Twinky

Ah, come on you miserable lot, won't any of you even send a cheery wave :wave:and wish me well ? Alternatively, send me the name of a good psychiatrist so that I won't feel tempted to do this again?

Maybe he should come to the Cafe and carry out some exhumation.

Not sure it's James Trimm. Sounds more like Michael somebody-or-other who thinks he's some great Jewish guru and dresses in funny clothes. TWI makes a habit of suing people for use of "The Way" and other such marks or those including the phrase "The Way" in its name. Actually if such organizations knew what The Way was like, they'd probably want to drop the name pretty quick to avoid being associated with such a cult.

Don't think they were ever mentioned while I was there. I did ask at twig before I got majorly involved, but can't remember the response - but it was clearly some sort of fudged answer.

I don't know that the Research Department was ever anything but a sham. It sounded good, to say they had a research dept. As if they were some genuine organization. And the gullible (myself included) thought (at least at first) that real stuff was being discovered - put out, say, in the GMIR articles (they were always the most interesting part of the Way mag). I waited for some sort of position statement on the Dead Sea Scrolls...what new light if any did they shed on what was already known? Alas, that might have taken some scholarship... But VPW was dead and no-one else had the guts to lie quite like he did, or invent any explanation, or steal others' research. ... We're all still waiting for the position statement.

I can't face reading ANY of their materials. Can't get past the first paragraph. The whole bloody set-up was insane. Wtih Geer in the vicinity, there was never room for anyone else. His ego filled any room he was in. You US folk need to be really glad you didn't get to spend time up in Gartmore with him!!! Oh sorry, that's a comment that really belongs on a different thread.

Okay, guys, it's that time of year again and I am again running a Half Marathon to raise funds for a Christian charity in my city. I need motivating and it'd be lovely if some of you would please sponsor me in this effort. Unlikely to be a PB this time as my knee hurts a bit and because of that, my training has been less than might be desired. Going to finish, though, within the required 3 hour period. I expect about 2h30m or maybe a bit less. I hated running when in rez (well to be honest, at 6AM I wasn't very keen on much at all) but enjoy it reasonably well now that I'm not made to do it. And if it is a nice spring morning, it should be lovely. There are usually about 15,000 runners, some in fancy dress. The race is always won by beautiful Kenyan males who run so gracefully and effortlessly. They take just over an hour. Embarrassing really when I take more than twice that, and every step is a challenge. Please sponsor me if you can - and even if you can't have a look at my Giving page and leave me a message - I think that's possible. Thanks, Twinx Giving page

Blasphemy, could be. Who is putting VPW up there with the apostles? I don't think VPW ever actually called himself that (others may know differently) - he styled himself "The Teacher." Although he also did say an apostle is one who brings new light AND he said he was going to teach the word like it hadn't been known since the first century (concerning which, he had no interest in ancient texts which are considered to date back to that very period).

Hardly fits with being "gentle" with one another, and "not putting a stone of stumbling" in another's path, does it? Ashamed to say, I learned to swear through TWI. Those words that rhyme with "duck" and the like ... in not uncommon currency in twig, but when I got in rez and heard big bad Martindale ranting on, using words in his sermon that would make most people flinch ... And the CFS class was gross, too, with its many descriptions of intimate body parts. JJ, your WD leader was way out of line in saying such a thing. It's not a joke. It's an outright lie. And you know where lies come from, right? So you know which "Way" he was leading the team. Ugh.

Very much on the Word, Sky. Consider it "redeeming the time." My new church has loose seats that can be completely removed. For the church's dedication, these were set out in rows. Some were not exactly straight - neat, but not "perfectly strung." Ping! Immediate leap into Way-mindset! And I took a deep breath, went about my own task, straightened any chairs I'd knocked out of the way ... and that was it. Next time I saw the chairs (next day), there were bums on seats and the lines were anything but straight. And everybody was VERY HAPPY and DELIGHTED to be a part of the dedication. And the bishop never said a word about the chairs not being perfectly straight. Ha ha ha ha ha.

Thanks for sharing, Johniam /sarc/

In all of this let's not forget that language itself is imprecise when it really comes down to describing - say - emotions. We have a general idea of what someone else may feel, think, etc, but can we really ever know? All that word-study stuff was interesting, and I learned a lot doing it. But it presupposes that a word never changed or developed its meaning over all the hundreds of years, in fact millenia, that the books of the Bible were written. Just in the English language, it wouldn't be hard to find words that have changed their meaning, or acquired another meaning such that the original meaning is quaint and archaic (like "prevent" / "pre-vent". In the last 100 years this has really moved on a lot faster. Not to mention words that have acquired meanings much more recently (think: mouse - first thought? Not a critter but something to do with a computer). Those word-studies were in effect a blind, a diversion, a deviation, to get us to think about what we thought we knew, rather than really exploring what a particular passage was saying. Gave us head-knowledge without giving us heart-knowledge. We have a number of different words in the English language to indicate removal of property without consent: steal, rob, defraud, etc - and colloquially nick, pinch, wag, lift, "borrow" (add your own)) - they have different meanings (openly, stealthily, by force...) but you don't need a word study to understand that the basic thought is taking someone else's property without their consent. By whatever means it's done. (A dollar to a donut he got Jonny Jumpup or Snowball Pete to pinch the "math.exactness" phrase from somebody else, anyway)

Thought some of you might enjoy this - especially those of you who enjoy music. Harmonica virtuoso

Welcome, damurf. Yep, reading some of these threads is somewhat - obsessional - especially in the beginning when you first come across the hidden side of TWI. Love your remark: Just about sums up the whole TWI attitude. Like your new avatar. :)

Hard to see how any of these confrontational programs is "walking in love." (As if any of us needed further lessons in "walking in condemnation - !!!)"

