Belle

All hail THE!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! THANKS, SO MUCH PAW!!!! Gosh, has it REALLY been SIX YEARS???? OMG! I've been here since day one and only been "out" just over a year....coming up on my two year anniversary in August. Great memories? Lots of 'em.... The first one that comes to mind is ChicagoBird's heart wrenching and tender posts....then to the Dobby is Free!!! thread to the "I can't post anymore" thread. :( and TWYRIL going through much of the same and Abigail going through much of the same and Me going through much of the same My heart rose and fell with each one of our kicks in the gut and then triumphs. ********* Orange Cat always bringing a smile and levity to everyone's day Wyoman posted a lot of things that really helped me FreshAir - man did that guy know his stuff and the inner workings of TWI Radar - exposed so much about TWI and had helped so many people John's letter to Rosie, her assinine replies and his resultant getting kicked out of TWI Me telling John about a Limb Meeting in their area so he could "crash" it Posts flying so fast it was practically impossible to keep up So much doctrinal error being exposed - Research Geek's Top 10 getting posted Catcup's posts....I'd LOOK for her name and that cool avatar when I signed on WashingtonWeather and me passing book long e-mails back and forth Rascal, chinson, Hope, Radar, Sushi, Abigail, Linda, Ron, HillsBro....the chat room was always full of people Remember when the chat room showed IP addresses occasionally or someone would type something they didn't mean to and we'd have to "clear the screen"? We knew the WAYGB was lurking in the chat room because there wasn't a way, at that time, to make it show who all was in the room. Great Times and Great Memories!!! The Sloppy Joes are on me today!

Neat to find these kinds of threads, isn't it, Suda? :) Thanks for bringing it back up and keep looking - there've been a lot of great discussions down here in the dungeon. STFI, I believe is "Spirit & Truth Fellowship International" or something like that .... it's one of the TWI offshoots.

Yeah, Laleo, I do laugh about it. It's just so surreal!! And they think they're "normal" with that behavior....and I was so scared of them. :blink: BUT, I'm glad they're that neurotic because that was one of the straws on the camel's back so to speak. The fact that I had to go to such great lengths to protect my identity from them was a clear sign that something was definitely rotten in Denmark. I mean - GEEZE OH PETE - trying to hack into my log on????? pretty pathetic for a "Christian" organization. I had no idea bout the protesters and such! WOW! Have we ever discussed that on here? Where was I to have missed it? I, too, thought it was cool that people were soooooo mad at TWI and that appealed to my rebellious side - which is probably part of why I stayed around even when I was getting bored with them while I was younger. Once I got married it was a different story. Please do tell me more!!

Good post, Shaz. :) I was also raised to believe in the Holocaust. I visited with a few survivors of concentration camps and I've seen the tattoos. I read Ann Frank's diary and several other books. Watched "The Hiding Place" and even heard the Ten Boom sisters speak at the local university. My grandfather and his six brothers all fought in WW II and some of them saw the horrors - horrors like that PBS show - horrors no young man should ever have to live with for the rest of his life - much less the victims themselves. My grandparents even went back to Germany and visited some of the larger concentration camps. Telling us about the visits and showing us the pictures was the first time I ever heard of the affect the war and finding the poor souls had on my Great Uncle. BUT - just a short time in TWI had me hard hearted and callously dismissing all that just because they said so and then confirmed just because of those two books. :( I have no idea how I justified it all in my mind. WTH, I don't care to debate the issue or the books. It's crystal clear that people were abused, tortured, made to live in impossible situations.... It is inhumane what they did. I don't see how anyone can be so inhumane themselves to casually dismiss the evil of the Nazis.....no matter what the number.

We know that Rosie had to approve all teachings...how is it she approved craig's teachings knowing that she violated all princples taught in the Bible? Especiall with his wife??

Okay, I can share a TON of funny real life police stories. First one - my ex and I are driving down the road and I'm telling him that I can tell that's his passion and that if that's what he wants to do with his life, then we need to figure out how to get him back into law enforcement. THEN, I make a joke about cops & donuts...I get reamed totally - NOBODY ESPECIALLY not my wife!!!! We then drive by the Dunkin Donuts.....FIVE COP CARS PARKED IN FRONT..... I didn't say a word....just giggled silently.....

I'm not sure where I fit in here. :) I've been re-evaluating everything from A to Z. I feel pretty sure there is a God - but part of that is because I'm scared not to. I don't think one can totally discount a "supreme being" based on the Earth and the universe alone...BUT I'm pretty sure it isn't THE GOD talked about in the Bible. TWI has soured me on that....that, and, it led me to more "logical" sources of information.... *shrug* I've learned a lot more about "critical thinking" and been more confident in my ability to discount "miracles" like getting the first parking spot at the grocery store - "believers' parking" - etc. I'm more likely to look for "logical" explanations of "phenomena" rather than to take them at "face value". I think that, to a certain degree, yes, believe in God and belief in Jesus requires a bit of "take it on faith" stuff and I'm just not sure if I'm willing to do that after doing that with TWI. <_< Like I always say, my views, beliefs and thoughts are subject to change from day to day, but there seems to be a persistent "gnostic" view of life these days. I'd like to add that 90% of my learning has come from WayDale and GSpot - even though a lot of WayDale I saved till I could really devote my full attention to it without the emotional involvement due to trying to save my marriage.

