Belle

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO YOU, ROY!!! Your kind, gentle and loving presence here is a true blessing. Thank you for giving us the privilege. I hope your day is as wonderful as you are.

I know that song!!! God bless rednecks!!!

Loved Part 2!! Now......if we all could only put into practice these wonderful ideas. :) What's Oakspear's former signature line? "In theory and practice there is no difference, in practice, there is"? or something like that? It seems apropos to this discussion.

Rhino, I recommend the GSpot Radio Roundtable Discussion on this. It's awesome to hear these different and balanced views discussed in greater detail. :) GSpot Radio Episode 4 And, as an administrator on my own board, Paw most likely has neither access to nor the time to read folks private PMs and such. ;) His interview - Episode 3 goes into more detail on that. It's a fascinating interview of Paw done by Raf.

Rejoice, right click on the link and choose "save link as" to save the file to your hard drive, then listen to them from there. :) I'm downloading Part 2 now.

I think some of us wanted answers to questions so bad that we'd believe anything and TWI put on a good show by the way they used, twisted and perverted scriptures to give us those answers. The ego stroking "I have all the answers" attitude we acquired in TWI totally eliminated any dependence on God and certainly never taught any true relationship with him. Nor with Jesus. God was just an "order taker" and an entity who kept a scoreboard on us our whole lives. Instead of that holy spirit they pulled in and out of the water in the classes, it was a "forcefield" of protection. You're protected. :) Ooops! No you're not. Okay, you're protected. ^_^ Oops! Messed up again! <_< We spent so much time, concern and fear jumping through hoops to keep God and leadership happy that we didn't have time for a relationship with God, much less with anyone else.

C'mon, George.....you got SOMEthings to be thankful for. :) If nothing else, you have no more phone hook-ups to get dressed up for anymore.

Dang! Look at all these Doombahs! I feel like I'm in Charlie's Chocolate Factory! Bramble, I definitely think that fits. Dippinsquirt - LOL! Moony, definitely like the married name better. Rascal - I'll bet the kiddos LOVE that name! These are GREAT!!!

Oak, probably the observation that you were thinking evil of them for tracking how often they were sick. TWI used to make fun of other churches saying that they tell folks to "take it on faith", but they say the same thing it's just phrased, "just believe". It was a convenient "out" for why things didn't go right. As Oakspear says it was a great excuse when Joe Believer had things happen to him. BUT when leadership had things happen, it was because they were believing so big and moving the word so well..... "standing in the gap" doncha know? It all comes back to blance, imo. We want to think and expect good things and sure, Christians pray for things, but like that Garth Brooks song goes....some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. Also, chit happens. It's just life. How freaking arrogant we were to think that we have that much power over God. (Thank you, Garth, for so kindly pointing that out to me. :) )

This only affects men and not women, I hope.

Thanks, Y! :) Much appreciated!

Woo Hoo!!!! Happy Dance for Dooj and her daughter!!! Congratulations!!!

DANG!! I want to listen to Part 2, but it's bedtime. It was great to listen to Part 1 - Excellent to listen to and great points, as well. Wonderful!! You're doing a great job with these, Paw! I love it! And, you ladies are absolutely wonderful - great hearts you bring to the cafe. I admire all three of you.

Actually, Abi, I think a$$hole is an understatement and being too generous. One doesn't even have to read his posts to know they contain nothing of value, just pure venom, b.s. and defnitely nothing any self-respecting "Christian" would say or do.

So, PimpJuice, what's your story so we can practice being nice? You have a welcome thread in Open, btw.

Well, Abi, I hope he's not trying to win any folks to his ministry from here. Cause I have a feeling he'd be sorely disappointed, unless there are some folks here who miss LCM style leadership. <_<

AMEN and very well said, Bramble!!! I, too, respect Mo even more and the LDS because of how well she has handled the incessant bullying and stalking. I do wish, though, that something would be done about him....ban him, put all his posts into a que to be moderated before they even show up....something. I'd gladly take on the task.

Are we there yet? Are we? Huh? Are we there? How much longer?

