Belle

(((((((((Jeannette)))))))))))) Here's your hug! :wub: It's hard sorting everything out. I've only been out of TWI a year and got divorced because my husband accused me of turning my back on God. I know all too well how the lonliness and confusion can be stiffling. We're a pretty good group here for the most part. ;) Glad you're here. You'll find new friends even if you can't find the old ones. BTW, I'm a former typesetter, so I arbitrarily capitalize letters sometimes. It's That Title Case Syndrome I Think I May Have Acquired along the way....... ;)

Even though I have chosen to ignore Mike's posts, I have to admit I enjoyed reading it, WordWolf. :D

Sorry I have nothing to contribute to the forum as I am just beginning to learn more about the history of religion and Christianity. I'm also still evaluating and learning about TWI doctrine more here at the Gspot. I just want to thank all of you for your contributions, particularly to this thread. I am most impressed with your knowledge and the time that it has taken for you all to learn what you have. It's nice to read heated discussions that don't degrade into labelling, name-calling and out and out insults instead of merely passionate discussions and disagreements over doctrine, history and viewpoints. :) I also highly recommend the "ignore" function on said trolls. It works very well! ;)

There's a group called Landmark Forum (Landmark Forum that I think is an organization to be wary of. It's infiltrated my office. One of the guys jokingly refers to it as "my cult" and the people involved are all passive agressive in their recruiting people to these "seminars". I've shared my doubts, reservations and disagreement with the group. I've also made no secret of my recent "cult" experience, so you'd *think* they might at least consider what I've shared with them, but - no. This Group is Different! Yeah, right! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ on another note: Jet, sorry, I have to agree with WordWolf. Perhaps it's because tone of voice doesn't communicate very well in print or it's because you have yet to learn how to communicate what you're thinking without appearing judgemental and accusative..... Raf has posted a bit about JW's and you obviously haven't taken the time to read around the board and learn about people before you attack them (and, yes, your posts do look like attacks and subsequent justifications of your attacks). Since you're new here, I'll tell you that many of us have been posting for a long time and we know the integrity (or lack thereof) of many of the long-time posters and Raf is NOT one of those lacking integrity. It's also not wise to put words into his mouth or to extrapolate hidden meanings in what he posts. He is pretty clear on his own. :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ on yet another note: Mo, your ability to maintain a rational, clear headed response to people who consistently attack you, instead of genuinely having questions about your religion, is, in and of itself, a very good witness and shows more humanity and commands more respect than all those attacking you put together. They don't really want to know what you have to say; it's just like a bully trying to pick a fight, imo. I am constantly inspired and impressed with you and your posts. :)

You're right, Rascal! I wasn't trying to slight anyone, but we did agree on your new "label" ;) LOL! Sushi and Abigail are awesome cooks!! The chili was wonderful!!! Sushi and Rascal both make a mean Sausage Gravy and that salad Jardinaro made......YUMMY!!!! I'm so glad that Bow came through with the 'smores fixin's and the camera to prove that we all really DID meet! :) I still wish we had talked Shellon into performing for us..... Do you realize how many people we had there?? I think I counted NINETEEN Adults and NINE kids! I think the kids caught enough fish for us to have been able to eat all week-end if we'd have had the means to cook them. These Mama's are GOOD! Let me tell you, I thought I was hallucinating once. I heard a cry behind me and as soon as I blinked my eyes, BOWTWI had moved from one side of the camp to right behind me! I think she just blinked her eyes and "appeared" right behind me. I will make a note to NOT bring noise makers next year as the kids have enough talent to make their own noise. B) I also promise not to show any one else how to make balloons squeak.

Thanks, Raf! I always enjoy your evaluations and the time you take to keep things on the up and up here. I look forward to your observations about the rest of the book.

"by my loved ones long since passed on..." But I thought "The Dead are Dead"????? :blink: :unsure:

WN! I remember craig talking about his gun drawing practicing skills either in one of the advanced classes or ac specials.....maybe it was during the Y2K scare, err.....preparation time. I remember thinking he sounded like such a dork. My ex was a cop and he was extremely prepared and well practiced and I never knew him to do those things around our house.

Disney has their "own" police force, although I don't think they are recognized as such, they sure did do a marvelous job of keeping all kinds of things out of the public eye for a long time. Now they HAVE to let Orange County come in when there is a problem. It was a huge stink around here for a long time. TWI now has a bonafide cop on their staff as my ex left a very good PD to go to work for HQ. He and Linder may be sharing a dorm room on grounds now. Maybe they are sharing stories about the times they got to bully people and talking about the things we post on GSpot together. Hey Mr Linder! Hey Meister! Meister, I hope you're enjoying not having much responsibility and not having to make decisions for yourself. Life is so much easier when others are telling you what to do, when and what to eat and what to do with your money and time, isn't it? You've found the ideal place to live where you don't have to think. Just continue to memorize and parrot what they tell you and you'll soon move up in the ranks like you want to. I just hope you stay in touch with your family and that you genuinely wanted to get back in touch with them. I really hope you're not just using them to store your stuff while you're giving your life to an evil, corrupt organization. Not God - mind you - to AN ORGANIZATION! You're doing absolutely NOTHING for God. Just keep things in the proper perspective. Bob & Dottie must be so proud of you.

