JavaJane

Last night I started the "Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults" for the Catholic Church. I really wanted to take this class for the last three years, but haven't been able to because of the little one I have at home. I had nightmares about zombies almost every night since I got my invitation in the mail. Zombie dreams for me always translate to Way International residue dreams. Don't think I need to explain the symbolism, right? Anyway, class started last night. Only three people. The other two just want to learn about what it is the Catholics teach and aren't interested in converting. The teacher stressed that that was perfectly fine and that God and His love is evident in all Christian religions. She told all of us that she had respect for each person's beliefs, and that we can see Christ and God in every person. She also stressed that God made us free to choose what we want to believe. And the biggest thing for me? We welcome questions. Questioning is an important part of our journey to know God. You don't have to accept everything we teach as fact or truth. And she took questions during class. And she left the door open in case someone was running late. What a contrast to PFAL and The Way of Abundance and Power classes. And TWI accuses the Catholics of being too religious, of having too many rituals. I broke down in tears during the part of class when the teacher asked if there was ever a time we felt we would lose our faith. I tried to explain, but I probably looked like a fool. 20 years of time trying to live for God every moment and then finding out the organization I thought represented God was corrupt beyond belief... How do you explain that? Oh well. Anyway... Totally different experience. Had another zombie dream last night. But at least I know I don't have to swallow everything an organization teaches as 100% truth anymore. And I think this is a good step for my recovery. I've been out for four or five years now and I am ready to listen again.

Beautiful! Congratulations to both of you! You guys look BEAUTIFUL! (Dot, LOVE the dress!)

I have mentioned this one before, but it is worth repeating... After the meeting where we heard LCM talk about how he was stepping down due to a one-time consensual affair (as if that isn't outrageous enough of a statement) a fellowship coordinator said, "What do we do now if the body has no head?" That about sums it up... LCM was up there with Jesus Chris in the minds of some of the people in TWI. VP must have been God in comparison.

I remember LCM stating that the earth was the center of the universe... that Galileo had it wrong. How positively medieval of him!

I found that it was ok to not have everything laid out in neat little black and white piles of right and wrong. I found real spirituality. I found out how to think for myself. I found out that life was a lot more complex and beautiful than I had realized. I found the importance of family. I found out I was actually more of a liberal than a conservative... (THAT was a suprise!) I found self respect and respect for others. I found love, but I don't claim to understand or even to have experienced all of it. I found that God was bigger and less explainable than I thought He was and that I am ok with that.

It reminds me of the old saying, "the best revenge I'd living well." Not that you want revenge on the people you want to leave, but if they see that you are happier and better off without TWI, it might help them wake up. Then again it may just not compute.

I think it was Jesus Christ.

I knew the girl at HQ that was in charge of wardrobe a few years back. She wanted to replace some of the Singing Ladies' outfits to somwthing a little more flattering and in fashion. It was squashed because Rosie thought it would be distracting. And the choir outfits have been the same outfits since the Auditorium opened. Yup. I was informed it was good stewardship. Seriously? You will pay Housekeeping to spend time putting courtesy folds on all the toilet paper, but buying new dresses for the choir that are more in tune with the times is a waste of money.... Right. I totally see the logic.

It's contradictory to the blue nook, too... And I don't think this is taught to the newbies - it's more of an "initiated" teaching (meaning that they lay this on you later when the law of believing ™ doesn't pan out all the time. Well, since no one has taken PFAL since LCM's Way of Abundance and Power class was released in the early 90s... Maybe it's "new light ™"?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/09/07/140255219/the-mysterious-v-in-my-hotel-bathroom?sc=17&f= Folded toilet paper has move over the world!!

If I remember correctly, a couple of years before we left they were teaching that the more abundant life was FIRST spiritual, then physical. Convenient, eh?

I know for me the more pressure I got to get out the more I felt I needed to stay, and the more i needed to cut off contact withe the ones telling me to leave. To the point I didn't talk to my family for five years. I had to see it for myself. So, best thing you can do is pray, if you pray. Remember, they taught in the Foundational Class that the first step down is QUESTIONING.

I did the same thing for a long time. Thankfully my husband was not "raised in The Word ™". He didn't put the rose colored glasses on when it came to this crap, and that helped me open my eyes. That and seeing the rottenness at the root. I could just say it was just one or two people who were off until I saw it was coming from hq.

Thanks, OldSkool. What struck me was the blatant nepotism, lies, and double standard involved in the situation - ALL showing the arrogance involved. Apparently, if you are related to someone at the top, debt is OK. At the time this happened I had some respect still for the Region Coordinator (I'm getting old... his name began with a B and he was the Western Region Coordinator at the time, but I can't remember his name now) even though I had left TWI by then. This whole thing just showed me that the only loyalty people in these positions have is to TWI and Rosie. Not to the people they are supposed to be caring for. Strangely enough, my friend are still involved in TWI, even after seeing this. Sad sad sad.

Reading through this topic made me realize just how very mysogynistic TWI was/is.... I grew up with it for half of my childhood and didn't really ever consider just how NASTY towards women both VP and LCM and others were. I think most of it I just chalked up to differences in the times people were raised, or that they were just referring to one specific woman, and not all women. I was blind, but now I see.

As of a couple of years ago, the penalty went something like this: I had a couple of good friends (back then, we have since lost touch) that were fellowship coordinators. Their fellowship was growing and thriving, better than the others in the area. They decided to buy a house. They spoke with their Region Coordinator about it, he said there would be no consequences over buying a house that TWI would impose. They thought, "GREAT! Let's take advantage of the fall in housing prices and get a house!" They signed the papers the next week and moved into their home. While they were moving in, they got a call from the Region Coordinator. He was irate and screaming at them that they should have consulted with him prior to buying a house. Excuse, me? What? Yes.... IRATE, because they had not consulted with him first. He denied that the first conversation ever took place. Told them they were blind spiritually, and stripped them of their fellowship, which was given to someone else who was more in line with TWI think on the subject. Interestingly enough, another family (who is distantly related to Dirty-Old-Man Not-My-Uncle Howard) in the same branch is running a fellowship is in debt with a house payment and medical expenses. My friends were told that their situatioon was "different" because of the medical expenses. And what about the house payment?? AND couldn't those people BELIEVE to be healed and not incur the debt? I remember overhearing a Corps Night teaching (from another room where Corps were listening to it) where they were telling stories about how people stayed out of debt in the face of horrible medical expenses. One of them was a woman who's daughter required an expensive surgery to save her life. She (the mom) asked the doctor if she could trade him for some art she had done because it was against her beliefs to go into debt. The doctor agreed and her daughter got the surgery. I thought to myself at the time that the doctor was probably doing the surgery to save the life of the little girl IN SPITE of her mother's horrible attitide towards the COST of her daughter's life. The debt stuff is out of control. If God so badly doesn't want people in debt, then they should TEACH why God doesn't want it, and then allow people to reap the blessings or consequences related to that decision. To impose consequences (not being able to coordinate a fellowship, no Advanced Class, no Specials, etc.) on people in God's stead is arrogant, to say the least, and in my opinion is a MISREPRESENTATION of God's will.

I remember that, hiway! Here's one: "That book IS The Word of God even though it's not THE Bible or about the Bible because it was written about a man who's life was an embodiment of THE WORD! THAT'S why I told you to teach from it!" -My branch coordinator's response to my question "How can I teach from "Born Again to Serve" [VP's biography] since it isn't even about the Bible? It was the thing that first opened my eyes that twi worshipped VP, not God.

Hi, Ham! Just lurking and reading and living the good life! Not much to add lately, I'm afraid. If I come up with something of merit, or just a generally snarky comment, I'll chime in. Carry on. (You do know he wasn't a doctor, don't you?) And how exactly does Jesus Christ's sacrifice give VP the title of doctor, anyway?

Good point.

*shudder* Crowley = creepy x 1,000,000 VP didn't look quite as creepy around the eyes, but then again, one was glass. Maybe it helped.

Yes, thanks, Kit. Great post.

This is exactly why I STILL have problems taking a sick day at work... And due to twi's idea of "healing" for my husband during WD when he got food poisoning (which was his fault, of course, because he should have gotten revelation that the food was bad.). His WD coordinator tried to force his finger down his throat to make him puke based on "revelation" he got from "God." He was sick for months, and has still not completely regained all of his strength. On top of that violation of his person, he was also "strongly encouraged" to get back to work "moving the Word" so he could fulfill his commitment. He just got sicker and sicker while he tried to push through it. Jerks.

I think this is why I stayed as an adult. My parents went into the FWC after I was slightly over the kid age limit, taking my siblings with them. I realized today that it hurt a lot. I remember crying at my boyfriend's house because "God was taking my family away.". (I later broke up with that boyfriend because my parents were upset he didn't want to take the class.). I felt abandoned, and went WOW to try and have some sort of group I could stick with. Those people took the place of parents and siblings... And when my parents wrere dropped from the WC and made mark and avoid, I dropped them (now ivrealize I partially did this because I felt they had abandoned me.) Screwed up stuff. I won't do that to my kids. I don't think I even really understood what family was until I married into my husband's family. They never give up on each other - even when they have screaming matches between brothers, or one of them does something asinine, they are still there for each other in an instant. And that is what I thought twi was. And it was the OPPOSITE of that.

I took the class because my mom had gotten involved with TWI and was gung-ho for "the Ministry.". Didn't really have much choice, but I was ok with it because I loved reading Bible stories as a kid. I had a limb coordinator's wife who told me she took the class because she wanted to be right. At the time it sounded like a good reason, but now it just sounds weird. I don't care that much about being "right" and having the correct answer in black and white for everything just seems... Well... Pompous. I'd like to hear some viewpoints from people who weren't "raised in The Word ™" as to why you took the foundational class, and why you stayed afterwards. Were there warning signs in the class that you ignored? And which class was your foundational class?

Or even bad counsel because they can't affOrd good lawyers... I have a family member who is a prosecuting attorney. He says he can't believe how many public defenders tell people who are innocent to plead guilty just to get them off their case load. In comparison, Rosie, Vic, LCM, Howard Allen, et al have the best paid attorneys.