in the north of England. And one of my clients is in a care home, nice place. The nurses / care workers were having a chat one day and one was telling about her pet rat(s). She can't keep a dog where she lives, but a small caged animal is okay. She said rats are as intelligent as dogs and less trouble. Her rats were housetrained to use a litter tray. Wahhhh!!!! I think I'll stick with Tuxedo and Crypto. I'm pretty sure they're just scaredy cats.

Both ferrets and rats make good pets. Wotcha complaining about, LOL?

A dream? Did you mean nightmare, maybe?

LOA wasn't as serious as DFAC (extreme "mark and avoid"), which was for the more deeply despised Corps. These would include those who either wouldn't give Martindale (in particular) 100% commitment; or they had raised some other issues that he didn't want to deal with. If the dropping occured mid-year, DFACs were often publicly vilified and slandered because they were so hardhearted regardless of the extreme patience and kindness shown to them by LCM (can you see my tongue sticking out of my cheek?); then they were never spoken of again. (If he was being kind, they simply merely never got another mention.) The particularly pernicious thing was that if any active Corps person remained in contact with another who was DFAC, then the active one(s) risked all themselves and if it was found out, they too would be likely to become DFAC. The only way back to Active Corps was to go through the whole Corps program again - and it would be made particularly tough and humiliating for them. Well that's how Martindale ran it, anyway. Can't you just feel the lurrrve?

A what?

I'm not so sure that forgiveness of sins is available if there is no real repentance or regret for the action - no godly sorrow and no desire to "renew one's mind" to a better more godly way of living. Because to "ask" for forgiveness for abusing someone (or oneself) whilst simultaneously intending to carry on with the same action is mocking the grace of God. Or - as TWI might put it - "what's the heart behind it?"