Rocky

I have no problem with you using the word "fact" in your post/comment. Further, I now believe "inspired by God" has a much broader meaning than what Victor Wierwille taught us. I believe something (one says or writes) CAN be "inspired" by God even though it's not necessarily directly given by God (whomever (or whatever form) she or he may actually be) verbatim. But that's an entirely different discussion. Nevertheless, I take no issue with your post/comment and appreciate the thought you put into it.

I'm not going to fact check the number in your claim, but I acknowledge your overall point. I listened to a discussion between Steven Pinker (cognitive scientist) and an interviewer with the Free Press. The interview is NOT politics. Though the clip is about 44 minutes long, I got the main takeaway very early on in the interview. Essentially, for thousands of years, facts eluded most people. Therefore, people evolved to learn from and believe STORIES. Stories that made the most sense to the people hearing them at the time. For those thousands of years, one of the main objectives of humans (who lived and traveled in TRIBES) revolved around survival. Facts did not always provide protection for the tribes. Today we have databases and research that rapidly contribute to the amount of truthful and factual knowledge. However, people STILL are inclined to learn from and believe their favored stories that contribute to their tribe's wellbeing. Religion is one of those areas of knowledge that is evolving rapidly. Victor Wierwille, even if he had been an honest seeker of the truth of God's Word, did not seem to contribute to any database or factual knowledge that humanity in general has been able to benefit from. If you'd like to check it out, here it is.

Well... other than the "I'm right and they're wrong" aspect of your post I figure there could be some reasonable insight to looking at Jesus as fulfillment of OT law. I totally reject the paradigm of black/white, wrong/right interpretations of scripture. WE (humans/humanity) IMO are far too limited to be able to clearly define (most) interpretations of scripture as such. Stay curious and be willing to consider new ways to look at them. Just sayin'.

This showed up in my YouTube feed this morning.

Of course it makes sense. EVERY human is highly qualified to rationalize and therefore justify what they believe about anything, including what they consider God. Same goes for EVERY religion. There is no religion that can rightly claim their God (or god or gods) is/are the only true God and that they can prove it. It's all about taking it on faith. IOW, every religion has an origin story and a narrative about what they believe is THE truth.

Even IF it's "belief that since God can do no wrong, it is always wrong of the person if they leave the faith..." that's just how a person's very human rationalization for their criticism is simply a manifestation of the human tendency to criticize something they disagree with.

I certainly don't speak for anyone who criticizes anyone like you. But I do suspect the culprit may be human nature which finds ways and reasons to justify criticizing anyone with whom they disagree. I'd recommend, to the extent possible, you just let go of your irritation (or whatever you experience) when recognizing such criticism of you and your path. We ALL get criticized. Sometimes justly, other times not.

Yeah, I get it. However, you became the you that you are because of the decision that you made. IOW, I look at the fact that I didn't graduate from college until I was 31 differently, though my detours were both US military service and TWI. I lived some life and gained some insight I wouldn't have been able to if not for the experiences, good and bad, I had as a young adult. Ultimately, I expect to reach my 70th birthday this year. I'm a survivor. My first introduction to twi was in October 1974.

I hope you eventually did go to college.

IMO, not only did decision makers at HQ not "get revelation" for making good decisions, they apparently also lacked good business sense as well as sound foresight. Especially concerning disruptive technological innovation and the accelerating nature thereof. Just sayin'.

One might reasonably surmise that to be the reason he said it.

Already obsolete?

Not to mention that Wierwille, though clearly also highly paranoid like Jones, didn't incite a mass murder/suicide event.

Three episodes. Link to watch on Hulu. Subscription required. Also, I started reading a former People's Temple member's book, Seductive Poison by Deborah Layton, published 1998. Many parallels btwn Jones' cult and TWI.

Sounds political...

and shellfish? Leviticus 11:9-11 New International Version 9 “‘Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales. 10 But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to regard as unclean. 11 And since you are to regard them as unclean, you must not eat their meat; you must regard their carcasses as unclean.

A man sees/hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest...

It (changing one's thinking or values or understanding of spiritual matters) requires time and patience. It doesn't (and can't) happen overnight. What should one do when they lose trust and become disillusioned? 1) realize they aren't proving anything either wrong or right. Rather, they are coming to grips with reality. 2) realize the narrative on which they have built their "relationship with God" is all about stories. The stories, it appears, are not holding true under the challenges of contemporary life.

More than likely it says they don't let themselves be consciously aware of all the bad stuff that WE couldn't overlook. It reminds me of when, as a young adult, hearing in some church (probably a military base chapel somewhere) people justifying their loyalties to the Baptist Church or some other such group that was also highly flawed. I understand you being aware of the evil in twi. Denial is a very powerful emotional defense mechanism.

I get it. I've been at this (developing my hopefully more mature perspective on spiritual and religious matters) for more than 30 years. It can take time for a person to make such changes.

https://youtube.com/shorts/d2U-UZRTRuE?si=TKKE2oXYayHuv61_ The link is to a YT short. It won't post the preview because there's a forbidden character in the preview title. What a PITA. Anyway, it's about 6 practices of stoics. I don't flatter myself by saying it means I have a high IQ, but anyone can build these practices into their lives if they find them valuable. Believers AND unbelievers can do these things and see benefit in their lives.

Didn't I (this morning) just read that you consider yourself atheist? I hope you are not still taking the words in the bible as the inerrant words of God. Even if so, I hope you can recognize the need to re-evaluate that position. OTOH, are you suggesting it to be problematic how believer parents indoctrinate their children with that biblical perspective? If so, I can see how you'd come to that conclusion. But YOU do not own what those parents are doing to their children. You and I have enough of a burden figuring out how to cope with our own foibles and make adjustments to our own attitudes, beliefs, and actions without taking on the burdens of others in that way.

This "wise saying" reflects the nature of story much more so than that what's in the bible is the inerrant words of a God... IMO.

I was born into an Italian family in upstate NY. I was baptized into the Catholic Church and attended five years of Catholic (elementary) school. It was, on the whole, a major influence in my childhood. It sowed the seeds of longing for communion with God. IOW, it was instrumental in plowing the fields of my mind to prepare me for Wierwille's cult. When my children (one of mine and a stepson) were elementary school age, I became very involved in advocacy for public schools, both political and involvement with school district leadership. That was when I began reading regularly and extensively to satisfy curiosities and answer questions that frequently came up as I faced and endured life's challenges. Of course my childhood still has impact in and on my life. We each, individually and together, are the sum and substance of our life experience. I'm in my 70th year in this life (I have completed half of my 70th trip around the sun). I've been around the block a time or two. I've face my share of travails. I realize that's vague. But it's the best answer I can give you this evening.

Well... proverbs was written by a specific person or people to specific persons or people. That doesn't mean any OTHER people would be unable to cultivate long term curiosity. I get it. it took me years to get beyond the chains Wierwille installed in my brain. Think about what scientists, mathematicians, or philosophers having curiosity to figure out things they are interested in. Wierwille and Martindale were adamant that any new insight about ANYTHING was ONLY revelation from God. I (NOW) say that's malarkey.