JavaJane

George, it is kinda like that... Just rename it, and now it is specific to TWI - classes, whatever you want!

I do believe this is the true meaning of "The Way Tree"...

I know this is a "cult thing" to do - to come up with your own terminology and lingo that only people within the group understood... TWI renamed SO MUCH STUFF... couldn't call anything the same thing the mainstream Christians did! We have a large group of "non-denominational" Christians around here (IHOP) who also do the same thing. They have a building with a sign out front that says, "Children's Equipping Center." It always scares me - I have this image come to mind of children being strapped on to people's backs like backpacks or something... So, a brief glossary of TWI lingo: Way Corps - Seminary (as if!) Way Disciple/WOW - Missions Advance - Retreat (WE NEVER RETREAT!) Ho Ho (Household Holidays) - Christmas Bless n Treat - Halloween Happy Hearts Day - Valentine's Day Resurrection Sunday - Easter (I can *kinda* see this one) And I am sure there are lots more you all could come up with.

Good thing you didn't, or they wouldn't have just renamed the holidays, they would have taken them away altogether!!

I once ran into a couple of kids who were taking PFAL with some group or another. They would get their books stamped everytime they took a class, and after it had been stamped 10 times they could go out and teach it themselves... I thought that was kinda weird at the time. I still think it's weird now. Before we left there were a several young families who were bored out of their minds with the way TWI had gone with their teaching. Some of them had run into the Panere!!o crowd and thought that was the hopping place to be. I never really saw how it would be any better since it just seemed to me like some guy teaching the same stuff we were hearing. Maybe he was just a little more charismatic than what we were dealing with, but the same old disregard for people seemed to be there... I decided a long while before I left that if I ever decided to leave TWI it would not be to just go to a clone of the same ministry down the street. If I left on my own it would be because the whole thing stunk - and to go somewhere where they were teaching the same thing would be to remain in denial. Offshoots were just never appealing to me.

Yup... It was supposed to refer to your enemies "in the household" - people who were annoying, or that you weren't best friends with in THE HOUSEHOLD - you know, "enemies"... Insanity, isn't it?

It was me giving him the finger, not the tomatoes. I was always happy the tomatoes were in the car instead of the snow where they would freeze. In that dream I am always thinking, "good thing I got the tomatoes in the car before those people got them!"

Does anyone else have these? I've been out for three years, and I still have bouts of them occassionally. Dream #1: I'm out Way Disciple or WOW and am miserable. I end up losing my temper and telling everyone to go to hell, I try to leave, but the coordinator corners me with the team and they tell me how evil I am. I decide to conform and stay. Dream #2: I run away from a STS with my husband and a bunch of tomato plants in the back of his car, trailing dirt behind us and giving the limb coordinator the finger as we leave. It starts snowing. (Not really a nightmare - but I have this dream a lot.) Dream #3: I am cleaning toilets for a class or some event and Rosalie walks into the bathroom. She flushes and leaves, but the toilet overflows, sending poop water all over the floor. I keep trying to mop it up, but it gets out and soaks the carpet. I get in trouble because no one would believe that Rosalie would clog a toilet with a monster poop. Dream #4: Headquarters is being attacked by zombies, systematically turning everyone into a mindless member of the walking dead. There is no way to stop it. I am trapped in the OSC with a few others armed with shotguns, but they just keep coming, and the people I am in there with are idiots who are trying to cast out the "devil spirits" in the zombies. They just get bit and turned into more zombies. I think the symbolism is pretty obvious... anyone else have dreams like this?

I realized this weekend how nice it is to be comfortable... To be able to sit at a table in an in-laws' kitchen and talk about religion without thinking how idolatrous they are. Heck, to be able to SPEND TIME with the family on a holiday without getting reproved for not attending the Household BBQ or some nonsense! And to not feel like I have to witness to all of them was even better!

I had a fellowship coordinator who would chew (yes, chew) altoids by the handful to keep awake during Advanced Class Specials...

I went gambling... Penny slots. I asked God to show me the spiritual side of life that wasn't devil spirits... Got some really interesting answers from that prayer. Still getting some real interesting answers from that prayer!! I burn sage in my house sometimes when the need. I pray The Lord's Prayer on occasion. I attend a Catholic church once in a while. I call the priest "Father" - that took a while. Felt like I was sinning. Our daughter was baptized there - it was a lovely ceremony. I reassessed every belief I had. I realized I needed to figure out what I believed for myself. My belief system changed a lot, including a recognition of both a male and female aspect of God. I believe God is both and at the same time neither. This was a big change for me. This year I planted a Mary garden to honor the female aspect of God, and I bought a cross necklace to help me contemplate the male aspect.

TWI's big selling point is that you can have "The More Abundant Life"... but they thrive on putting people in uncomfortable situations and generally making them uncomfortable physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Especially those who have made a commitment: Way Disciple, WOW, Way Corps, Staff, Fellow Laborers, heck, even FELLOWSHIP COORDINATORS and class crews! I guess the idea is that the more you make yourself uncomfortable, the more you grow? Sleep deprivation, not having financial needs met, forced witnessing to family, friends, coworkers, and random people at malls (not to mention knocking on strangers' doors) doesn't sound like the more abundant life to me! How about being Staff and being forced to live in a DORMITORY with a ROOMATE and COMMUNAL SHOWERS? or Being Way Disciple and moving to a new area to "move the word" with a bunch of strangers you share a house/apartment with, most of whom only brought the required couple of hundred dollars to live off of? Yeah, being uncomfortable is just the way of life in The Way.

