Belle

Amazing that we kept going back even though we hated going and were afraid to go. Man, I wish I had given myself more credit for being able to take care of me back then. I thought they knew what was better for me and my life which is why I gave my power away to them. Then, when I finally realized it didn't seem right, I was so entrenched it was almost impossible to see the way out. Now, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable and capable of taking care of myself. I'm not doing such a bad job of it either, if I may say so. Tex, I'm looking forward to reading your story. It's always nice to read about someone else's experiences and to get to know the people posting here a little better.

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO YOU!!!

Nope. They've got sunflowers in the sunny south, too. :)--> I'm laughing now thinking of how many people were subjected to listening to me sing "I Write the Songs" in my 3rd grade recital! :D--> :D--> :D--> I think I should send a thank you note to my parents. ** edited because of CRS disease ***

Welcome, Tex! :D--> Glad to have you here! Raf does like to serve the first cup of coffee, but I'll be happy to buy you a danish or a muffin.

Gawd, Hope! When you put it that way it sounds so childish and stupid. I'm really embarrassed now! Yep, I spent at least 9 years worried about "getting into trouble." The first coupla years I couldn't have cared less, but then again, I think things weren't as legalistic during that time either. I never had to mind my Ps & Qs with my parents to the degree I felt like I had to with TWI. I did fear getting into trouble at home, mind you, but I knew the punishment would be deserved, swift and fair. TWI wasn't that way. My parents also continued to love me regardless of how stupid, harmful or frustrating my behavior. I never worried about them kicking me out of the house, out of the family and never speaking to me again. No kid should ever have to worry about that! If TWI is the model of how a Christian family should be, I don't want to be in a Christian family.

The real reason being, no one in TWI in the 90's was getting revelation and if they did they would have had to run it by their leadership before even offering to minister. Not to mention the fact that they only taught us about devil spirits, terrible consequences of leaving "the household", abundant sharing and witnessing. There was no teaching about actually ministering to people that I can remember. Come to think of it, I don't think there was the whole time I was in TWI, which would have been in the 90's. I could be wrong and YMMV based on where you were located.

Incredible! I went to a neighbor's dance recital/fund raiser this week-end and all I got was dancing sunflowers. Cute sunflowers they were, but three hours of dancing kids would have been so much more palatable with CS&N to finish off the recital. I'm jealous. Yep, VERY jealous.

OMG, John, you just reminded me of a statement from our illustrious rc about debt. I think I still have it. It would be a choo choo on this thread, but I'll still look for it. Sky, it does appear that TWI went from scripture based teaching and encouraging people to actually research and apply the keys they learned to TWIt publications and the latest whim/present truth of the leadership. No one is really re-searching the scriptures and there's really no reason to. If someone were to find something wrong (gasp!) it would just cause them problems, not any TWIt. They have ressurected ....."Stand with the ministry that taught you the Word." and added to it "We're building something big for our children and our children's children". No emphasis on the scriptures at all but rather on TWI and "we" the only one true household of God.

So now we know! He has the President's ear. Can you imgaine the party they'll have when FLAT gets back to the classroom? He'll be able to tell all kinds of stories! I just hope he isn't secretly tape recording any conversations. And, WhiteDove, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was ready to cry for Zach and his class.

Steve, that was in the first administration. The second administration had something about people haising each other. THE won't ask you to clean, either. Paw might, but THE won't.

(((((excathedra))))) I'm thinking of you today! You are a wonderful person and it's so nice of you to get information on your father's condition before going over there. That's a very considerate thing to do and will no doubt make it less stressful having the information you need. I hope your handsome goalie is okay, too! I'd much rather rush to the ER than be sorry. It's perfectly natural for a mom to want her child taken care of STAT, even if it turns out to be something minor. And, just ignore mj. She very rarely has anything to contribute to a thread and obviously didn't even read what you posted. I wish I was there to help you.

JustLoafing, that's histerical! Once they get it in their minds that we've done something, we're the liars because they couldn't possibly be wrong since they're so spiritual, doncha know?