Happy birthday, have a great time celebrating LIFE. Especially with your new hubby.

The woman that rang VPW every night and he would share the word that he had learned that day with her ... I remember thinking, during the very session of PFAL where he said this, "Don't you share this stuff with your wife? First? Isn't she interested??" But hey, while the thought is still forming, the next class segment is starting ... no time to pursue such an idea... Given the connotations in this thread concerning That Woman... Dotsie should have hit him with the frying pan a few times. Or whatever the Ohio equivalent was for chastising a straying husband.

The disgusting old lecher! Even if he were so "spiritually mature that he was above such earthly matters," he knew others who weren't so "spiritually mature" would be about and there he was, putting a stumbling block in their way. (As well as ignoring just a few other scriptures.) If his body (or covering it) meant so little maybe he should have joined a nudist colony ... but no, probably no gorgeous young women there, just more wizened old prunes like himself. Disgusting old lecher!!!

Hey, welcome back Just Thinking. Do stick around. A lot of people disappeared when it was announced that the forum would close so it has been rather quiet here since then.

JJ, you were right and they were absolutely wrong. Empathy and TWI are poles apart. Oil and water. The BoT doesn't know what compassion means, and would think that what Jesus did and how he conducted his lifestyle, would make him a real loser. Jesus was "moved with compassion." He "wept" at the plight of those who were oppressed. What a useless wuss! He should have stood immovably and harshly confronted their failure to put God first. Told the man with the epileptic son it was his believing that was at fault. Told Peter his MiL's fever was her own fault. Told Mary and Martha to get their act together and Lazarus had died because of his failure to believe and they should put it behind them. Thank God he didn't do any of those things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember a Corpsman once telling me in my early days, "You've got to really love people." Context was in relation to being Corps, can't remember the details now. He was kind and thoughtful, that I do remember. He was English, would have trained in the US but this was at Gartmore. Funny now, in context of then being subject to ultra-legalist ultra-bully Geer. I wonder what became of that Corpsman? Anyway - really loving people is such a far cry from bullying them.

Well I just got back from overseas travel, got myself scanned at Heathrow and was selected for a "random patdown" (I look like a terrorist??) but no probs. No probs anywhere at all in fact. I had a small nail clipper in my bag which I had asked about before I started my outward journey and was told it was okay. On the way back it was picked up in the bagscan in Hong Kong and they wanted to see it - but when produced, there was no objection. At Heathrow the person after me had a 250ml bottle of contact lens saline (in a bag with other CL stuff) but the official allowed that through (limit is 100ml). Each time my plane stopped (for refueling) all the passengers were made to get off and instead of going (being herded) into the transit lounge, we were all sent back through that country's security. Seemed weird, having been checked before getting on the plane in the first place, to be checked again for the continuation of the same flight in the same plane. Not sure what this would achieve. Relief of boredom for waiting passengers??? The bagscan equipment is pretty sophisticated, and shows different kinds of things in different colors (clothing one color, paper another etc). I chatted whilst I waited for my bags to be scanned. The officials were pleasant to talk to and explained what they were doing, not in detail, but friendly enough. You can tell I wasn't in the US. I would have been treated as a terrorist just for asking the question. Actually I asked if they'd ever found anything suspicious in the bagscan and one official said yes but would not elaborate. Australia is planning to introduce some equipment that gives a better body scan but they took great pains to emphasize that it wouldn't make people look "naked" as US scanning equipment does.

JJ, I think we all have a (or several)weak point(s) somewhere and some aspect of twig-love fulfilled the need we had - everyone wants to feel accepted and loved. Once accepted into a twig, however, the pressure mounted to "take the class" and so off we went on the slippery road to non-acceptance and conditional love. Sure bullying might have been a factor for some, but there are many other aspects of family/"group" life that predispose towards wanting to be with a group of people who appear friendly, don't badmouth others, and are genuinely enthusiastic about life.

Along with other WC, one of my RoA tasks was cleaning the porta-potties. And d'ya know what? I loved doing it. I loved making those things a place that visitors could feel comfortable and happy ("really blessed") about using. Dirty smelly loos ruin too many events. The thought of being seated at head table for doing that, and of LCM or any of the other head honchos pouring water in my glass, is hilarious!!! :biglaugh: Now you remind me, the reason WC had to clean the porta potties was "to keep them humble." Remind them that although they might be important "on the field," they needed to be reminded to stay humble. Just another of those hierarchical Way things that apply to some and not to others. It wasn't the branch and limb coords who needed reminding of humility. It was the BoT.