TheEvan

That's how it went down. Yep. it was our third day in rez, we were a bunch of zombies in our normal state. I guess everybody at the table figured the guy was having a hard time adjusting, and hey, the food was just crying for somebody to eat it... I know a guy that went with Kreig to the bus depot to drop off this unfortunate soul...tis true. It's twue, it's twue

My favorite story: First week in rez for us sickth korp, and we were on serious caloric deprivation. I mean, the guys were HONGRY. Well, at luch one day one of the fellows at the table goes catatonic. An absolute trance. We're passing the water and coffee around him. After awhile Wally Manthy goes "hey bro, you gonna eat your food?". After no response, he swoops up the plate & downs the contents. Jeez. after teh meal the table is cleared And the guy is just left there. Still catatonic, staring off into space. But one of the people at the table goes to Loy & says 'we gotta prollem'. What does Martindale do? after determining the guy was definitely catatonic, he had his roomates pack up his belongings, bring him to the bus station & stick him on a bus home. Still catatonic. Can't you just feel the love?

I used to love the place long ago...before the barn was painted red, before the EOB (which we later named the Empty Office Building), before the big crowds. But by the time I was on staf it was WayWorld and I really hated the place. In my 4.5 yrs on staff i went to less than 10 SNS and even fewer Corps nights in the auditorium, though we used to sorta watch it in Dorothy Owens' trailer. It was on the TV, but we just taked straight through it. To me, the gauzy sense of unreality, even raw fakery, was palpable. I was appaled at the direction the Corpse had taken, even worse than when I was in. We loved St. Marys, loved our house, loved our neighbors...some of whom we stayed in touch with till they died. But I hated WayWorld. We weren't doing a thing for God. Nothing. Some individuals were, but not Der Veg.

Hairy, what can I say? DocVoc loved pomp & circumstance. And, obviously he loved to play dress up. I mean, why else would he wear powder blue ruffled cuff tux shirts, homemade funkiness with fringe on it, etc?

WG, people attended ceremonies on different years. obviously they differed from year to year...

I took it as silly fun, excie, but it was prsented in a fairly serious "macabre theater" style.

Good point, goey. In fact Jesus *commanded us to judge...righteous judgement.

Dare I? A few years after graduating from the Corpse, I went to Wichita for some Super-Duty WayWorld extravaganza. I ended up in a hotel room with a couple from my Corps who were married at the infamous mass wedding. We went to bed and all was well. They must've thought me sound asleep, but I am a light sleeper. I didn't have to guess as to what they were doing. For a single guy it was pretty excruciating, but I dare not move a muscle lest I ruin their special moment. Now, I've always considered myself capable of keeping my wife happy, but these folks were in another category altogether! We're talking teh Energizer bunny here. After an *impossibly long time, things finally calmed down. When I heard hands fumbling with a pack of cigarettes, I sat up & offered a light. The three of us sat up and smoked a cigarette together and giggled like kids... A true "clean" premarital afterglow.

A popular book that is nonetheless meticulously presented, is FF Bruce's "The Canon of the Scriptures". Good information without drawing dogmatic conclusions...

There was a certain campy tongue in cheekness to the proceedings but they were damn serious about its secrecy. All other details I told are just as I remember them. Including robed guys compelling us to bow! And they were definitely in black hooded robes, the kind with rope belts...the whole getup. They tried hard to make it creepy and campy at the same time...

Oh yeah, we were not to tell under severest possible penalties...

"Initiation into the Inner Sanctum of The Way". That was the name of the event. It was an early summer school stay for me...perhaps '71, maybe '73 or 4. It was done between the pond & the road, same area as the ROA '71 site. a campfire was blazing. As I walked up, several black robed 7 hooded characters pointed silently with bony finger toward the campfire. Creepy. A group of us assembled, maybe 15 or 20 or so, around the fire, ringed by a line of black robed & hooded characters. Then Wierwille's arrival was announced by creepy chanting, I'm guessing in Latin. He was garbed like the others. He had stuff in his pockets he would grab and throw on the fire that would couse a big poof of flame. You get the picture. I can't remember what he was talking about, in a campily sinister voice. The hooded guards compelled the initiates to bow to 'the wizard'. Then he administered "the sacrement", communion-wafer smile, to aeach participant. It turned out to be some foul Indian horseradish-like root substance that burned like the fires of hell. My mouth was painfully scorched for 3 days. That's what I can remember. Pretty wierd cult. I didn't frink the kool-ade, though.

