waysider

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Ahhhh. And therein lies this wacky concept of having respect for your fellow man.

I concede there may be individual sections where this proves to be true. But think about verses like "Whosoever shall say unto this mountain-----" Is it literal? Do you know anyone who ever literally moved a mountain with their believing? But if you can accept it as being symbolic instead of literal, there may be, perhaps, valuable lessons to be learned

Somewhere on GSC you can read the account of how VPW used the tragic death of Gary D., resulting from a car wreck, to browbeat people into blind obedience and cast the other person who was in the wreck into a cesspool of undeserved guilt. (1974 or 75)

It most definitely is. I know of someone who was informed, in no uncertain terms, that "bad things" (like cement overshoes) would happen if they didn't stop publicly speaking out against The Way. There were no spiritual metaphors couching their admonitions. (circa 1978 or 79.)

Now, see, this is where you screwed up. You assumed that the AC was about the Bible and its various records. But, it was really about debuhl spurts and learning that the bogey man would gitcha if you ever left the safety of the fortress of da household. Yeah, too many pressing spiritual lessons to learn for us to be wasting time learning about the Bible and stuff. What were you thinking? That they were a research and teaching ministry? Shame on you, you rabble rousing troublemaker!

Which one, indeed!

Question #1 1. Do you faithfully ABS?

Ever notice how hard it is to make good stuff happen? Gotta get the camera angle just so, make sure the focus is crisp, allow for proper exposure time, yada--yada---yada---yada---yada But for bad stuff?? piece of cake!! Just let your concentration get just a teensy bit out focus for just a second, speak a "negative" or two and--------BAM!! You got it, baby! "What you're confessin', you're possessin'----What you look at, you become." "If a man says, 'I'll be dead this time next year', guess what, he'll be dead. Have to be. Why? because it's a law. Works every time for saint and sinner alike. If I was a bettin' man, I'd put money on it."-----VP Wierwille (moderately paraphrased) Good stuff = hard to get Bad stuff = easy to get (It's spiritual.)

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Yeah-----and plentiful. "You have to go to (make TWI coffers) grow."

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Ah, yes, another classic from the genius mind of Burt Bacharach. Such a pity that musical tastes of the general public have evolved to a point of dismissing this genre.

If God is omnipresent, why do you need a church at all? Can't you communicate with God at the state park or the local beach or the public square of a large city? Now, if what we're really talking about is the value of having social interaction with other human beings, I can buy into that aspect of it.

I think the Biblical accounts are very likely to be figurative in nature. People who were alive thousands of years ago may have understood the symbolism right away. People today?-----not so much. That's one of the reasons I think adhering to the concept of inerrancy is stifling, not liberating.

I think the whole concept of "deliverance" from homosexuality was the theme of an entire edition of the short-lived "Heartbeat Magazine", many years ago. Anyone remember those?

The big doofus wasn't sharing any kind of spiritual insight. He was frustrated as hell by his own, personal predicament and opted to wear his heart on his shirt sleeve, as the old expression goes. Of course, he could come here and apologize for his misguided orations but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I think it was Gallagher who posed the question, "If your wife leaves you for another woman, do you hold the door for both of them?"

Knowing what you know now about the realities of homosexuality, do you see how easy it was for him to make this seem believable? It's like saying that, because a dog can't change itself into a cat, we have proof that spirits are repressing the dog's ability to change. If a dog comes into this world as a dog, then a dog it shall remain.

I guess this is an example of how time and place had an effect on the message. During my time in The Way (70s-80s), the lowest of the low were those who were born-again of the wrong seed. And boy, howdy! Wasn't everybody who had achieved a high level of success in the world? But here's the catch. Supposedly, this is the only unforgivable sin. So, even though homosexuality was considered to be a very base form of spiritual corruption, there was supposedly hope that it, unlike the unforgivable sin, could be reversed. Needless to say, I have a very different perspective on both issues today than I did back then.

I think you might develop a much different perspective on life if you stop trying to figure out how Satan does this, that or the other thing.

Work, schmirk----Just have some fun. What's the hurry? I'm not sure if you can ever totally get over it. But, hey!----So What? There are plenty of people here who can relate to your experience. And don't forget, there is more to Greasespotcafe than just the forums. You can use the P.M.(private message) service and there is a chat room, as well. Plus, there is a ton of very informative "stuff" that you can access from the home page.

Not exactly my cup of tea but here ya go TLB. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc8y0DL8Hr4

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