Belle

Remember that winds can be terrible as much as 200 miles inland. Please hunker down!!! I have room for plenty of GSpots in my home!

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO YOU, GARTH!! I suppose it's traditional to have a drink in your honor on your special day? I'll happily follow the custom. :D--> CHEERS!!!!

Awwwwww, Cowgirl, I'm laughing if that helps! :D--> Very interesting question. My mama might disagree with the girls are easier to raise theory. I certainly gave her a run for her money when I was a teenager and, now having been in a cult for 10 years, she may tell you my little brother was MUCH easier to raise. I vividly remember her standing in the kitchen with her hands on her hips telling me the house wasn't big enough for the both of us..... I'm a much better daughter now, but I think it's cause she's so much smarter than she was when I was living under the same roof with her. :D-->

LOL! Sorry Bowtwi, I thought I answered this. Grunchy Store is the Grocery Store Taco Bell is Toxic Smell Salvation Army is Starvation Army Publix is pronounced.... well, I might get censored Just some stupid little quirky nicknames I have for some things. :D--> I'm thinking Sticky Buns might not be feasible with the lack of a stove, so is there something else I could bring? There IS a stove in the cabin and a microwave, but no oven.

Welcome, Vix! Nice to meet you. :)--> So many of us have stories that are so similar yet so different. I've found it's healing to share and it's also healing to read others' experiences, too. Thank you for sharing with us!

Gee, OM, no wonder you like TWI doctrine so much.... they teach a God that only loves based on conditions and you jumping through the right hoops. You think people only deserve something when they jump through your hoops.... People like you are the reason people like that guy acted the way he did!! YOU'RE the reason people have that bumper sticker that says, "God, save me from your followers"

More excerpts from The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse..... 10 Most Common Area of Struggle for Those Who Have Been Spiritually Abused 1. You develop a distorted image of God. A God who is never satisfied who keeps setting higher and higher goals and is eager to let you find out how much you’ve missed the mark.. A God who is waiting for us to make a mistake…then point out all our failures, or to punish or humiliate. An apathetic God who watches when people are hurt and abused, but does nothing to help… And there is more ……. 2. You may be preoccupied with spiritual performance. Preoccupation with spiritual performance often results in a tendency towards extremes of self-righteousness or shame. Self Righteousness (a sense of spiritual superiority based on your own behavior) and judgmentalism (a sense of spiritual superiority based on someone else’s behavior) indicate a performance based life-style. 3. You have a distorted self-identity of yourself as a Christian. Confusion between guilt and shame. Guilt is a valuable signal indicating a wrong or bad behavior. Shame is an indictment on you as a person. You experience guilt when you do a wrong behavior; guilt is a good spiritual nerve ending causing you to right wrong behavior. You feel shame even when you’ve done nothing wrong; 4. You may have a problem relating to spiritual authority. They tend to the extremes of compliance or defiance when faced with someone else having authority. 5. You may have a hard time with grace. You find ways to push away the grace extended by God and the gifts from the other people, so that you end up going with out. Or you accept them with such overwhelming sense of owing that you find ways to “pay back” God and others for what they’ve done. 6. You may have a problem in the area of personal boundaries, an unclear understanding about “death to self” teachings and “rights”. People who have misused their spiritual power have disrespected or beaten down your boundaries. They have shamed you out of your “no”, clouded your will and intruded into your life with religious agendas. They have violated your spirituality by playing “Holy Spirit.” Having an opinion has come to equal lack of submissiveness. Having a right to not be abused is selfish. 7. You may have difficulty with personal responsibility. You may have learned to be under-responsible…..or learned to be over-responsible. You have a greater sense of God needing you than you needing God. The most extreme form of over-responsibility happens when you martyr yourself. Being affected by insults and thoughtless actions is immature, and having feelings is being oversensitive. Going without is a prime virtue. Feeling numb to life is the end result. 8. You may suffer from a lack of living skills. Abusive systems develop a “bunker mentality”. This is characterized by being closed and paranoid toward the outside, and secretive about what goes on inside. The mentality is not only separatist, but highly judgmental. 9. You may have a hard time admitting the abuse. a. You are told that you are “the problem” for noticing there is a problem. That makes it hard to expose the abuse, even after you’ve left the system. b. Admitting the abuse out loud-or even thinking that what you experienced was abuse-often feels like you’re being disloyal to family, to church, even to God. c. Those who have experienced spiritual abuse as “normal” have lost track of what normal really is. d. It is so inconsistent with everything that is supposed to be happening in families and churches that the excruciating pain of it is short-circuited. 10. You may have a hard time with trust. Mark Twain once mused, “A cat that sits on a hot stove lid wont sit on a hot stove lid again. But it probably won’t sit on a cold stove lid either.” Those who have been spiritually abused will have a hard time trusting a spiritual system again. This is extremely significant, because the essence of living as a Christian is a trust relationship with God, within God’s family. Hope these things help those of you who are still in and are trying to figure out what to do.

