waysider

Wow!!! All good stuff. Here's one of a slightly different flavor.

Happy Birthday, Dana!!

How about some work songs for Labor Day? 5 o'clock World http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHR_XxtCjpk...feature=related

Here are your tunes WG http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYWAYLZWZBg

I've kind of lost track so I hope I'm posting this in the right thread. Years ago, Earl B. did a paper (which he taught on) that involved an explanation of the firmament. Now, I might have this wrong so jump in if I'm missing something, please. According to this "research paper", The universe is in a big bubble like an air bubble inside a fish tank. Beyond that is The Expanse, I think. (All water) Now, when Lucifer(and 1/3rd of the angels in Heaven) went to war with God over rulership, the effect was so catastrophic, it tore a hole in the firmament and caused the big flood. This also was said to explain why some comets are actually giant icebergs hurling through space. (A fact confirmed by modern science) Anybody remember this?

Add to that," info-mercials" for PLAF (The Wonder Class).

Yes, Brush According to TWI theology, Adam was created a two-fold man with body and soul. (only) Spirit was placed UPON him with a contingency that stipulated he would have to obey God. When he disobeyed God, the spirit was removed from him, thus severing his direct communication with God. (TWI called people like this "empties floating by".) Throughout the OT, various men were bestowed the honor of having the spirit placed UPON them so long as they fulfilled the conditions. With the new birth, holy spirit became a permanent component of the "believer" He became body, soul AND spirit (a three-fold man). The only condition to satisfy was Romans 10:9&10 It could not be removed because it was "seed", kinda like spiritual DNA. This gave VPW a great deal of latitude to do whatever he wanted and still consider himself connected to God. A spiritual "loophole" of sorts.

Only one I recognize is Chuck Negron----3 Dog Night? Sounded pretty cool, though, from what I heard.

Here it is in a nutshell, Brush (Please note that the following does not necessarily reflect my current beliefs.) When a person is physically born, they have: (1.) body (skin and bones, etc.) ( 2.) soul (breath-life---which starts at first breath and ends at the last) but no spirit. God can not talk to them because He is Spirit and can only talk to spirit. :blink: This is the same as people in the O.T. Certain people in the O.T. had spirit placed upon them on a conditional basis. That made it possible for God to speak to them. After Pentecost, the new birth became available to those who satisfied the conditions in Romans 10:9 & 10. (ie: Confess Jesus as Lord and believe God raised him from the dead.) This plants a seed in the person which is permanent. It is Christ in you. It is Christ's eyes behind your eyes, Christ's ears behind your ears, yada, yada. It is referred to as the "gift" of holy spirit.(note the lower case usage.) The person is now a three-fold being. (Body, soul, AND spirit.) It represents eternal life. Speaking in tongues is an outward manifestation of its presence. <_< It is a direct connection to God. Okay---What's that have to do with angels? If you have a direct connection to God, you have no need for angels to intercede. One exception to this would be children who have not yet reached the "age of accountability." They are appointed a "guardian angel" until they can accept salvation on their own. (Based on one or two verses in The Book Of Hebrews.) Now, keep in mind that TWI taught that 1/3 of the angels were cast out of Heaven when Lucifer (the original bright and morning star) was expelled from God's presence because he sought to overthrow God's throne. They (those angels who conspired with Lucifer) now roam the earth seeking to create havoc among Earth's inhabitants. They are what TWI referred to as Devil Spirits. So, what you call angels, TWI calls Devil Spirits. That's probably as clear as mud but it's the way I remember it.

Coming from you, this story doesn't surprise me in the least. You've got a heart of gold, lady.