Dang, well the group sex first....of course. 1. It was widespread in our corps, catcup. The ones I became aware of involved mostly the marrieds...wife swappage, group parties, pretty heady stuff. (he-he) If it was widespread in our corps, there's no way it wasn't happening all over. later I heard shadowy rumblings about 'mass flesh injections' and such when I was on staff. Interesting terminology. BTW, our doctrine and Wierwille is what provided an atmosphere that allowed these things to flourish. 2. Once I was hit on (as a married man, mind you) by two married women. When I say 'hit on', I mean thrown against the wall of the farmhouse (where I was innocently dropping off some papers) and literally attacked with their hands. I literally had to run! Isolated incident? I think not. if there was a culture of morality & purity at hq, such would be unthinkable. There had to be a reasonable expectation of success, based on past history, for such to happen so casually... I won't bore you with more.

I have it on good authority that this debate will NOT go on forever. It will be ended when we appear before the throne. Because the issue will be settled? Perhaps, but no mention of THAT in the Bible. The mention is of giving account of what we do & don't do. Agreed?

We had a group of Bullinger heads in rez that loved to read all the Welch books among others. But that was nothing official.

Yeah, School of the Prophets. The description of the WC became...an inner sanctum of intiated priests that were unquestioningly loyal and also was privy to the special secret understandings of all things. Think 'prophets of Baal' and you have the picture.

If the integrated system that piffle is allowed rationalization of the grossest carnal sins & abuses then it contains what the Bible calls leaven. Try all you want to extract the leaven from the lump, but it's too late. The gangrene is already there, lurking odiously, only to contaminate the whole all over again. That's why I advocate ditching the whole Wierwille oevre and starting with pure clean stuff. It's not borne of irrational bitterness, OM, it's biblically sound (and required) practice.

Do tell what, catcup? The inner sanctum initiation or the group sex?

Wow. As a new discoverer of this thread, let me say how sorry I am to all you who suffered as a parent or child. Color me gullible because I believe you. Well, "believe" is a bit strong. How about this: I don't disbelieve you. 1. I had personal knowledge of group sex in Der Veg. not a big leap from that to the other 2. Herr Doktor, following the legacy of predators everywhere, used porn on his subjects, even publicly. 3. Porn is clearly a gateway (for those so afflicted) to pedophelia. 4. A culture that rewarded domineering bullies. I'm wondering if the black robes memory came from a Way "inner-sanctum" initiation ceremony. Anybody every go through that? I did. Wierwille conducted it as the grand wizard. Yes, that's what he called himself. Various unidentified Corps in the black hooded robes assisted. The proceedings were ostensibly tongue-in-cheek. But now I wonder....

Danny:...illustrated version complete with hokie charts & stuff from CF&S in Song of Solomon & Corinthians. (Must include one of Tick)

BTW, Christian orthodoxy doesn't seem to be getting in the way of large numbers of Muslims in Uganda turning to Christ. We don't see it in the west because of the shameful decline of the Christian church in the west. Not because of some doctinal seed.

Hey, good thread. I've long contended that trying to sift through piffle's morass (as I did) to find & keep the good is a certain way to retain some Wayish leaven. Tell me what offshoot isn't poisoned by the same? A faster & purer track is to seek Truth Himself.

Yes I would, blues, but I'd read The Sacred Romance first. It is the basis off which the subsequent Eldredge books spin.

In a similar, but perhaps more personal vein, is the incredible book "The Sacred Romance" by Curtis & Eldridge. Rarely do I slip to my knees, shed tears, etc, when reading pratical theology!

You nailed it sky. certainly one of Piffle's most agregious errors, if not THE most...