waysider

The entire organization is built on deception. VPW said he had received special insight that hadn't been known for 2,000 years. That's a lie. Almost all the books and classes were plagiarized. Some of them were stolen, word for word, page for page. Even entire books were plagiarized. Many times, Wierwille did not understand what he was copying. Other times, what he copied was never accurate in the first place. The challenge is not to find what is plagiarized, but, rather, to find what is not. You can find all the evidence you could possibly want or need right here on GSC. I'm pressed for time at the moment but you can use the search window or ask someone to assist you in finding examples. I'm not at all bitter. Relieved would more accurately describe how I felt when I finally saw what had happened to me. EDIT: words

Fear. Surrounding by bodyguards. I think of the Prez of the USA and the vast motorcade that carries him around. The henchmen and heavies that apparently surrounded VPW (he was dead before I got too involved, so no personal knowledge). I don't disbelief the reports. Even pop stars and other celebs have heavies to protect them (or enhance their egos). There's a paradox here, Twinky. Here was this guy who railed against fear, championed the *law of believing*, scolded those who couldn't believe for healing or wealth, chastised those who demonstrated the least bit of fear. And, yet , there he was, surrounding himself with armed thugs, guarding against the thing he feared...retaliation from disgruntled followers. Where was his own *believing* to be more than a conqueror, abiding in the safety of the Lord's watchful eye? It had much greater significance than the usual bodyguards of celebrities we've come to expect.

"Can God create a rock He cannot lift?" I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say the answer is yes. I mean, why else were we always being told it was our responsibility to "lift" The Rock?

No one is criticizing your humor, MRAP. Many of us have had long, drawn-out "discussions" with Oldiesman over the years. Familiarize yourself with his history. Then, perhaps, you'll understand my previous post.

BlueCord One thing that helps, in my opinion, is coming to grips with the reality that The Way is just a cult. It's not some elite organization, striving for some noble goal. It's just a cult, like thousands of cults that have come before it and thousands yet to come. You're not reneging on a sacred vow nor should you allow anyone to make you feel guilty or ashamed. Even the worst of organizations has people who, as individuals, are goodhearted. The organization, itself, is corrupt to its very core. I first became involved in 1972. Even back then, it was corrupt and evil. I didn't know that, of course, nor did many of the genuinely good people I met along the way. Get out while you can. Don't be talked out of your decision.

Some of us know Oldies well enough to know he's not "fishing" for puns.

Why the LOL?

I think what Teach is saying here is that mankind can't (or shouldn't) take credit for his own salvation. It seems to make more sense if I interpret it that way.

Not gonna happen, Allan.

"What we should teaching is love. Who cares about what one believes? Like us or not, but the love touches hearts." There's a ton of wisdom in that, Roy. ( I re-punctuated for clarity. I hope you don't mind.)

It can be done. All the members of the board of directors must agree to dissolving the corporation. Assets can not be assigned to members of the organization. In essence, what they would have to do is to give all the assets to some other non-profit organization. Providing the related government bodies, as well as the IRS, agreed with the dissolution, the transfer could take place...I see the chances of that happening to be as likely as a snowball fight in (a place where snowball fights don't happen).

I can't read minds but I doubt that facing his victims would affect him very much.

Just a personal opinion here. The guy is 53 years old. If he can survive the stresses of prison life (not an easy task), a 30 year sentence would make him 83 when he gets out. You might as well think of it as a life sentence. I'm just sayin'.

Did I say anything about following the law? Because I don't think I did. And why should it be harder to "learn to walk by the spirit" than to follow The Golden Rule?

The message attributed to Jesus is simple, straightforward and easy to understand while the message that is attributed to Paul is filled with detail and minutia and requires close scrutiny to grasp. Paul's message talks about being free from the law, while, in reality, it's filled with "micro" laws. The gospels were written AFTER the epistles yet there is no mention of speaking in tongues or running on "all 9, all the time", so to speak. To me, they appear to be very different.

That's great news, Roy. I've been thinking of you lately. I'm glad everything is going well. Keep getting stronger and enjoy life as it comes your way. Sometimes you just have to live life by the drop.

My great, great grandfather, thrice removed, invented fire...and the wheel. Yes, that's it. He invented the fiery wheel. Family legend has it that it was the year after he invented the exploding hook shot. (We're not sure about the exact date because the records were all lost in the now famous black snow storm of July 32nd.)

My personal experience in trying to get VPW related transcripts leads me to believe that institutions purposely distance themselves from any appearance of being associated with VPW in order to avoid unwanted controversy. I can't say that I blame them.

Amazing, isn't it? It was not so much a lesson in how to behave as it was a smokescreen for unacceptable behavior.

A hypocrite in all his might, So wrong in that he thinks he's right.

Wierwile was purulent? The very idea invites me to construct a joke about a sharp young man named Lance.The explosive punchline would bring piercing relief.

Back in the day, we probably would have just said he was a "sicko". Assuming, of course, we had known what we know today.

Thank you for spearheading this effort, Raf.

Ya know, if you think of this as a letter that some guy wrote to a bunch of people a long time ago, in a place and culture that confounds us, about a situation whose details we really don't understand...it suddenly doesn't seem so important.

Yes, content. So many times (I'm not singling out any one poster or topic.) we see people come on to these boards and essentially regurgitate PFAL, using new phrasing and previously not seen grammatical devices. You take off the disguise and whatta ya got? PLAF (The Wonder Class) all over again.