Tough question to answer, Brush. Not because I don't know the answer but because, as has been pointed out, so much was "unspoken". Many of the things that were "off-limits" were directly tied to the so-called "law" of believing. Staying away from doctors was a big one (especially for mental heath) because it was an indicator of the strength of one's believing. And, if your believing quotient was low, that meant you were a spiritual weakling. Who wants to be thought of as a spiritual weakling? I say "especially mental health" because it was taught that they promoted a "worldly" kind of wisdom that was contrary to God's Word. Heck, they could even be possessed (or worse). Wouldn't want to take advise from somebody like that when you could just as easily get everything you need from leadership. Besides, you should take the money you save by not going to them and send it to The Way. With that in mind, here are some things that I think qualify as "forbidden" in the context of the discussion. 1. Dating outside the group 2. Marriage outside the group 3. Friendships outside the group. 4. Jobs that interfered with "Ministry" activities. 5. Avocations that took time (or money) away from The Way. 6. Lack of forward progress in completing classes. 7. Lack of desire to take on more and more responsibility. 8. Questioning the authority of "leadership" decisions. 9. Questioning the accuracy of anything that came from VPW. 10. Leaving "The One true household". (If you ever left, you would be out of fellowship, outside God's "hedge of protection" -----and the Boogieman would be waiting for you on the other side so he could whoop you upside the head between your eyes.)

Wow! Plus 6 for artist and minus 6 for leader. Does that mean I should get a job painting what other people tell me to? "Think I'll cut the soles out of my shoes, live in a tree and learn to play the flute."------Firesign Theater

I think you have pretty much cut straight to the chase, Oak. Wierwille used Lev. 17:11 (The life of the flesh is in the blood) as the basis for his theology on this subject. He coupled that with the biological idea which states that the "blood component" of a conception is contributed by the sperm, not the egg. A fetus has its own circulatory system, separate from the mother's circulatory system. Therefore (per VPW) Christ could not have been the result of a conception that involved human (blood generating) sperm because the blood of mankind had become tainted over time. Thus, his conception had to result from Mary's egg being fertilized by something other than impure human sperm. But, as you pointed out, this begs the question," Does the body's life residing in the blood necessarily translate into "soul life" being transmitted via the sperm?" Maybe we should have examined Lev. 17:11 a bit more closely. Now if this is accurate, at least from a theological viewpoint, it certainly puts a big wrinkle in Wierwille's assertion that life begins with the first breath, which is a position we were primed to take in PLAF (The Wonder Class). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: the "other Jesus" teaching. I, too, remember being taught that. That was the basis for the insistence that we always include the name "Christ" whenever we prayed. Wouldn't want to be inadvertently tricked into praying to The Boogieman, now would we? <_< It does seem a bit ludicrous that a God who is supposedly is all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, cognizant of the deepest issues of our heart, a God who "knows every hair on our head", could be so easily confused by the exact verbiage of a prayer. But, hey, what do I know? My conception was accomplished in a more typical fashion.

Blues 2.0

Oz never did give nothin' to The Tin Man That he didn't already have. ----------------------Tin Man (America)

Life is just a bowl of oat bran. You wake up every morning and it's there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpu6kjrsvk0

I think it was $45 when I took it. That was a lot of money in 1972.

I must have missed that part. <_< What I object to is not his personal involvement. That's really none of my business. What I object to is the favorable picture this article appears to paint of The Way and its various products such as the classes and fellowships. The Way is nothing more than a Multi-Level Marketing scheme that has preyed on the unsuspecting for decades. This article simply aroused curiosity in a manner that favored The Way.

Crank up the AC until it's good and Frosty. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqqgqrbFdwM

Havin' a Party

Chicago meets New Jersey (Jr. Wells with Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xjXUryfVNc More Southside Johnny

Where (in The Bible) does it say people are going to Hell?

Hey, That's No way To Say Goodbye

"All the bad people are gone" ------------------ :o "What they do at Headquarters and teach on the field are two different things" (Nice to see you, Mr. B.)

Wierwille latched onto the Trinitarian aspect of Christian cults and completely ignored the rest because it served his agenda. A group can be a cult without any involvement of Trinitarian beliefs. Every group has something that makes it uniquely different from other groups. With Christian Cults, that might well include the Trinity but that is not the defining factor. I remember how Wierwille enjoyed playing up this comparison of The Way to groups that were accepted as being cults. It gave him a ready made platform to launch into his JCING theology. He embraced the comparisons.