Especially for TempeLady: Lounging around the house the other night there came a knockin' on my door. I had on my very comfy, not proper for company, lounging attire. I figured it was Gramma Mary coming by to check on me, so I opened the door without looking. :o--> There on my doorstep stood two very handsome young men wearing white shirts and black pants. I knew immediately who they were and why they were there. Vixen was barking like crazy 'cause that's what she does whenever anyone comes to the door. I told them to be careful because she would probably lick them to death and then, miraculously she actually sat and got quiet when I told her to. I told the guys that one of my best friends growing up was Mormon and that we used to play pool and Yhatzee (sp?) with the elders at her house all the time. I apologized for not being able to invite them in because I was not properly dressed for company. I also told them that I had just gotten out of an abusive religious cult and was not really interested in anything religious right now. They got the most empathetic expressions on their faces and wrote down their phone number on a card and told me that if they could do anything to help me - mow my yard, clean my gutters, anything at all, to give them a call. I felt no pressure or that there was any hidden agenda there. I know from experience that they help people even if they have the feeling that they'll NEVER come to church with them. Anyway, it was a really pleasant experience and those two young men, I think, are excellent ambassadors for your church. :)--> I hope the rest of my neighbors were nice to them.

I wouldn't evacuate without Vixen. :)--> But, then again, I have more means to evacuate than those with no car and/or no family to run to and no money to get there. I'm so glad that Texas is being so accommodating for those with pets. They really do become part of the family regardless of TWIt teachings to the contrary.

I second that emotion. :D--> Really good to see you Catcup! Oh, Geeze! How many times have I heard this line? Let's just say I wish I had a nickel for every time. --> I'd be a rich woman! And whenever there is a discrepancy between a male believer and a female believer, you always take the side of the MAN. and whenever there is a discrepancy between an @$$ kissing TWIt and a questioning (aka rebellious) TWIt, you always take the side of the kissing one. And whenever there is a discrepancy between a regular TWIt and a WC TWIt, you always take the side of the WC. Just how on earth are we supposed to keep all these unwritten rules straight?? Oh, that mine enemy had written a book.........

Dove, there's a thread on here somewhere about the varying costs of the PFAL class. $100 is pretty much the standard and has been for as long as I was involved (since early 1990's). Theological Seminaries are preparing people for a career and they have to pay for salaried professors, benefits for those professors, buildings, maintenance, supplies, power bills, etc. It makes sense to charge for those classes. Ditto regarding college and career enhancement seminars and classes. What is the purpose of a class given by a church or TWI? It's supposedly to benefit the life of the student and to bring them closer to God and a better relationship with Jesus, right? It's a way the church "gives BACK" to its parishoners. MOST churches either don't charge, charge ONLY the cost of supplies or have a free will offering AFTER the class. This way ANYONE with a heart to learn is able to attend. It fosters "free will" giving....giving without compulsion and giving from the heart not from obligation. What a concept!! What is the cost to TWI? - Donated house for class location - Donated set-up supplies - Donated toilet paper - Donated electric bill - Donated TV (required to be a certain size) - Donated VCR - Donated snacks - Donated Teachers - Donated Class Crew - A few sheets of paper - A plastic notebook - A couple a books *shrug* Doesn't sound like $100 per person cost to TWI. Sounds like a profit making venture. Just like the Advanced Class Spay-shul....didn't craig say out loud that it was a revenue generating event once? If TWI really wanted to save lives and if they really wanted the Word over the world, they would make it free and easy for people to take the class and then people would give out of the goodness of their heart based on the immense improvement of quality, Abundance and Power in their lives from having taken the class. That'll never happen because they KNOW most people don't see the promises made to them come to pass. I agree with one of my favorite artists, Mary Chapin Carpenter on this one:

A gem from Rascal:

