waysider

Here's where cognitive dissonance gets thick: How can something be God breathed and inaccurate at the same time? (PFAL materials have been shown to be inaccurate.)

Mike, I haven't seen anyone here attack you personally. What we are attacking is your outlandish claim that Wierwille wasn't a plagiarist. Clearly, he was. Deep in your heart, I think you know that. Take any Mickey Mantle discussions off the table. This thread is not about Mickey Mantle.

Mike, I don't think you understand what a copyright is. For lack of a better word, let me just say that a copyright is instantaneous. If you commit a book to a tangible form, it is copyrighted. Just like that. In order to protect yourself and your material, you subsequently file for a certificate of copyright. That is to provide a legal footing on which you can base any claim of originality. I don't suppose that really matters, though, because what you have done is redefine the meaning of copyright. You can't simply redefine the meaning of terms in order to favor your own personal agenda. What Wierwille did was wrong. He stole the works of others and claimed them as his own.I'm not even talking about the content of those works. I'm simply talking about his actions.The fact that you personally choose to rationalize this does not alter reality by one iota.

It's not food for deep thought, Mike. Anyone with a reasonable amount of education understands the essence of intellectual property and plagiarism. Choosing to ignore what you know to be factual does not make it any less true. Let's boil the cabbage down, shall we? Wierwille plagiarized a whole bunch of materials that had been previously produced by other writers. That's not only illegal, it's unbiblical. You know, that whole thing about not stealing and such. Such a pesky little detail. It just seems to get in the way so often. But, wait, there's more. Then he lied about his sources, said God must have given the materials to him because he had already taken all his own copies to the dump. He said God promised to teach him information that hadn't been known for 2,000 years, even though most of it had, in fact, been known. See how that darned bible keeps getting in the way? All that nonsense about not lying. I mean, how inconvenient is that? But that's O.K., Mike. Just change the subject and dance around with fanciful data that doesn't exist. Maybe nobody will notice the diversion. Hey, I just happened to have an interesting thought. Maybe YOU could write the book . Be sure to copyrite it, though. Or, better yet, maybe you could put it straight into public domain. That would eliminate the problem of plagiarism and theft of intellectual property. Be sure to include some surveys and polls. That always spices things up.

Regarding polls and surveys: Studies have shown that 47.9% of all statistics are simply made-up numbers.

Oh, pray, do tell. May I ask what other items are on the list ...and is quantitative data available?

I have no desire to "search" the AC transcripts or review SNS tape #214. All that would really prove is that Wierwille spoke of the alleged event. We already know that much, otherwise you would have no knowledge of it. It doesn't make it anymore true than his fabricated snowstorm stories. And, yes, I'm aware the expression can be used figuratively, much like people today say someone threw them "under the bus". If you're still not sure what kind of behavior is acceptable and expected of someone who supposedly represents God, I suggest you spend less time searching Way publications and reexamine the scriptures. If this is the kind of behavior Wierwille found admirable, I believe his understanding of the scriptures may have been skewed.

I sincerely doubt that the incident actually took place. Mike's telling of it seems to be the only recording of the event. And, he wasn't there. Although, I don't doubt that Mike may have heard some rumor that subsequently grew into said incident. That's how myths and legends evolve. off topic alert...Just to be clear, So_Crates, I grew up NEAR the zoo, not IN it.

W.25th & Denison...Used to sled ride in Riverside Cemetery, right about where I 71 is now.

