Twinky

Hilarious !!!!!!!!

Jane, find another church. You have to feel comfortable there, otherwise no point. You've done the spiritual bullying bit, you don't need to do that again. The right place (for the time being) might not be within the "denomination" you are expecting it to be.

The daughter of Rev W.... Th.... died - she took a drug overdose. W Th had been on staff for years. When the daughter died - W Th was thrown out - because hecouldn't keep spiritual control over his household therefore he was no longer fit to be in charge of a department at HQ. All this was publicly displayed (yelled about) the next Corps Night. Including in the yell-fest: if anyone dared to contact them to offer condolences, obviously they also were infected with DS. They were colluding with him and endorsing his inability to manage his household. They also would be banished from HQ if they contacted him. I think W TH was banished to attend (not run) a twig in some remote outpost. Never heard of him again. Compassion? I think not. Thanks, LCM. Thinking about it now, many years after the event - I wonder why the girl felt the need to take drugs. Was it just teen experimentation? Could it have been to cover the misery of being a staff member's child? Maybe she was raised "in the Way." Or even ... (having read the sexual abuse stories) - whether that might have played a part... but that's pure speculation in light of hindsight.

This thread seems to have turned into a disease forum rather than a food hygiene/safety one. Coming back to food hygiene, try this book: "Not on the Label" by Felicity Lawrence (ISBN: 0-141-01566-7). She is a consumer affairs correspondent for a major reputable newspaper and as an undercover reporter got jobs in various food prep businesses. And other places. It also talks about the cost to others - the conditions the worker-gangs have to endure just so that cheap products are available in the shops.

Shell tanker drivers just finished a four day strike. Some fuel stations ran out of fuel - mostly because people filled up in case they couldn't get fuel later during the weekend. One enterprising fuel station started selling petrol at nearly £2/litre which is shockingly excessive. After some public humiliation he reduced the price to £1.50 and still had people lining up. (Basic price at the time was £1.18/litre). Strike is now over, tanker drivers got a pay increase, petrol has gone up by a penny. Friend had to fill up on the motorway (freeway) today and paid £1.37/litre. Price locally is now around £1.19/litre.

Happy birthday, Dooj. Hope it's a good one. Show us the shoes then...

£1.18 (that's about US$2.40) - for a litre - that's about 1/4 gallon. Of which, a little over 50% is taxes of various kinds. Very useful, having a pedal cycle... ...though not very practical in Texas or Alaska.

missed the day, but hope you had a good one.

After I got chucked out I was under major condemnation. LCM had managed to cut the Book from us ("It has nothing to say but reproof to those who walk away!" - don't forget to add the yelling and spit flying out of his mouth) and after 4 years of in-rez and WC training, reproof was something that I'd had in sackfuls (once even for just being happy). I couldn't handle reading the Bible at all for a long time. Actually I couldn't handle life at all - but that's another story. I try to LIVE what I know - not read about it all the time [and then do something different, TWI-style]. I don't NEED any more words to read - I need to know how to APPLY the words that I've already read. So I ponder the paths of my feet and take it easy with myself. Then when I am unsure or realize I don't quite remember it all about some particular thing, then I read the book more. I go to an Anglican church which is very laid-back, no conventional liturgy. The first few months I went, tears poured down my face at every sermon. I was so happy to be "home" in a place where there were other Christians. Their beliefs/views often conflict with my TWI taught/influenced beliefs and now I enjoy reading and some study to see how their views might have been formed and whether and where I need to change my own. And the pleasure of just reading OT adventures or whatever is returning. I never went to twig for the social aspect. But church has a social aspect and some of them are so unlearned about the Bible it's painful. I echo Polar Bear's statement above.

This seems to be very focussed on TWI's idea of SIT but don't forget that there are a lot of other people out there in churches (esp Pentecostal) who also SIT (or claim to). They believe they are speaking in an unknown language and do it privately because they also believe it has benefits ("quickest way to pray and get results", according to one woman in a car I was travelling in recently). The interpretation of tongues is the TWI specialty. Other churches do it differently. Agreed the KJV interpretations were a little weird and generally it was all very repetitive. However, I have heard some people give interpretation (one guy in particular) and the message is always so fresh and interesting in the choice of language that you want to listen. Ah yes... just thank you, just... Never heard this word used so many times as in some believers' prayers. Never speak like that in "real life."

Interested in a different way now. Or perhaps it was that TWI derailed my interest. I try to read it for pleasure, interest, understanding and application. I specifically try to avoid reading it to understand the Greek/Hebrew/other words. Rarely read KJV (too many connotations) but I miss the notes in the Companion Bible. Now I read a variety of other versions, some of which are wild (The Message), some of which are bland (NIV) and occasionally some which are questionable (NLT) However, the pre-WC days when I would spend a morning lounging in the sun engrossed in some OT book (just for pleasure) seem to have vanished.

