waysider

OK In fellow laborers, all fifty of us ate dinner together every night. There were, i think, eight tables. Each table had a host and hostess. The hostess ran the show. You stood behind your chair until the host seated the hostess. Then, the hostess would say "Gentlemen, please seat the ladies." Next, she would say "Gentlemen, you may be seated." At this point, you were seated with your hands folded on your lap. Someone would be called on to say grace for the whole group. After Grace, the hostess at each table would start the meal by saying something like "Joe, would you pass the potatoes, please? Bob, would you start the wilted endive, please?" (always to the right) you were to take one spoonful and pass it on. You sat with your hands folded until everything had been passed around the table. The hostess would signal it was ok to start eating by placing her fork on her plate. You took one bite and placed your fork at the top of your dish while you chewed. The hostess initiated "seconds" in the same manner. After seconds, you were permitted to ask the hostess for more. No water. It was supposed to be bad for digestion. At the end of the meal, the entire group sang "Roll Away", complete with hand motions. The whole process was a long series of no-nos Oh, and never discuss the food. Big no-no.

Oh, I could go on and on about dinner table manners. You could never just relax and have a fun meal together.

Beauuuuuuuuuuuutiful!

Yeah, like "Treat all the believer women as if they are your sisters." (VPW----CF&S) Unless, of course, you happen to be VPW. Then you should treat them like your own, personal sex toys. Hypocrisy is too soft a word.

It's one of those "you had to be there" kind of things.

Doing things that would benefit you as an individual instead of things that would benefit "the ministry". Oops. Sorry. That was a BIG no-no, not a little one.

Probably a red herring.

Yes, that's what it is, isn't it. Sorta reminds me of those companies that come in and "reface" your old cabinets. The "kinder, gentler" ministry is really just the same old organization with new facings and doors added to lend some aesthetics to the same old structure.

I dunno. I still call it that. Not to suggest it was actually a real ministry, but, because it's a phrase with which we can all identify.

Nah, I think he got this stuff the same way he got the rest of it--------he "borrowed" it from other people.

Admittedly, I've been gone from The Way for some time now. Back in the 1970s, though, it was taught that dreams, good or bad, were simply devil spirits trying to get through the "trapdoor" of your unrenewed mind. So, if you told someone you had a dream, it was like saying you were spiritually deficient and devil spirits were knocking at your door. To expound on this a bit more, it should be noted that Wierwille taught, in the Advanced Class, that God no longer "talks" to believers via dreams unless they are so far out of fellowship that they aren't receptive to revelation. So, wishing someone sweet dreams would have been like saying, "I hope devil spirits try to infiltrate your thoughts tonight." :o

I know how the shell game works, too, but that doesn't mean I can beat it.

Good point. Where exactly is it in the Bible (since they claim to be a Bible centered group) does it say that one person is "spiritually responsible" for another person?

It was always like some kind of verbal shell game with them, wasn't it?

It's gettin' near dawn, when lights close their tired eyes.

Proverbs 16:17 When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Sooooo------they're saying their ways please the Lord?

Careful, now. Talk like that can anger the bogeyman.

Why did anyone ever listen to Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charlie Manson-----ad infinitum?

Wierwille was like one of those charming con men you see on T.V. who gain the trust of unsuspecting, lonely widows.

When you log out----Do you have to sing Roll Away?

I just wish he could have said something that was original.

Well, that's the mission of GSC. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

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See, the thing is, it's not just another FB page that happens to be built around the Way experience. It's built explicitly around VPW. He's the focal point. If someone built a page around Dahmer or Manson or Jones, we would see right through the absurdity. But, here we have hundreds of people carrying on about how some guy who was a drunken, psychopathic, narcissistic, sexual predator, who drugged and raped young women, is some kind of role model to admire and emulate. Their "father in the word" their "dad in the ministry". And they fawn over "the rightly divided" this and that without ever stopping to define exactly what that even means. Here is a guy who literally ripped off the works of several other people and pretended it was his own. Does he get a page exposing his deeds? No, he gets a page that heaps laurels on his so-called accomplishments. It borders on insanity. It sickens me to think about it.

No final straw for me. I just drifted away, unnoticed.