George, I'm glad to hear you'll evacuate. :)--> I'd hate to be worried about you and your family. Linda and our other beloved Texans, Charlie was still a Category 1 or 2 hurricane over 200 miles inland AFTER hitting the west coast of FL. Winds were gusting up to 90mph and caused way more damage in my area than the other hurricanes last year. (Different parts of Central Florida were hurt worse by others) Please make sure you and all your loved ones do take precautions and make preparations as if you are going to be taking a direct hit by a Category 2 or 3 hurricane. I apologize if this sounds insulting and is all things you already know, but just in case...here are some tips I sent to my family and friends before Katrina hit: Put all very important papers and medical prescriptions in zip lock bags and store them in the washing machine. It's the strongest, heaviest place to store most important items. Fill additional zip lock bags with water and freeze them now! Believe it or not, but Ice and water are at a premium after hurricanes. Especially if you have medicine that has to be refrigerated. Get out all candles, flashlights, oil lamps and matches and put them where you can easily find them when the power goes out. Unplug everything except the refrigerator. MAYBE leave one lamp on so you know if power is on or off. Turn off the Air Conditioner when the worst of the storm starts. There will be transformers blowing up and power surges. You do not want to have to deal with a blown up AC unit or fire because of power surges through your computer or TV during this time. DO NOT go outside in the storm no matter how tempting it is. Limbs and trees are missles as are anything your neighbors may have left outside. Cell Phone text messaging is most likely to work even when you can not get calls in or out. Fill every bathtub in your house with water. You may need it, even if it's just to flush the toilet. ;)--> The transformers are bright green when they blow and if there's lots of them it's like something out of Wizard of Oz (really cool). It's not green lightning though, like I thought it was in Charlie. This could be something kids enjoy watching and keeps them from being scared. Kitty litter makes a good substitute for sand bags. Red Wine is the best Post Hurricane Party Supply since it does not need refrigerating or ice to be enjoyable. *grin* In those famous Florida Hurricane Battle Cry Words: HUNKER DOWN!!!!!!!!! I'd much rather scare the hell out of y'all and have you prepared for no reason than for you to do nothing and have needed to do so. I'll be praying fervently for each one of you, especially if you have to live without AC for a few days. :D-->

LOL! That's velly intellesting.... :)--> You're quite the P.I. seestor, ex! ;)--> Thanks for sharing the fruits of your labor with us!

It's one book I still haven't read but would like to.

It's cold and sterile! That's because there's no one there to enjoy it and they wouldn't be allowed to if they could. Pity all that beautiful landscaping is going to waste. Pity so many people who could be enjoying it are so imprisoned by TWIt doctrine that they don't even remember how to enjoy life, much less, how to stop and smell the roses. The world is too much with them: Thank you, Mr. Wordsworth. :)-->

It appears as though some TWIt started the article as promo material and some sharp non-TWIts jumped in to make sure that the Neutral Point of View editorial style was enforced and maintained. They also appear to have provided the "cult" consideration to the article. Velly intellesting!

Bliss, your post just shows how much control they really do exert over their flock. Most TWIts at HQ live in the dorm or the sub-standard housing, right? They most likely don't watch the news and they probably never read the newspaper. They wouldn't be allowed to include a subscription in their "needs basis" living salary request, would they? The only news those on staff get is what rosie and friends seem to think they need to know. Their behavior just confirms to the surrounding communities that they are as evil, corrupt and cold-hearted as always. No wonder they never have "new people" at hq. I'd love to see the community throw loads and loads of bags of feces on their sacred grounds, following tradition as so nicely explained by HCW on another thread.

I love it, David! Those are Powerful Abundantly Enjoyable Lyrics, so you musta mastered the Power For Abundant Lyrics! :D-->

Let the Celebration begin! I hope Marvin makes it with BOWTWI! Can't wait to see pictures of the awesome couple!

I'm not cheating on you, Shellon. ;)--> I know what you mean about society becoming so fake and I think part of it is the Society of the Always Offended that constantly sues and makes huge issues over being offended. Our extreme political correctness out of fear of these jerks suing us, has created a situation where it's so hard to trust people, much less trust them with the truth. This public paranoia has bled over into our private lives. I, however, seem to have a knack for telling too much truth. :D-->

Who do you think taught me how to make Mint Juleps? ;)--> She and Daddy are heading to Seattle today to spoil my little brother and his girlfriend for the week. I 'spect it'll be a little while before she's back in front of a computer.

She must be a slower learner than I thought! That, or too many garden parties to go to this week...

Laugh all you want, but when I was four years old, for Ma Sally's Birthday (my great grandmother), my grand parents, Daddy and uncle paid for her to have a bathroom put on the house. (This was in 1972!!) I remember Ma Sally standing there at the door to the bathroom shaking her head and saying, "I just don't know if I want that thing so close to the kitchen." BTW, her outhouses weren't as pretty as CoolChef's. ;)-->

HEY! I've used some of those! :D--> My boss at my first "real job" out of college bought me a huge alarm clock with the bells on the top of it and no snooze alarm! She made me promise to put it on the other side of the room so that I would have to get up to turn it off. Usually my excuses are related to being late as opposed to calling in sick, though. I have called in because my dog was sick & I took her to the vet and then stayed at home with her all day. My "late" excuses are the best, though. ;)-->