We ALL had withdrawals, BrotherSpeed!! :P You wouldn't believe the withdrawal symptoms if we told you about them! When we realized the campground had wi-fi, you should have seen all of us hovered around Paw and his puter! LOL! :lol: "Just a glimpse of the logo, that's all I need, Paw. Pleae let me see the logo, just once!!" BTW, Rascal is now the "GSpot Cafe Hostess with the Mostest". Rascal, Abigail and Jardinaro had us all organized and had thought of things I think none of the rest of us would have even considered. Professional campers - all three! And two wonderful mornings of sausage gravy & biscuits - Rascal and Sushi KNOW their sausage gravy!! Monday morning it was delish pancakes. Every morning had plenty of bacon for all to enjoy!! There was definitely NO shortage of food!!

Wonder if it miraculously showed up after your post, Catcup? Maybe sending a check via registered mail and having to have someone sign for it might encourage them to keep better track of it. Life is in the details, unless you're dealing with someone outside TWI? They musta changed the rules somewhere along the line.....

I always wondered about Rhoda. She always seemed so quiet and to not really "fit" in the upper ranks of TWI. But this is from someone who never met her, but only observed how "behind the scenes" she seemed to be....just quietly going about her business. Hard to picture these matronly women having wild racucious sex! LOL! I'm sure all the men, maybe save, Ermal, took their license and lead from their sick leader vee pee.

"He doth protest too much, methinks." Many have speculated about LCM's closeted battle with homosexuality. It's well known that he had no problem having threesomes with two women, so he justified it on some level. The gay men I work with often laugh about the extremely "homophobic" men because they say many of them are the ones you'll find trying to be incognito at gay bars or advertising online because they don't want to be "outed". I think there's definitely something to your observations, Argus. Welcome to the Cafe! Great first post!

I love reading the "my story" accounts people post! O&A's post was especially nice to read. :) I think because of when I got in (1993), or because of my mindset....maybe a combination of both: But, TWI was never "my ministry". It was a source for more Biblical answers than I had ever gotten before. I think part of that was because I was in a place in my life where I truly WANTED answers, not that TWI was the only place with the answers. Maybe I was selfish, but I considered TWI another church - one with volumes of information - but a church nonetheless. I felt like the Baptist Church I grew up in was "my" church, but never felt that way about TWI. TWI was more of a disciplinarian or substitute parent than a warm, fuzzy, cozy place to be.

Well, I don't like ANY of the ones from TWI save the one about the greatest cargoes of life, but I don't think that's a TWI-ism. Maybe it's just because of the WayBrain it stirs up.... My Mama has some really good ones, I think. I know I'm biased, but..... Instead of the ole "they put their pants on one leg at a time too": "Their farts stink too" Instead of the comments about poking out our bottom lip and pouting: "If you want sympathy you can find it between .... and syphillis in the dictionary" When we were contemplating a difficult (yet silly) teenage decision: "Make it light on yourself, kid" Instead of cursing she would always say, "Shoot Bubba!" Actually, I think I might have started that one. I can't remember exactly. And the famous parental response, "This too shall pass"

I highly recommend the Ro-tel Dip!! :D If you like it hot use the spicy variety. I like tomato soup and grilled cheese sammiches on cold days and I've recently become very fond of Rasca's Split Pea Soup, but I don't know what she puts in it. It's yummy with a dollop of cream cheese on top!!

LOL! I'll also write more later. I'm just beat and had to get in my nap before the critter with jumping beans in her blood gets home. We were visited by a monk and took lots of pictures of fish that the kids caught. More than one "pot" party, but I'm gonna let Rascal talk about HER favorite one. ;) We got to preview Paw's editing skills and while we didn't get to enjoy the presence of Sudo and Oak, we definitely got to hear from them. :D I can only imagine how much fun we missed not having them there. BTW, when WWJLA comes out with her CD's y'all would be wise to buy one! She has the most beautiful voice!! I've already got my order in for CD's for me and Christmas presents for my Daddy.

Well some things never change and some posters never learn..... <_< :blink: I'd like to suggest the "ignore" feature. :) It has done wonders for me!! I think Raf would concur. Rhino, It is well known common knowledge, especially among the 6th corps women, that Donna and Marcia Green, among other women, slept together in the same bed - and not out of necessity - among other women. It has also been mentioned (or speculated - I can't remember) that Donna was a victim of vee pee's RV rapes. Rosie and Donna would go to Indiana campus together and stay in the same room quite a bit and often went on vacations that consisted of just the two of them. DMiller, Does this mean I have to cancel the wedding invitations? :wub:

Back in cowboy times, a westbound wagon train was lost and low on food. No other humans had been seen for days, and then the pioneers saw an old Norwegian sitting beneath a tree. "Is there some place ahead where we can get food?" "Vell, I tink so," the old man said, "but I wouldn't go up dat hilll und down de udder side. Somevun tole me you'd run into a big bacon tree." "A bacon tree?" asked the wagon train leader. "Yah, n bacon tree. Vould I lie? Trust me. I vouldn't go dere." The leader goes back and tells his people what the Norwegian said. "So why did he say not to go there?," a person asked. Other pioneers said, "Oh, you know those Norwegian people - they lie just for a joke." So the wagon train goes up the hill and down the other side. Suddenly, Indians attack them from everywhere and massacre all except the leader who manages to escape and get back to the old Norwegian. Near dead, the man shouts, "You fool! You sent us to our deaths! We followed your route, but there was no bacon tree, just hundreds of Indians who killed everyone but me." The old Norwegian man holds up his hand and says, "Vait a minute. "He quickly picks up an English-Norwegian dictionary and begins thumbing through it. "Oof-da, I made such ah big mishtake! It vuzn't a bacon tree, (Are you ready?) (Scroll down) (You're going to hate me.) It vuz a ham bush."