It must be difficult for someone to get on the local news and admit they've been swindled out of their life savings. Now, imagine how it must be next to impossible for someone to get on the world wide web and concede they've flushed nearly the last 50 years of their life down the crapper chasing a non-existent, elusive golden pony. I wouldn't look for it to happen anytime soon. * I've got a little Stowwwry for you. It's kind of a parable, I guess, except it really happened. When I was just a little whipper, I wanted to be a cowboy. Maybe you did too. Lots of kids did back then. More than anything, I wanted a Palomino pony.(That's that beautiful golden color you see in the movies.) Trouble is, that's not too realistic for a kid in the inner city. One day, as I was out front playing broomstick cowboy with the neighbor kid, I happened to look down toward the end of the block just in the nick of time to see something that was a beautiful golden color, turning the corner, moving away from us. What do you suppose it was I saw? Yep. You guessed it. It was, of all things, a Palomino pony. Just to be sure, I asked the neighbor if she had seen it too. She was sure she had. We grabbed our broomsticks and set out immediately, at a full gallop, in pursuit of that buckin' bronco. There was no time to consider where we would keep it or what we would feed it. We were on a mission. We were so excited, we didn't even notice the houses that became a blur as we flew past them. Huffing and puffing, we made it to the end of the street and turned the corner. And there it was, our Palomino pony. He was still on the run, though, and we only caught a glimpse of that magnificent yellow tail streaming in the wind as it turned the next corner at full speed. We only paused long enough to catch a quick gulp of air as we both looked at each other in a knowing fashion. We knew we had to continue the pursuit. Off we went, gasping for air and straining to run just a little bit faster in an effort to gain some distance. At last, we made it to the next corner. Again, we only caught a glimpse of that golden tail and his rear hooves as he toyed with our chase as if it were a game. The scenario repeated itself until we were back where we started and the pony we wanted so badly had vanished into thin air. If you still believe The Way can make fantasy come true you'll spend forever grasping at thin air.

VPW vs. BGL Every hero needs a nemesis.

Rodent bones in fox scat.

I've been "out" for a long time so I can't speak to the current state of affairs. When I was "in", though, sexual misconduct was rampant. To think otherwise is delusional.

The Way is a cult. Expect it to behave like anything else and you'll be disappointed.

I think this is a healthy way to look at it. Never let the bad experiences and relationships you had in TWI blind you to the good ones. That's my opinion, at least.

En Garde! Will there be retemory cards? We need retemory cards.

As my dear old dad used to say: "To each his own said Farmer Jones, as he kissed old Bossie, the cow."

It's the magic bullet. If you learn how to use it, you can shoot down almost any Biblical contradiction imaginable

You think sitting through this class as a student was embarrassing? Imagine the level of embarrassment felt standing in front of the class as a presenter.

Here in the U.S., there isn't much focus on Advent. Sure, we still have the Advent calendars. The kids see them as a source for a daily chocolate treat more than something symbolic. Anyway, my hope for the approaching season and new year is that we may enjoy good health and strive to treat each other with respect and good intention. Thanks for the thread, Twinky.

For some reason, this conjures up images of Davros from the British T.V. series Dr. Who. For the uninitiated, HERE is some background reference. "Davros is from the planet Skaro, whose people, the Kaleds, were engaged in a bitter thousand-year war of attrition with their enemies, theThals. He is horribly scarred and disabled, a condition that various spin-off media attribute to his laboratory being attacked by a Thal shell. He has one functioning hand and one cybernetic eye mounted on his forehead to take the place of his real eyes, which he is not able to open for long; for much of his existence he depends completely upon a self-designed mobile life-support chair in place of his lower body. It would become an obvious inspiration for his eventual design of the Dalek. The lower half of his body is absent and he is physically incapable of leaving the chair for more than a few minutes without dying. Davros' voice, like those of the Daleks, is electronically distorted. His manner of speech is generally soft and contemplative, but when angered or excited he is prone to ranting outbursts that resemble the hysterical, staccatissimo speech of the Daleks."

Have one of THESE on the house. Did you miss anything? That depends on your perspective. From my point of view, you can consider yourself one of the lucky ones.,

Just my opinion here. Although The Way made money on every class they ran, it was short term. The real goal was to build a following of people who would give them 10, 15, 20% of every paycheck, time after time after time. They knew the drop-out rate for class grads would be incredibly high. That's why the push to recruit was so aggressive. From a sales and marketing point of view, it's simple math. It was never about "bringing people to the Lord" or however else you choose to phrase it. We were unpaid sales reps, working for 0% commission.