Rocky

We ALL were naive and gullible. You are not alone. Yes, WE were.

Ha! The answer is yes and no. I can't imagine the AC was any more credible, relevant or "better" at any one time or other. Did you miss anything? Other than being able to speak authoritatively on the subject of whether you missed anything or not, I'd say "not really." It was just more convoluted indoctrination into magical thinking that didn't really get anyone closer to God or better able to help people in any way.

Tremendous insight, CD. Glad to have you to share your perspective.

WELCOME CD! You are SOOOOOOOOOO right on the mark with that statement. Re-evaluate everything. It can be quite frustrating. And it can be depressing if you think in terms of the years you lost to twi. BUT... life looking forward is rich and full of opportunity to share your experiences in order to help others. Yet, I fear I understate this side of things.

Nevermind.

The first post to that nearly 10-year old thread: EXCELLENT insight. It's bad enough that Dictor (as DWBH calls him, but I sometimes call him DickedHer) was showing that stuff to highly impressionable barely legal young women... but also to UNDERAGE female teens in the FC. That's seriously messed up. How can anyone NOT see his predatory nature now?

Obviously, I wouldn't know. But one of Loy's daughter went there... if anyone's in touch with her, she might have insight to answer that question. OTOH, the other daughter went to THE OSU.

The word that comes to mind when reading your posts is "facetious." Like you're toying with people here.

You're right. I know that. The book is about what goes on inside the mind of individuals (all of us) when we rationalize and self-justify. The book also provides insight on why journalism today fails miserably in getting at the who, what, when, where, how and why of events because most (lazy) journalists simply take what two opposing people/sides of stories say and report that as fact. And often, it's not fact but complete bs. Indeed.

There's a WHOLE LOT of malarkey in teach's last comment... but the quote I included above takes the cake. That "logic" (it's not really logic, it's more like irrational rationale) is complete nonsense. People almost always make decisions based on emotion, especially major life decisions. Can you imagine, in our culture, deciding on whom to marry based on "doctrinally governed intellect?" Whatever the hell that is...

Human nature, as well as science that observes and describes it, suggests that he rationalized and justified his conduct from the start until the very end. Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) Well, I tried (three times) to put the link to the book with the title... but if you go to amazon.com and search for "Mistakes Were Made" by Tavris and Aronson, you'll find it.

Yeah, he certainly did. and no question there were female predators in the mix.

I agree w/DWBH. :) A lot of us had those red flag moments. I remember a few of them. I can't imagine how dreadful life would be now if I had stayed in back in 1986.

As you (or somebody) mentioned Victor Barnard today on another thread, it seems important to note that Wierwille's wantonness naturally spawned a psychopath/sociopath like Barnard who brazenly tailored false doctrine to rationalize gratification of his sexual desires with underage girls... and how he conned those girls' parents.

Great list of succinctly stated salient points.

I doubt it. Perhaps extreme narcissism clouds his self-awareness.

"Original sin" is a key component of the Judeo-Christian creation story.

Apparently neither does anyone else, other than the character who started the thread. ;)

Check your computer's "character map." ¢ On windows based systems, you can also get it but holding the Alt key and typing 0162 (like this). ¢

Doesn't matter that he asked me. I had already declined, offering instead to communicate by private message.

Having started this thread, I don't see where it had gotten off topic prior to your post. That said, I appreciate your comment too.

Intriguing.

If I were to get into explanations of JBS, its history and the development of American government/public policy/politics -- to make the connections easier to understand -- I believe it would be crossing a line and inviting debate over political issues. This is not the place to do that. If you have any questions or would like to discuss it more, please send me a PM. I'd be happy to converse with you privately.

The conspiracy theory mindset, holocaust crap (and his belief that he was free to lead his life of wantonness) is all directly tracable from the John Birch Society. JBS directly influenced wierwille through one of twi's earliest wealthy benefactors, JAL's father.

Vote on what? Why should Christians NOT vote. They (We) are citizens and have civic duties we must fulfill.