George Aar

mj, Re:"please feel free to untwist the panties that may be stuck in your butt." Uh, gosh, you might wanta check your own in that regard, no? What was it Oak said that was so crass and unfeeling anyway?

Oh, and I can't vouch for other's motivations, but the reason that was pitched to me (and that I took to heart) for going "W.O.W.", taking all the interminable classes, and for going in the "Corps" (though I never actually went), was to "Go and grow with God". Yes, just do this program and you will be able to have a much closer fellowship with the Almighty. Well, it made sense at the time. REALLY! It did! I guess you had to be there...

Another tidbit about Mormonism that isn't often discussed at church ( I assume). Joseph Smith (after he had figured out that simple fortune telling and carny sideshow tricks weren't where the big money was) "translated" a book (I forget the name now) from ancient Egyptian heiroglyphs. This was years before the Rosetta stone. Anyway, after the Rosetta Stone discovery someone eventually went back to Joe's book and discovered he had made it up out of whole cloth. Gosh, who'd a thunk?

I dunno, to me Jesus is simply Spiderman in sandals. Mercy people, we're all grown up now. Isn't it about time to abandon our invisible friends? Probably not...

I dunno about the other basketball references, but I remember while in Alabama and driving a truck, the man directing me while I backed up would always say (jokingly, I assume) "keep a'comin' till ya hear glass!" Yeah, even in that context I thought it was kinda stupid. Maybe it's just a dim-witted, southern expression? Anyway, my vote for A dumb thing that Loyboy said (GAWD there's sooooo many to choose from) would be whilst in a TC "Area" meeting he was reading from some press bulletin and came across a word he didn't understand. Then he calls to the audience "Hey, what does 'impunity' mean?" I guess for a Junior High School student or dropout I could understand that knowing such a simple word, but from a man who could run any corporation in America?(!)

I wonder where Wonder went? Back to Trollville perhaps?

Refiner, Re:"all history pertaining to the churches roots in Millerism, and the predictive history of Russell has been expunged." I sorta thought that would be the case. Like with the Mormons and the early "religious" efforts of Joseph Smith, nobody knows much about it. Likewise in WayWorld, "Doctor" Wierwille's early ministry shenanigans and unrepentant sexual predations are seldom the topic of conversation at TWI functions. Of course, the true believer - whatever brand of religiosity he smokes - is totally uninterested in anything that diminishes the sheen of his chosen denomination. Funny how the mind works. "Don't confuse me with facts, my mind's made up!"

Refiner, Just a quick question about JW's, if you will. What, if anything, do they have to say about Reverend Miller of New York? You know, the guy that predicted the return of Christ was going to be in 1842, uh, no, make that 1843, uh, wait a minute, make that... Anyway, from what I've read, it was Rev. Miller's ministry that gave birth to both the Seventh Day Adventists and the JW church (eventually). So, is there any acknowledgement of this guy in the "Kingdom Halls"?

The REAL purpose of this site, unbeknownst to most of the participants, is to deprive the psychiatric profession of BILLIONS of dollars of revenue from the loss of "therapy" sessions. God knows I've saved a fortune venting my spleen on Greasespot (you didn't get any on ya, did you? Sorry...) about my ill-advised tenure with WayWorld. And I haven't even STARTED talking about Mom yet...

Yeah, I know in THE CULT THAT SNAPPED there's an account of a riot due to Wierwille's presence in India. (funny that was never mentioned at WayWorld) I DID originally mean this as a simple insult, but after I thought about it a bit, it struck me that there could have been some influence on VPW. I can see the wheels turning in his head "Sexually abuse all the women you want, but use 'Religious Service' as a cover. Hmmm, interesting..."

During my daily surfing of the web I ran across this little tidbit: http://skepdic.com/jogini.html Could this be a custom that Mr. Wierwille adopted during his brief foray in India?

Trefor, I think Donne may have been mistaken (at least in this case). I think the world is slightly enriched with the passing of usurping a-holes. Certainly so with the self-righteous grifter's...

The only thing I could think of is: What's it to ya? ('course, then, I would)

Tom Odd, 'and he did a great job in "A River Runs Through It"' Uh, that was one of the few flaws (IMHO) in an otherwise GREAT flick. I wish they'd have cast somebody else. It seems like he spent the whole picture trying desperately to be Robert Redford. (maybe it was the directing?) He LOOKED the part, just couldn't ACT it (not very well, anyway). O.K., sorry for the digression, back to Troy...

For anyone interested in Stiles "Holy Spirit" book, I think this is a better site (cheaper anyhow) than the one Rafael posted: http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st...0386933_2:21:32 BTW, for the uninitiated, bookfinder.com is the greatest for rare/old or just hard-to-find books.

To be just a tad more pragmatic, I'd have to ask, What's the best resort in the Bahamas? (this is obviously one of the few areas of BOD expertise)

JT, I concur with what you're saying, but I think you may have the wrong army. There was more to VP's German heritage than just brats after SNS. I'm really not trying to exaggerate or be overly dramatic, but I think VP was more patterning himself after Hitler. The empassioned calls to service, the ribbons, the pomp and ceremony. Even at the time I thought that the W.O.W. "pinning" event was reminiscent of a Hitler Youth Rally. Yeah, and the idea that "the suggestion of a Man of God is tantamount to a command" is a really cool concept for a pompous, self-important, demi-god. I also remember Mr. Wierwille's explanation of why he didn't serve in WWII. Something about a heart-wrenching decision that eventually resulted in him concluding that he could better serve by staying stateside and writing tepid religious tracts about victory. Yeah, how selfless of him...

TT, Oh, I can hear the sainted grifter's voice from the beyond... "You have learned my lessons well, Tuttlewan"

How about "bidness" instead of "business", or "athalete" for "athlete", or a gazillion others. Ohio accent or hillbilly?

James Randi, Michael Shermer, P.J. O'Rouke...

I guess you could take "action" against TWI, but I don't think anything that involves those clowns could have "class" attached to it...

Johnur, Oh contraire, I did indeed. But I'm not sure it took "guts". Mostly I think it was just a lack of common courtesy. That and a mindset that I had special knowledge that they were not privy to. Yes, I needed to save those poor (er, well they were rich, but poor "spiritually", you know) pathetic bastards from their sinful lives. Yeah, they weren't going to get any rewards the way they were heading, that's for SURE! God needed me to insinuate my superstitions on them. That's what they needed! So, YES! I did "witness" to my bosses (one in WA. and one in Alabama) and all it took was to be basically full of myself and rude enough to think that what I believed was more important than what they did. Just like the goddam J.W.'s that come up on my porch every now and then. No guts required, just a profound lack of civility...

Tom Odd, Re:"oh... I feel like such a fool..." You? How about me, I'm such a devoted Wierwillite, I've been callling myself "Ge-korge" for years now. Oh, the shame of it all...

I was working on a roof project one time, and one of the men on my crew came up to me and said "I really feel lousy! I think I need to go home." I turned to him and said "Do you want to be able to make your car payment?", "Do you want to have a job tomorrow?", "Do you think I'll be overjoyed having to do your work as well as mine?" He answered "no" to all of these questions and then I told him to cut the bull$hit and get his lazy a$$ back to work. A few minutes later I asked him how he felt. "Just fine" he replied...

I been doing eBay and using PayPal since their inception and haven't had a single glitch. Just never. I've done numerous transactions that were in the several thousands of dollars as well. I think the rip-off artist has gotten to you through some other venue. Do explain the situation to your lenders and to eBay, though. Uncertainty is the worst for any financial institution. So if they're at least aware of what's going on, that can go a long way towards smoothing out the difficulties...