Yeah, Laleo, I think we are talking about two very different things - sorry, I think the incident I'm talking about may better be described as intimidation maybe rather than threat. It was by no means a threat of a lawsuit....just a threat, personally....like they are watching and may use these posts and information to their advantage if necessary. I apologize for the confusion.....Dang, it's so hard, sometimes to communicate well via written word, eh? :huh: On the other hand, BOWTWI's experience sounds very different. I do think the WAYGB is dangerous and can be if they feel TWI is threatened too much. I know that they still monitor this site very closely and they still keep tabs on folks. I'm sure the Monkeyhinds are laughing saying, "I knew it!! I knew she was insurgent!!" Instead of admitting the lowest levels of humanity that they stooped to in order to try to find out that information. I'm also surprised that they let me subscribe to the ragazine, but that's another story in and of itself. <_<

LOL! Skyrider, he's come a long way from that "I could be the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company" position, hasn't he? GAWD!!! What arrogance and what stupidity of me to fall all over his feet believing that he could! Ya know, there's probably lots of TWIts, like the Monkeyhinds (thanks, Patriot), who still believe he could if he was just given the chance. D@m GSpotters have ruined it with all their "dwelling on the past" b.s. :ph34r:

Mo, I highly respect the way LDS take care of each other and contribute to society. My landlords for two years were LDS and I always cringe when I think of how haughty and "holier than thou" I was around them. On the other hand, we were the best tenants they had - being TWI we always paid our rent early - never called for minor things; just fixed them ourselves - left the place better than we found it. I remember the husband calling to thank me for leaving the place in such good condition - they didn't have to do a thing - it was already in such good shape they could just rent it "as is" and I felt guilty because I knew I could have done more. I guess it was the mutual admiration society in that regard. I still want to call and apologize for being such a bee-yatch to them, though. I currently attend a Methodist church and I love and respect the way they take care of folks in the community - even the homeless..... I have yet to hear a disparaging word about any other group or religion, even TWI when I talk about my involvement there. Just sadness that I didn't have the personal relationship with God and Jesus because of being so focused on performance and the Bible. I think giving is awesome - I think it's even more awesome when it's giving in a way that's pleasing and stimulated/inspired within you personally. A lot of that, I think, has to do with seeing it - knowing for sure that it's going to help someone and, in many cases, getting to see the folks affected, helped, blessed by that giving - or at least knowing for sure - beyond the shadow of a doubt - that it's going to help folks. TWI says that the money goes to "the movement of the word" but they don't document it. They don't show folks what really happens to their money and we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they won't lift a finger, much less a penny to help out one of their own. Hasn't happened. Won't happen. They just don't do that - they think if you get into a position of needing help, then you must be "off" somewhere. Pitiful. Pathetic and totally un-Christian...but they'll say they aren't "Christians" either - they are "believers".

Okay, I finally finished reading "most" of this thread....I wish I had jumped in earlier, but sometimes things just seem to be way over my head - or I don't have the mental energy to contribute. Candace Pert - "Molecules of Emotion" --- AWESOME!!!! Bagpipes, that was THE FIRST book I read after starting therapy. My therapist loaned it to me and it made sooooo much sense to me. It really communicated. I have also read stuff on the history of beliefs, religion, Christianity and cultures and such.... I like getting away from the "Bible based" discussions because I like to consider sources outside of the Bible. It's not the end all and be all that TWI lead us to believe, imo. I need to consider, evaluate, reason, assess things without the black & white "scripture and verse" that we were confined to in TWI. I LOVED "What the Bleep Do We Know?" - It's like spirituality meets metaphysics meets quantum physics and Candace Pert is one of the professionals in it. :) Bagpipes, I'm excited to look at the sites you've mentioned - including the heartmath.com ;) You've really done a lot of reading and research on this....thank you! It's helping us to weed through stuff, too. TBone, something else you may be interested in reading is "Why People Believe Weird Things" - it's by the founder of skeptic.com. It's more about logical thinking - reasoning - and also blind acceptance. One of the most puzzling things for me regarding changing your mind is the teaching on the Holocaust and how it didn't happen and was grossly exaggerated.... I had all the evidence in the world shown to me growing up - including the privilege of sitting with several survivors one on one - Corrie Ten Boom being one of them. Pictures, stories, tattoos, tears.....tales from the soldiers who were there and saw it with their own eyes!!!! But all it took was some comments from leadership in TWI and "The Myth of the Six Million" to make me change my mind. :( I'm ashamed and embarrassed - but this topic is covered in the "Weird Things" book and that's why I have it. It think the resonance part of your first posts covers that pretty succinctly, though. I don't want to get too long-winded. Great thread! Thank you very much!!!!