That's the exact teaching I heard on the verse!!!

I will miss you, Gen!! And you're right - I can't avoid the c word with this family! I realized today that they wouldn't be asking if they hadn't accepted me into the family. They are a lot more polite to outsiders! Thanks for the advice, all! I will take it all into consideration - and lots of good advice for anybody else out there who might be having the same issues.

I should probably also clarify - my husband's parents are very supportive and understanding. I am so thankful to have them around, because they have really taught me what being a part of a real family is all about (no offense, mom, if you are reading this - you know what I am talking about.) My family was in twi from the time I was around 12 or so, and before that there was a major divide between my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc... My parents were hippies and had major differences with their families. After my parents were kicked out of the WC and put on probation they kicked one of my teenage siblings out of the house under the advice from their BC. He lived under a bridge and somehow made it through highschool. I thought rifts like this were normal. They aren't. Families are supposed to be tight, are supposed to be understanding. I really get that now. (Wow, that was pretty hard to type. Thought I was over that...) Anyway, my mom and dad in law are fantastic people and have helped me a lot with getting my head straight about twi. Talk about unconditional LOVE! They have it in abundance! The ones who are asking questions now are from the extended family - my husband's cousins and aunts and uncles (he has a LOT of them)... they all grew up together, so it's more like they are brothers and sisters than cousins, so the intrusiveness is a lot more like being hassled by your siblings. And yes, they can be a bit direct at times.

Trust me, there are no boundaries in this family... they know. Yeah, I think honesty is the best policy with this group!

Twinky ! I know exactly how you feel. I just had a conversation about this with my husband this morning... we both gave up dreams, gave up successful carreers and money so that we could live this "more abundant life" to "serve" God in twi. And now we are starting over... and it takes a long time. My job pays the bills, but it isn't the six figure salary I would have had if I had stayed with my job and not gone Way Disciple. My husband's music career is on hold because he has problems playing due to twi crap. But it does get better, and it will. God will provide.

I don't generally use the term "cult" to describe twi in polite conversation... I use the term "abusive church"... However, my husband's family uses the term "cult" to describe twi. They are pretty direct people (which is one of the reasons I like them so much.) The start of the most recent conversation went something like this (please keep in mind this was a bit out of the blue): In-law: So, was this Way thing you were involved in a cult, or what??

We have been out for 3 years or so... and I am finally getting questions from my husband's extended family about what we were involved in. I am sure they have been wondering for a long time and speculating behind closed doors about it since he first started attending fellowships and leaving his Catholic faith. I think they also probably wondered about me a lot when he brought me back and introduced me to the family after his tenure as a Way Disciple. So, what do you tell these people? I want to be honest with them, but I know it's pretty hard for them to understand how a normal seeming couple of people could be taken in by a group like this... why would we stay in when it was so blatantly screwed up? And then there was a question from a younger cousin who overheard a conversation I was having with his mom... I tried to explain what a cult was... not sure I did a good job or not explaining how we were deceived. Any advice?

The Bible says that God is Love... the Way says God can only give "that which He is which is spirit." They don't talk about God giving Love much at all. And their definition for agape love is completely convoluted and confusing. You're right, OldSkool. They don't know what it is, and they don't love. In my mind, that means that they don't know God, either.

I agree with that OldSkool... Evil. And the fruit shows it.

The only Way Prod song I ever liked was "Daddy's Arms."

Once again, this is only my opinion... Take it or leave it. Out of the three presidents of twi, the only one who personally harmed me and convinced me to do things I am still ashamed of and regret (marking and avoiding my family for five years) was LCM. Rosalie, although instrumental in my decision to leave twi, never hurt me personally. I have no personal anger directed at her, just general anger at twi and all cults. I post what I post here in effort to help others the way the posters at GSC helped me - by exposing the truths about twi and how it ruins lives, breaks up families, and is rotten from the source. That being said, I have labeled Craig as simply duped by Weirwille. I actually have forgiven him for what happened with my family being torn apart. He was still wrong, his actions evil, but he was duped into thinking he was doing right. I do not do the same in excusing Rosalie, because I think her motives differ. I believe she knows she does wrong and has selfish motivations. She is an adept liar and a master manipulator who learned her tricks from VP, the charlatan himself. She knows how to hide her motives behind a sweet mask. I do not think this because it is easier for me to do so. For me (and everyone is different) it is harder to see that I was just plain old taken in by the con of an evil boring old woman. That it wasn't that they ACTUALLY had SOME heart for doing good and serving God means that I just fell for a blatant lie. All the good I thoughti saw, all the things that impressed me were just part of the mindf*@& they intentionally gave me... And I was eager to take the hook, to put myself in their power, to be a slave... It's hard to admit that I was had - not by someone who cared, or who was mistaken - but by a regular old con artist. But once again, just my opinion. And a lot of you worked with her on a daily basis, unlike me! Interesting remark earlier about how predators escalate, too!