...Alienated all my family and my friends... Yes, some are still friends, wonderful people, and I've made it up with the family, well, most of 'em. Oh wait, you CAN believe I did that, y'all did too.

Oh well that's you gone for the next couple of days while you read it...

Well, he did call himself "The Teacher". He was just teaching more than we all realized when we first took PFAL. Naturally he would want to promote ("ordain") those who followed him and his teachings most closely. And who helped him to enjoy the bright future he envisaged. ...Could it be that some others were ordained simply as "cover" for the ones who followed his practices most closely? (PS - A bit tongue in cheek that; there were some great folks who were ordained.)

W's family are from another country and their native language is not English. W's mother is/was a Pentecostal believer. W's father did not believe. W's father became seriously ill. Appropriate treatment was not available. W's mother had told W's father on many occasions he could be healed (by God). The father denied this, did not believe. One day, W's mother went to church, came home, same routine. Father by this time getting very ill. He walked off. W's mother called to him in English, a language she did not know but he did, telling him he could be healed if only he would trust God. Father snapped round, demanded a repeat, got it, so astonished that he instantly changed his mind, accepted that healing was available. W's mother had no idea what she had said. W's father is (I think) still alive today. W told me this. I consider W to be an honest and reliable witness, loves God. Some time later the family got to hear about TWI.

My understanding is that Muslims are required also to give 10% of their income away. Not necessarily to the mosque but give it away to those in need. Muslims don't even figure in this breakdown. "Christians vs atheists" is so much putting people in boxes. It's a false distinction.

Yeah, Bramble, LCM did say that. Maybe VP did as well, but I have heard LCM say it. Oakspear - too much! I guess if you had arranged the books by size that would have been wrong too, shoulda been by category. How rude of the BC to stamp all over your fine Christian courtesy in cooking a meal. Good you put him in the garbage can with the scraps .

It's a nice picture, painted around the time my cottage was built except that my cottage is far too small for something of that size! A smaller print would be nice here. The glow of the lanterns is warming and hopeful. The little girl's face (the one facing the viewer) is sweet. I like it more as I look at it more often. Would the full size version be a little overpowering? Not sure if I would give it house room as it doesn't appeal particularly to any emotional area. It's just nice to look at. My house is filled with things that people have given me/old family pieces. They have an emotional investment. (PS I have a rose just that color pink in the garden, too)

So go vote, Excie.

Jim, did you see Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" yet?

Dave, you knew about the sexual predilections of the BoD in the early 80s? :blink: Or have I misunderstood your post? That's what I understood too. I would've been more than appalled if I'd realized those guys couldn't keep their zippers up. I thought this website was libellous when I first read of the sexual allegations. Decent Christian guys just wouldn't do that, would they?! (Well, no, decent Christian men probably wouldn't (LOL). At least not as standard practice.)

"Levis and a t-shirt" Just that he would dress like other young men of our day and time. He wasn't the only one wandering around in a long dress, sorry, robe, in his day and time. D'ya reckon he would be the kind of guy (in our time) who would help with the washing up or shoving the vacuum cleaner round? (probably women's work when he was walking the Earth). I reckon he was good with kids though. Younger siblings would help with that. Not fazed by baby sh**, or puke over his shoulder.

I had a really good job as a WoW. At the interview my boss asked what pay rate I expected and I named a price, and she said, "That's not enough!" and named a figure a third more than I had asked for. I worked 4 hours/day and still got more than everyone else in my family. I stayed on there when the year ended and six months after that I thought my life had ended too (got kicked out of the WC). She was a wonderful friend and employer, and put up with my inability to think straight, to speak, to do in fact anything at all (including turn up within an hour of the agreed start time) and one day (some months later) she just sat down with her arms round me while I wept all over her beautiful suit. So no, not ashamed - really blessed by it.

So glad nobody ticked that they keep their place immaculate!! I often wondered how tidy the home in which the young Jesus was. There was him, a mom, a dad, quite a number of siblings; and as a great crowd of them went off to Jerusalem (such that the young Jesus's absence was not noticed), it might be that there were a number of cousins or at least friends wandering in and out the house. Any family with a home with (let's say) 6 resident kids hardly has it immaculate all the time unless kids' sticky fingers are a recent invention. And (yes, Oakspear) - the workplace (carpenter's workshop) may well also have been attached to the residence. Dan - I reckon he wouldn't be in a robe and sandals but in a pair of Levi's and a T shirt. Perhaps using a motorbike. Great posts all, a decent dose of realism.

Three things: 1. Finding and reading articles at the Cafe 2. Reading the Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse 3. Talking it over with a very very patient ex-Wayfer who really has managed to get his life back together (he was never as deeply in as I was) But it took around ten miserable years of self-condemnation before I could break out of the mold, before I discovered the Cafe, which I found as a detour on the way back to TWI (waaaa!) (I never got past the Cafe). Be really positive with your friend and show compassion and respect for any decision (right or clearly wrong). It's really hard to get the brain functioning so that there is some self-confidence and self-assurance.