waysider

OK, I see what you mean now. No, it's not Wierwille's excrement holding capacity that is in question. That part is indisputable. The idea is that, if something is shown to be prone to conflicting, erroneous content, be it PFAL, The Little Train That Could or the Bible, it disqualifies itself from a God Breathed designation.

This phrasing is a bit unclear to me. Was it caused by a typo or something? edit: Not the $h!t part. I get that.

Exactly. If someone claims to not be a follower of The Way, but still clings to PFAL, they're still a follower of The Way. "If it walks like a duck........"

I agree. That seems to be an interpretation derived from fundamentalist thinking.

Yeah, that's the general idea behind the Way version. In the PFAL class, VPW says "God had a purpose for everything he said...where He said it, when He said it, how he said it, yada, yada, yada." So then why are there errors and contradictions? Yeah, I know, "they only APPEAR to be errors and contradictions." Well, if he had the power and ability to breath something pure, why did He allow mankind's fallibility to contaminate the finished product? Likewise with PFAL. If it was God Breathed, why did He allow such simple things as geography errors to enter the final text?

Let's get Mikey to try it. He hates everything.

I wasn't involved at that time. Can you elaborate?

What does it mean to be God-Breathed, beyond the standard explanation of being God inspired or given by revelation? If something originated with God, it would seem to me that it should be free of flaws. That obviously doesn't describe the Bible we have come to know or the PFAL class. Is the ambiguity intentional? It's hard to know.

There is no basis for rejecting PFAL as God-breathed that does not apply equally to scriptures that have been considered God-breathed since there was a canon. I'm right with you on that.

Hey, Mr. B. I think the difficulty here is that your posts are sometimes a bit more open ended than some people would like them to be. People don't generally like to be left to draw their own conclusions. I mean, that's cool with art and philosophy and sometimes these discussions do evolve in those directions. Personally, I usually see where you're headed, but I'm not everybody. I'm just me. So, I guess what I'm saying is that, if you try to point the reader to an intended conclusion, it might help. OK. Fire away. I'm ducking for cover now.

You can take people out of The Way but you can't take the Way out of people. They have to make that decision for themselves. Over 20 years of GSC's existence would seem to validate that concept.

So, then, do whatever you want and quote some scripture to CYA. Got it!

It's not a hypothetical. I know of a very real, similar situation, though key details (not a liquor store, etc.) have been altered to retain ambiguity. As to how it ended, let's just say it involved an orange jumpsuit.

Can you point to a scripture that supports this?

How does this answer my question? Choose only one. a. More effective b. Less effective c. Unaffected

Suppose I'm on my way to twig to give a teaching on I Timothy chapter 6, the chapter that details how a man of God should behave. As I'm cruising down the street, I spot a liquor store. There's just one guy behind the counter and no customers in sight. So, I think to myself, "Hey, this is a golden opportunity for a stick-up." So I run in, flash the gun, grab the cash and dash back out. I'm back on my way to twig. (I'll put 10% in the horn of plenty, of course.) Will my teaching be more effective, less effective or unaffected? I mean, it's still the word, right?

Divinely inspired/Given by revelation

The Bible declares itself to be God breathed. Therefore, it must be because the Bible says so and it's God Breathed... That's about as circular as you can get. There is no outside evidence to suggest it's God Breathed. PFAL? it doesn't even claim to be.

I think there is more than one question to be addressed here. For the first question, I'll state that I prefer to write grocery lists and such things on a piece of paper. No particular reason. It's just what I'm used to. The second question, it would appear, is whether printing or cursive is preferred. I can't write in cursive to save my life. Never could. I practiced and practiced to no avail. My hands are just kinda dumb like that. I think it's important to, at the very least, teach kids what cursive looks like and be able to recognize the stroke order/process. That way, when they encounter it in the wild, they'll be able to read it. I've seen a lot of people on-line bemoaning the demise of cursive instruction. Personally, beyond the basics, I think it's a waste of time that could be better spent teaching them the precious art of buggy whip making.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it sounds like an attempt at isolationism. "Don't associate with those people you've known for years. Their weakness will bring you down."

Who does The Blue Fairy symbolize?

A strong apple is only as weak as the rotten barrel it's chained to.

I've never heard this. What does it mean?

Just thought I'd point out, it was Wierwille, himself, who made this claim. (Page 10 or 11 in the Advanced Class syllabus)

While both these approaches may or may not have merit for a kid on the playground, they almost never work in the adult world. Consider this analogy of learning to play piano: When you're a kid, you hone your chops by practicing scales, droning on and on with repetitive drills. But, the end goal is to sit before a live audience and impress them with an emotional performance of Moonlight Sonata. In other words, you have to become much more skilled. And that's what bullies do. They become much more skilled at applying nuanced methods. Please note, I'm not accusing anyone of being a bully. As an adult ,having personally endured some horrendous corporate bullying at the hands of serial bullies, I can tell you the answer is not always simple or identifiably gratifying. One solution that seems to work is to just remove yourself from the bully. That's not always easy, though, and often comes at the cost of relinquishing the last word. Even so, it can sometimes be the ultimate solution. In the process, you have to also learn to recognize what made you a target in the first place or the victory will be pyrrhic. Another solution that sometimes works is to help the bully obligingly embarrass theirself. Bullies hate to be embarrassed, especially when it's of their own doing. I have no real idea how this relates to the current situation. It's just some food for thought and decidedly off-topic to the current Absent Christ theme .