Thanks, Paw and Raf!!! ROFLMAO thinking about them all hovering around the speaker phone listening to Pam. And they think we're strange? :blink:

Just wanted to say that

Very interesting indeed! Thanks, Clay!! And thanks, Dan. I love it when you teach bits and pieces of your Gnostic wisdom. :)

Toppers – I did a lot of the things we weren’t supposed to do, too. CW – Those things did happen in TWI and, so of course they’re gonna happen outside of TWI. DUH! Big Duh moment for me there. :D Chief – AMEN!! Thank you! Waterbuffalo – Thanks. I’m mostly past it and have dealt with it, but it does creep up on me sometimes – or seems to come out of the blue. WN – I hadn’t thought about scary movies. Haven’t really watched any since leaving. Maybe I’ll try it….over a week-end, in case it DOES give me the heebee jeebies. Shaz – We did rejoice in people “getting what they deserved” while in TWI. Didn’t see it that way, exactly, but it’s certainly what we did and what they continue to do today. SafariVista – I’m trying to rid myself of that harshness, too. TWI definitely doesn’t know jack about the real world. Just reading those kids on myspace is proof positive of that. It’s so sad, really. Socks – Man, you just always have the right words to say! :) D@mn that guy causing all those bad things! I forgot about him! LOL! Ya know, if they were running a class during those times, it could be the debbil trying to stop them from spreading da verd. That would get me off the hook too! ;) Jwitt - I am sooooo sorry for your losses! Bless your heart, Darlin’. Thank God you got to see your Daddy and be there to take care of your mother. I can’t imagine the pain you must have felt and continue to feel. :( I agree with counselling wholeheartedly!! I know I’d be an absolute mess if it weren’t for my wonderful therapist and his background to really and truly be able to help me. Chas – Ahhhh, the dreaded ringing of the phone. I remember those days all too well. We didn’t have caller ID, so it was terrifying to pick up the phone and hear a TWIt leader on the other line…..especially since I was usually causing trouble someway, somehow.

I concur! I like who you are, too, Abigail, and wouldn't want you to change one bit. LOL! I thought about the regional differences regarding communication styles also. I think you may have something there, too. I suppose, when I think someone is full of sh1t, I tend to ask them more questions but not let on what I'm thinking. Then, through asking more questions, I can be sure that I'm correct in my assessment, but they are none the wiser, which can come in handy if I have to deal with them again later on. OR, I can "bless your heart" them and be on my way without them immediately knowing that I think they're out of line. If I'm wrong, then I've saved face. It's just a natural response for me; like yours is for you. It is more difficult online and, especially when time could be a factor. But, what if instead of assuming that we know what someone means we said something like, "Y, that's a trigger phrase for me and it infuriates me when people use that because...... When I read that, I think you mean ...... Is that what you mean? Because if it is, then....." That gives the person an out and still lets me vent, share, scream, yell, whatever and no one's hurt or feels bad because of a simple mis-understanding. Not that I always do that , but it just seems like there must be some common ground we can all come to so that new folks and new angles on recurring topics don't cause so much strife and hurt.

OR, those little doggies could be members of a brainwashing cult and they're afraid of that kitty cat because that kitty can go whereever he pleases so he must be possessed with devil spirits. Those doggies could be paralyzed with fear. Afraid of those devil spirits jumping off the kitty onto them. Drink as much kool-aid as those doggies might have and you, too, won't have the energy or resolve to do anything about a little kitty cat either. ;)

True, and I don't think that anyone has said someone was throwing stones on here. BUT a phrase was used that is a "trigger" for some and it does come across offensively to some, BUT before getting upset about it, wouldn't it be fair to allow the person to explain what they meant? What happens if something they posted gets ripped to pieces (without jumping on them personally, just their words) and they come back to see all that and decide it's just not worth trying to explain what they meant? What if, when they come back to clarify what they meant, they say, "OMG, y'all I am sooo sorry!!! I didn't mean it like that at all! It's a phrase I grew up with and I just meant that we're all dealing with some messed up stuff in our lives because of TWI and I know that's a handfull for Paw to have to deal with, especially since we're all so passionate and emotional at times. I'll never use that phrase again. I'm really sorry for saying something that hurt someone on here." ? My pastor said a phrase during his sermon yesterday that I absolutely hate and cringe every time I hear it. He didn't know - had no idea. No sense in getting upset over it. He didn't mean to hurt me - doesn't even know that it's a painful phrase for me to hear. Things like that happen pretty regularly for me, especially with co-workers, but I realize they have no idea and so it's my problem, not theirs. I'm hoping and expecting that as time goes on there'll be less "triggers" for me and that I'll get more adept at not associating them with anything TWIt related. In the meantime, I try to give others the benefit of the doubt and I just think this is one of those situations. I could be wrong, and I'll gladly apologize if I am. I realize that you and others feel differently and that's okay, too. :)