OperaBuff

VP also used that term back in 1975 during a Sunday night teaching (#746). I happened to be in attendance for that teaching, having driven to HQ with members of my twig. The term wasn't his, it was part of the parlance of the times. But, yeah, to direct the term at people striving to learn to be followers of Jesus Christ was highly inappropriate. Not a whole lotta love there, taking that attitude with God's people, most of whom were barely mature enough to think clearly for ourselves. Yet another piece of the deliberate conflation of TWI teachings and God's own truths, courtesy of VP.

Is Raf still modcat5? http://www.greasespo...modcat5__st__20 If so, GSC has become some sort of weird psychological torturing device.

I know that I know!

That whole "know that you know that you know" thing was an effective hook at getting me seriously interested in TWI, way back when. Ditto the "mathematical exactness and scientific precision" line. I was a math geek in high school (member of our high school math club, which was called Mu Alpha Theta, cute huh?) and used to represent my high school in local math competitions. I loved math! So there was a real attraction for me in those two lines, I drooled at both of those teasers. I first started suspecting that VP was shoveling hooey around the 5th time I heard him try to teach on the difference between the two Greek words for "all" and how it was all without exception or all without distinction. He never could properly teach what the difference is, he always seemed to misspeak and get something backwards and confused. That teaching always made my teeth hurt. All my teeth. Without exception. No distinction. All teeth. Always. What's the frequency, Kenneth?

That's awesome, Frank. You reminded me of something my friend once told me. He said his favorite part of being sober again was how enjoyable the mornings can be. "It's nice to wake up, instead of come to" he said.

Haha. I've always thought the red letter edition Bibles are the loudest. Anytime Jesus is speaking it's time to listen up, as opposed to hearing all that unimportant stuff in black letters, I guess..

(dang, that didn't work. try this) OK, OK, stop begging.. Here's another aria for your enjoyment. One aria, two videos. The first video shows two fine young singers during an informal rehearsal of the great Puccini aria O Soave Fanciulla from La Bohème. It's a stunning display of fine talent up-close, without the costumes, staging, etc of a live opera. Such a beautiful aria, sung as the two characters first fall in love; the vocal lines themselves seem to grow arms and embrace each other: Now, here's the same aria performed during a live production of La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera in New York: Bravo Puccini !!!

OK, OK, stop begging.. Here's another aria for your enjoyment. One aria, two videos. The first video shows two fine young singers during an informal rehearsal of the great Puccini aria O Soave Fanciulla from La Bohème. It's a stunning display of fine talent up-close, without the costumes, staging, etc of a live opera. Such a beautiful aria, sung as the two characters first fall in love; the vocal lines themselves seem to grow arms and embrace each other: http://youtu.be/iaAd... Now, here's the same aria performed during a live production of La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera in New York: http://youtu.be/WRGR... Bravo Puccini !!!

Last week I bought a used copy of the Weymouth New Testament, and it's fast becoming one of my favorite translations. Check out how he handles II Corinthians 2:5-11: "Now if anyone has given pain, he has given it not so much to me, as, in some degree -- I have no wish to exaggerate -- to all of you. For such a person the punishment inflicted by the majority is enough. So that you may now take the opposite course and forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps he be driven to despair by his excess grief. I beg you therefore to fully reinstate him in your love. For I wrote with this object in view -- to test whether you were obedient in every respect. When you forgive a man an offense I also forgive it; in fact what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been on your account, in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should gain an advantage over us. For we are not ignorant of his devices."

That sounds a whole lot nicer than hearing a minister scream vulgar things at his people while he sucks on half a Tic Tac.

In addition to the Bible History link that I provided above, check out this interesting study from the Enjoy The Bible Ministries site: http://www.enjoytheb...ies/jesus1.html They both posit that faith is fidelity. This makes sense to me; at least, fidelity is a synonym that helps my understanding.

Ah, ok, my bad. I thought I remembered reading in here somewhere that he became a mint sucker. Sorry to cast aspersions on such a nice guy.. Sorry too for going off topic, Twinky. AA is a worthy organization, fully deserving of our undivided attention. Truly, if you had seen my friend before and after AA and its 12 step program, you'd've been amazed by the positive changes in him. His job requires him to travel frequently, and he always seeks out a local AA meeting wherever he goes. AA gave us our friend back.