Oak, this is the exact same thing that happened to me/us on numerous occasions. The final big "confrontation" we had was a result of my being fed up with getting conflicting information or not getting any information at all. We had talked to our hfc about her problem many times and it was a joke in the fellowship because everyone knew that she gave 10 different people 10 different responsibilities and all 10 would overlap or contradict the others in some way. It was extremely annoying but not anything we felt should "go before the church" kind of thing. Apparently we were wrong. The day I was so fed up with her communication problem, I spent the day handling the problem in spite of plans that my ex and I had already had planned for a while. I left a rather nasty message on her machine about having taken care of the problem. Then later we were called to the bc's apartment to face a confrontation with the hfc and the bc's. My ex never said a word even though he was as peeved as I was and he knew that we were right and had done nothing wrong save being the ones to bring HER to a confrontation like this. I stood up for us and defended ourselves to no avail. It was OUR FAULT for not anticipating these things and acting on them. --> We weren't being good assistant coordinators because we weren't seeing the big picture and deflecting things for our hfc. The hfc was about to go into wc training, so it couldn't possibly be anything SHE did wrong, now could it? Apparently not. That was probably the straw that broke the camel's back with me. The extreme favoritism, the justification of the hfc's actions and turning the whole problem around on us.....it defied logic!! The good part was that they "relieved" us from being assistant coordinators which we had been asking for, for the previous two years!

Bob, why yes it is Miz Scarlett. She's a rather plucky southern lady and I respect that, faults and all. ;)--> Thanks to Paw for helping me with it. My3Cents, you make a very good point. I don't necessarily subscribe to the practical becoming doctrinal the way TWI teaches it, but a psychopath can tell a lie so many times and so emphatically that eventually he begins to believe that it's truth. Regardless, the way TWI handled research and teaching is a perfect example of their very own "practical error becoming doctrinal error" teaching. Just another TWIt irony. :D-->

Kind of adds one more knock against their justification of condoning adultery in TWI by saying that even David, Solomon and other great men of God had sexual improprieties and were still great.

Hey Cindy!, when you wc had to prophecy over us during the service, did you make those up ahead of time or were they genuine? I always thought that was a lot to ask.

Jamie Lee Curtis Trading Places Eddie Murphy

OutandAbout's definition on a thread asking for a definition of "spiritual pressure" Pretty darn accurate definition.

skyrider, I remember hearing that teaching. I think I heard craig teach it though. I didn't study it, but it did make sense at the time.....but then again, so did other things that turned out to be absurd. :D--> Someone wiser than I will have to weigh in on it, but I can tell you it was taught.

Confronting the world with the accuracy of the verd doesn't really help anyone, does it? skyrider, that's a great story! Those things happen, I believe, because of the great heart you and so many in the earlier years had to really love God and to really want to help people. TWI exploited that and took credit for all the good y'all did. We had just moved so the hfc wanted our fellowship to go door to door and so we met at our house, split into groups and went. We went about knocking on doors and introducting ourselves as their new neighbors. No "sign the card" kind of witnessing. It was a great time and I could tell we were going to like the neighbors. When we got back we were heavily scolded for "not following direction". HELLO!! We WERE following direction. The ONE time my ex stood up for himself (and us) all of us knew he was right, but I was the only one to stand with him on the issue. Afterwards we were immediately and harshly reproved for arguing with the hfc in front of the whole fellowship. --> You just can't win for losing with them.

Galen, you would be surprised at all the stupid, menial things we did in TWI II and III for leaders. Remember, too, that you had it very different being military and moving around all the time. I watched a little girl sit on the floor with a toothbrush cleaning the sliding glass door tracks on the RC's shower and doorways to the back yard. I babysat for free more times than I can remember. In addition to babysitting, WG, I also had to fold and put up laundry, clean their bathrooms and other chores like that. My price has gone up too! :D-->

Bob, I was also shut up several times by them saying, "What does vee pee say about that in such and such book?" Like that's enuf said. Maybe Mike should look into going back.

Bob, that's really neat! I can imagine your professor rolling his eyes and groaning every time you wanted to speak or ask a question. LOL! We were pretty darn egotistical about all our puffed up knowledge weren't we? I didn't know about the replenishing either. Thanks for sharing that.

((((Oak)))) You are a wonderful research buddy! It was fun when both of us were teaching accurately at fellowship and correcting wrong doctrine without anyone being the wiser, or if they were, not saying anything about it. Were they numb, deaf kool-aid drinkers or did they realize what we were doing, I wonder.

My3Cents, what did we learn? "Practical error becomes doctrinal error"? Looks like we're seeing a classic case of it now. Those people in the research department are much wiser and gone by now, but the inaccurate "research" remains and those left behind are in"doctrinated" to believe it's all true and accurate. The way I see it regarding emotional maturity: no matter how long it took for us to act on getting out, the most wonderful thing is that we got out! :D--> Glad to have you here and I really appreciate your insight.