Broken Arrow

I don't think so, you might be right. EB went from North Carolina into the 1st Corps and then took the Limb of Ohio. JAL may have started FL in North Carolina, but I think it was a guy named Du0g Em3rs0n. I think they acquired Emporia in '74. The 6th Corps and the first year of the College Division program began in '75.

Thanks DM. A very nice version, indeed. Who are these guys? I often see the mandolin player backing up different artists such as Emmy Lou Harris. I wasn't aware that "White Freightliner" was a reference to cocaine but it makes sense to anyone who knows anything about Van Zandt's lifestyle. Anyway, thanks for sharing that version, I very much enjoyed it.

This helps, for some reason, when my heart is broken.

To add to your list, I think there were also FL programs in Indiana and Texas. I simply have a hard time believing that VP was that smart. My thoughts are that during the time you're referencing, there were no root canals, er, I mean root locales. VP knew he was going to need "grunts", that is leaders, to advance the ministry and that he was going to neeed them fairly quickly. I know he personally asked Earl B. to start a program in Ohio. Earl also started the program in Texas when he was sent there I believe. If I remember correctly, all but the Ohio and Texas programs were shut down. By then TWI had the root canals, er, I mean root locales and they needed bodies to fund that program. I also don't think Wierwille could stand the competition from the field that products of in-state programs were just as capable, and in some cases better, than the Way Corps he personally trained and so desperately needed to promote. Furthermore, if a good Limb Leader (remember when they were called leaders?) got a good following, he might have to compete with that leader for a following. So I think the FL programs were started to meet a need that TWI had but they came up with a better solution.

Hmmm...the Hells Angels are a gang which in my mind is different than a cult. For one thing, not that I've ever been in the HA's, I don't think there is some leader who says he has some kind of special revalatory light to deliver to the world. He's just into power, and "might makes right." An HA leader rules solely because of threat of violence and he can lose his position by being killed. Whereas in a cult the leader has some sort of revalatory gift that no one can ever have. Even if he is killed he devotees will still revere him. Kill a gang leader in battle and you can have his job. Again, I've never been in a gang so I'm keying off of what I've seen on t.v.

That's mankind for you. Let's find some sort of rule or dogma so we can begin classifying people. That way, people can be separated into simple, sterile categories and we may quickly discontinue regarding someone else's humanity. It frees us from having to think for ourselves, and from noticing the gifts and talents of others. Best of all (I speak facetiously) such thinking allows us to continue on with our wars we just love to wage on each other. Loving or valuing someone requires looking below the surfacing to the heart. This topic needs to be discussed imo because there are many who believe that a cult is defined by whether the doctrine of The Trinity is accepted. As if there are no cults led by trinitarians.

Well, you make a good point in saying there are other, more important things to consider than why some groups last and others don't. It's just that I see adherents to some of these groups bound up doing legalistic type things which is what so many of us from TWI complain about. Yet, at least in the cast of the JW's and Mormons, these groups have been around for generations and are still strong. Was TWI really worse than these other groups? That's a question that's impossible to answer, I realize but it mystifies me at times. Oh well, back to my sandbox. Who wants to build a castle? :)

So why do you think groups like the JW's, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, and others, are still around while The Way International has all but disintegrated? I heard, though I haven't checked, that the Mormons in particular are one of the fastest growing religious organization in the world.

Ooooh...chocolate sprinkles!

Yes. The King James version has Paul saying "follow me" or something to that respect. Other versions like the NIV, Revised Standard, Amplified and others have Paul saying to "imitate him" or to use him as an example or pattern. Perhaps a bit egotistical, I dunno. I don't have the guts to stand up in front of a group of people and say, "Hey folks! Wanna live the Christian life? Well then just do what I do!" Still, I think even that is a far cry from saying, "I'm the man of God! Follow me in blind obedience! In my humble personal study, I see the Pauline epistles mainly pointing to Christ. VP jaded us with the "man of God for his day and time" stuff. He used the very verses you are referring to to corroborate that.

Of course that's assuming that "Chrissy Poo"...oh nevermind.

Okay, I'll take you up on that. This isn't about cults, though. What should a person with an anxiety disorder do when someone begins a post counting down from 100 and they won't tell anyone why? :blink: I find consuming large bowls of chocolate ice cream helpful.

Not to be picky, but I believe in the original it says, Bullwinkle: "Eeny meenie, chili beanie. The spirits are about to speak!" Rocky: "Are they friendly spirits Bullwinkle?"

I think you may have me mistaken with someone else. I'm not the person who wrote "yawn". If you look closer, that's under a different name.

Of course you're adding to the discussion. I find your insights interesting. I'm not saying I agree with you on all points, but I appreciate your comments.

I think you hit the nail right on the head Twinky. Many of us hear all of this "mumbo jumbo" when we read certain sections of the Bible that takes the simplicity of it away. Not everything is as complicated as TWI tried to make it. As far as logos, I'll look forward along with you on Sunesis' insight on this. If I may say briefly, logos in the Greek implies much more than simply a word. It also implies the idea, intent, and "heart" of what a particular word communicates. Greek philosophers of the time discussed this concept often, and Sunesis is correct in saying that a Greek audience would be very familiar with this type of wording. I'll leave it at that.

I think anyone would be hard put to find any religion where all adherents agree on even the basic tenets. Unless, of course, that religion is a cult. Just my opinion.

Really makes you think, doesn't it? Just who are we really? The U.S. that is.

I think they're gone now. :unsure: Darn! Just when we were starting to ignore them, too!

Now that's funny!

Froglegs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hweXcgF1DRI

This was written in response to a post that I made that said in part, Forgiveness says "it's not okay, what you did was terrible, but I'm tearing up the bill you owe me. This is no longer in my hands, I seek no revenge." You make an excellent point. Yes, I think you're right, I don't "tear up the bill" as if there were no wrong committed. I hand the bill over to God and no longer personally pursue collecting upon it. An important distinction indeed. It's still forgiving, though, and not excusing, as if everything were o.k.