Craig didn't like gay people, but he married one. Craig didn't like AA, but he used to suck on mints to hide the smell of booze on his breath. I ain't no doctor, but by golly I'm seeing a trend there. (Private memo to Craig: Closets are for clothes.)

One of my best friends is in AA, and it saved his life. He was totally out of control with drinking, then one day he hit bottom, hard. Took himself to an AA meeting, and has been doing great for many years now. He's always the first one at the morning meetings, so he can make the coffee for everyone else! Why would Craig object to AA when it has obviously helped thousands if not millions of people escape an addiction? Maybe it's got something to do with that river in Egypt...

Threads like this are the reason why 90% of former TWI members avoid GSC like the plague. I hate this thread with a deep hatred.

Oh, I would go on, but I have received light revvy. Light revvy is antithiculearoun (Gr.) to heavy revvy, but it's lighter. I hope you have the spiritual maturity to understand that distinction. My light revvy says, "Dude, Shine The Cheesy Art And Go To Bed." So, there you are. Whoever you are. OK wait. The other day, I decided to research the meaning of snow in dreams. You know dreams? I hope you have the spiritual maturity to understand what dreams are. Well, what with all the snow falling all over VP every time he tried to look out a window or hop a plane as a young man, I thought it important. Here's what I found. http://www.experienc...ary/snow-dreams I hope you have the spiritual maturity to understand the... oh hell, never mind. Luv ya, OldSkool!!

Maybe the heavy revvy has changed. Again. Or,... maybe the present truth was altered to fit into the ever-shifting present. Or,... maybe we lack the spiritual maturity to fully comprehend the shiftiness of the heavy revvy. It even comes with a map, which is new; heavy revvy didn't used to come with a map. It used to come with a verbal slap upside the head, but no map. The new heavy revvy shifting present truth has placed the world above the Word, which is new. It used to be the Word came first, but now the world is on top. Ah, but the Word, you see, is at the bottom because it is the firm foundation over which the flat world hovers. I think that about covers it. Unless you want me to go on...

i want POWER which i will use FOR giving myself an ABUNDANT LIVING. oh, and i want lots of free sex on the side. amen. hey, look at it snow!

Big fish. The judge today set his trial date for August 2013. He's not been allowed to wear his hook hand while in court, and has only limited access to it while locked up.

This handy line chart is on the EvangelicalBible.com website, showing which of the major English translations are more literal and which are geared more towards capturing the thoughts. I think it's a helpful little chart.

Great post, Pete. Instead of following the great truths that you so beautifully outline, TWI leadership opted for a lock-box strategy. All those lock boxes crammed full of toxic and shameful secrets became the time bombs that eventually destroyed the place.

Yo, waysider,... I didn't know you made a movie!

How many times did we hear/see some iteration of this from VP: "I bleed my heart out for you keedz, 18 hours, 20 hours a day! *belch* Day after day, week after week, month after month, I pour my heart out, day and night! * phlegmatic cough* * phlegmatic cough *. And you still won't believe the greatness of it! * belch * ". Musta been hard work, doing all that yelling after eating, drinking, and smoking so much. Give the man his dues due. You're the best.

Some definitions of faith make it out to be a gooey amalgam of trust, believing, suspension of critical thought, hope, wishful thinking, and prayer. This gives rise to the canard of "well, we just have to take it on faith." In other words, just close your eyes and swallow whole. To which I say - phooey! I tried living by that definition once, and I wound up hurt and used. Maybe a truer definition of faith is the other side of that coin. Maybe faith is our personal collection of the things of God that we have known to be absolutely true and trustworthy, proven by our experiences and knowledge. It's interesting that the Bible qualifies faith, describing some people as having great faith, and some having weak faith (the 'slow of heart', to borrow a phrase); meaning, perhaps, that some are more convinced by their personal collection of proven beliefs - their faith - than others are convinced by their own.

Me too. Your thoughts are interesting to me. I've never quite figured out that word 'faith' to know exactly what it means. I'd like to end my confusion. My thoughts: the word 'faith' is never used as a verb today. So it's a thing of some sort, not an action or a state of being. (I'm faithing you? No. He faithed me? No.) So, maybe the nouns 'faith' and 'belief' are interchangeable? This definition of faith from the Bible History site sheds some light, in that faith used to be used as a verb in English, way back when: http://www.bible-his...ussets/F/Faith/