waysider

a pretend world of a pretended world.

HERE A so-called Christian heavy metal band whose frontman was convicted of attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged wife has admitted that it duped fans into believing that they were Christian in order to sell their music. He said that during his tenure with As I Lay Dying, he realized that a number of bands that professed to be Christians were faking their faith just as he was. "We toured with more ‘Christian bands’ who actually aren’t Christians than bands that are,” Lambesis stated. “In 12 years of touring with As I Lay Dying, I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian bands.”

HERE 1:09 :o

......sad.

Yes and no If one of them dies, the survivor will (but not always) find a new mate.

Corps or no corps, failure to operate the mystical, magical "law of believing" was always regarded as a sign of spiritual weakness, especially for those in leadership type positions. I've seen people try to "believe away" chronic illness, cancer, severe injuries, volatile domestic situations, toxic (physical and/or psychological) work environments, and more. Because the law of believing is equally as potent as a handful of fairy dust, it usually doesn't have a happy ending.

"Anyway, I hope I didn't step on anyone's toes or hurt anyone's feelings." My toes are just fine and so are my feelings. You make a good point. We all had our reasons for staying. Sometimes I stayed to appease my (then) wife. Sometimes I stayed because I felt my exit would cause familial stress. Sometimes I stayed because it was the "honorable" thing to do. Sometimes I just stayed because it was the easiest route I could take. "The truth is, as broken as VPW was, we were also broken, we were looking for something to fill our own void." I agree to this, as well. That's why we were so vulnerable and made easy targets for the allure of an answer to life's struggles.

I'ts an age old dilemma. When do you cut the apron strings? When do you coax the fledglings out of the nest? For birds, it's pretty straightforward. For humans, not so much. There is no easy answer . Even within a single family, parenting styles may need to vary from child to child.

Twinky I think you're reading too much into my post. I wasn't suggesting that unethical or physically harmful or immoral behavior are appropriate. I'm merely saying that in a complex society, there are multiple opinions on what constitutes proper child rearing technique. Unless there is consensus, the child could be pulled in opposing directions. Ergo, "It takes a village" may be an unrealistic concept in a complex society.

Other times, we had barbecues and social events - but we paid for them ourselves. Ditto. That part of The Way was almost like a local sub-culture that contrasted the prevailing attitudes at the corporate level.

"It takes a village": It can only work if there is a cultural consensus of ethics, mores, behavioral standards, limits of deviation. In my opinion, there is too much diversity in the typical American community for this to be viable in a literal sense.

Short answer: Yes Source: Personal experience of a twig (retired people) that was disbanded for failure to properly ABS, despite receiving "Love Offerings", etc. Disclaimer: Incident happened over 30 years ago. Additional disclaimer: Reason (bogus) given by HQ was lack of membership diversity.

What a strange, strange world we lived in. Maybe it was all just a bad dream.

They send roots down to the water table. If they can't find it, they'll settle for a sewer system.

You must have water nearby. They have an affinity for groundwater.

"Nut" is much too kind a word.

Do "Christian" puppeteers qualify for this thread? HERE

He's on facebook. Have you tried contacting him there?

They turn down free beer?? Well, look who's calling the kettle black.

One particular year, at the conclusion of the Rock of Ages (I think it was 1973.), Wierwille had a huge healing service, which he directed from the main stage. Over the microphone, he announced that anyone needing healing should come to the front of the stage. Then he told all Advanced Class grads to come to the front, also, and pair up with a person needing ministering. I found myself feeling like something was very wrong. Why hadn't God told me Himself to go to the front of the stage? I lingered in the back and felt extremely uncomfortable because those around me knew I was an AC grad. Wierwille, himself, did nothing special other than yammer endlessly through the microphone. My spectator positioning allowed me to view the whole event as if I were looking at it from an outside vantage point. Whispers began to circulate through the crowd about this healing and that. I, on the other hand, saw nothing taking place aside from the usual ministering situation we had all become accustomed to. There were no *blind gaining sight*, no *lame being made to walk*. Immediately following, a "love offering" was taken up. Money was flowing into the horns of plenty like water from a winter thaw. What a surprise, huh? When it was over, the guilt began to set in, though. What if God had told me and I wasn't "listening"? What if someone's life had depended on my compliance? It was a gnawing feeling that stuck with me for a long, long time...years. Looking back, I now find myself feeling like the whole thing was a big theatrical event, staged to bolster the proverbial bottom line. And, oh yeah, I no longer feel any guilt associated with the event.

Within the context of the Advanced Class, it was taught that believers could NOT be possessed... and... that they COULD be possessed. Both positions are found in the AC syllabus. I have cited this contradiction in the past. Like so many other things, I think VPW simply did a cut and paste without understanding what he was copying. For that reason, I wouldn't give much credence to whatever you may have heard in TWI.

The grandson, V2P2, has cloned The Way and given it a new name. Special calling??...Meh.

ALSO

There are other posters here who are in similar situations. Perhaps you could initiate another thread with a rephrased title.

It's what I like to call "trophy mentality". We had a local/regional musician in the Cleveland area who was active in the Jesus movement. (He is now internationally known. But that's not the point.) We courted him, so to speak, in efforts to get him to take the PFAL class so we could use him as an example. It's really an old door-to-door sales technique.... "Well, Mrs. Jones, your neighbor down the street, Mrs. Smith, bought these recently and just loves them."