I'm honored; thank you, OM. ^_^ There are two epiluo threads (one in the "About the Way" forum and one in the "Doctrinal" dungeon). I brought both of them to the top for you. :)

Check your PM's, Cool! :)

Laleo, how would I know how they got someone's address and such? I can tell you how they tracked me down- Oakspear can tell you how they tracked him down.... I went through a lot of my personal experience of being tracked down in detail in my interview with Paw and it's extraordinary and surreal the lengths they will go to in order to track someone down. Some folks use their real names on here - real easy to determine how they tracked them down. Others they must look at the bulk of that person's posts and try to piece together who they are based on what they post. Sometimes they try to hack into someone's logon - maybe they interview everyone in the whole friggin' REGION to hunt someone down.... That's why "warnings" are included in the welcome threads at the top of the "About the Way" forum. People need to know that TWI monistors this site very closely. Fact is someone very well could be harrassed for their posts. It's a very real, very possible outcome from posting on here. Now, they are supposedly "kinder and gentler" and I think that for the most part folks have nothing to worry about, especially since they are posting the truth and most of what's posted here the WAYGB knows is the truth and it's certainly nothing they would want to pursue to the point of the information becoming public. Back during the lawsuit days they were scrambling and trying to cover their foot because they knew a lot of people knew a lot of information that would be very, very damaging to come out in court...that's not so much the case anymore. Tom, I agree - having your posts sent to you would be considered a very powerful yet silent threat, imo. I'm not trying to scare anyone - it is what it is. I haven't heard from anyone in TWI since I left and I've posted some pretty inflamatory stuff. I would hope they are dying of embarrassment over all the shenanigans they went through just to discover who I was. I doubt it, but I would like to think they are a little ashamed of themselves. Generally, imo, everyone is safe here, but it IS nice to be aware of the WAYGB and the lengths they will go to if they feel threatened. Just to clarify - the reason the folks I know don't post here much anymore is because of life - it has absolutely nothing to do with TWI or GSpot in any way - shape - or form. They contributed to the boards - got out of TWI - got involved in hobbies and things they never had time for in TWI and that's where they spend their time now.

I stand behind what I wrote and I if you don't want to believe that it happened, then that's fine by me. I'm not going to divulge details out of respect for the people who shared that information with me. If they want to talk about it, that's up to them. I may not get all the details correct and I don't recall being told whether or not they wanted the details of their particular situations to be discussed. The facts are TWI does monitor this site. They do keep files on people and they have used said files to threaten folks. They have used said files to M&A folks from TWI, too. Doesn't bother me either way if you believe me or not, but I will not betray confidences just to satisfy someone's curiosity.

Kinda like it's not "sin" it's being "out of fellowship"

Laleo, my memory is vague regarding the details and I'm not sure these folks even want to talk about it. I prefer to not say anything more than that. What I posted is all that I'm comfortable sharing. If those folks want to share more then I'm sure they will. :)

Cute, Jade. :) I love that one about hiding brocooli in milk.

I dunno, Tom..... I think this is too far over my head. :mellow: Maybe I should stick to Amazing Sea Monkeys.

Raf, you're superior in every way and it's just super to see you get recognition that's so deserved! Maybe next year we'll be popping the cork on the champagne for you. :)

I was kind of thinking it was getting close to the end for Ace, but I was SHOCKED to see Chris in the bottom three. :o It's going to get harder and harder to see them go. They're all so good! Still pulling for my man, Taylor, though. :wub:

OMG - has it been a year, already?? You are truly special, Hope!! You've done so much to help so many and I'll always cherish those phone calls to you while I was supposedly at the gym. Thanks so much for your time, your patience, your care and concern. I hope your day is as wonderful as you are!!

WW, he must think he's fooling someone, but those of us who lived through it know the truth. I don't need any letter, tape or other proof....I have it all in my memory - much as I wish I didn't. Craig hated homosexuals - stated he wished he could kill them like they did in the OT times and used rather harsh language. I remember one elderly lady coming back from the ROA where he cancelled the program and went off on one of his tirades. She was shocked, offended and appalled at his language, hatred and vehemence. The local leadership told her it was because he was so "spiritually angry". :huh: What I don't get, and maybe this should go on another thread, is how and why Rosie and Donna approved of his teaching on the Eve ~ Lesbian thing. You know his class subjects had to be known by them before being made public.

Here's the "research" standard for TWI.... It's so apparent now; why wasn't it then? I wonder how much of the two former foundational classes is included in this new class.... :unsure: