waysider

Get The Message!

Well, in retrospect, he wasn't too good at faking those either. Lo Shonta!

It was a ministry wide practice.

Phenomena was often wheeled out as a handy dandy off-ramp, even though Wierwille taught in the Advanced Class that God only used it as a last resort when there was no one "in fellowship" enough to receive revelation. By sheer logic, this alone disqualifies his snowstorm story. Unless, of course, you're open to accepting he was out of fellowship at the time. Not good either way.

The people who witnessed to me proceeded to have a believers meeting right then and there, so I was exposed to it from the start. I had never heard anything about it before that. However, I had taken some acting classes and had heard people imitate foreign languages. I went to a couple of twig fellowships and saw more believers meetings. About a week later, I had a rather emotional personal experience and, while I was by myself, I spoke in tongues out loud. Then, at the next twig meeting, the person leading the meeting asked for someone to speak in tongues and interpret, so I did. It drew some rather puzzled responses. I hadn't had the class yet. I'm not sure if I even had a Bible. I took the class maybe 2 or 3 weeks after that. (It was over 50 years ago, so my memory may be foggy on the details.) I'm currently a casual language learner. It's really opened my eyes to the complexities of human communication. I no longer think of speaking in tongues as anything mystical or spiritual or however you care to phrase it. It's just something you can do if you lower your inhibitions. .

Three things come to mind. 1. "The aim is meant to be on the target, but when we let go of the arrow, it misses the mark. " If, by "aiming for the target", he means having honest intentions, then Wierwille didn't just miss the target, he failed to aim for it. 2. "Even if your acts are sinful and self-focused, the moment you become aware of that and decide to act out of love, faith, humility, generosity, kindness, and a love of God, God transforms your sin into grace." Wierwille lacked self awareness that his acts were sinful. 3. "Is this where the lockbox doctrine originated? That your heart being right before God allows sin to be turned to grace?" No. the lockbox was another way of saying, "This will be our little secret."

It allows the devotee to do, or at least think, what they want without a sense of shame or guilt.

When you live in a world where down is up and up is down, it really doesn't matter.

Yeah, sure. But, if you're spiritually mature, you can renew your mind to it being OK, because we're in the Grace Administration. (Do I need to add this.../s?)

Please take your songbooks, now, and join me in singing "Great Is Thy Principle".

nor does it nullify the criminality of plagiarism.

Snow storm, burning bush, golden plates......same old, same old.

Except when it isn't.

The answer is a conditional... yes. According to Way theology, being out of fellowship severely restricts one's ability to receive revelation.

So, then...poop-on Christianity?

It was either Ex-C or Dot Matrix.

And where, pray tell, does this provision occur, outside of PFAL, which you just stated is not Biblical doctrine?

Help me understand. Are you now saying The Great Principle Should NOT be taken seriously? I mean, it's in the collaterals so it must be akin to Biblical doctrine. amiright? Oh, Hey, here's a fun thought. Maybe The Law of Believing shouldn't be taken seriously, either.

It's not difficult at all. You're saying that spirit can only speak to spirit but since your mind is physical, not spiritual, somehow some kind of fairy dust gets sprinkled that makes an exception to that rule, thus allowing spirit to talk to something that is not spirit. Is this something you found in the Book of Facetious?

I've said I'd never go back, but I might make an exception for that.

You're still missing a piece of the drivetrain, Mike. Spirit can only talk to spirit except when it's talking to... linkage. 'Cuz, ya see, the linkage is spirit even though it's not spirit. So spirit can talk to linkage because the linkage is ...what? I'm not claiming to be a Bible expert, but I don't recall every seeing that in any scripture. (We must study diligently to renew our linkages.)

...but, first, burn all your bridges behind you.

Jesus wept.

Snell would be proud of you. This is virtually how it works.