CoolWaters

Oh no Kit...you've hit on one of my addictions! I love emoticons! Here are some of my faves: I've got tons more! If anybody wants to peruse my collection, use these links: http://ccol-waters.com/images/emoticons/ http://ccol-waters.com/images/emoticons2/ http://ccol-waters.com/images/emoticons3/

ExC! Yes! That would be a great discussion! ;)-->

This post was suddenly irrelevant...so it's edited... [This message was edited by CoolWaters on January 31, 2004 at 21:22.]

I can't access the main forum pages today. I get a "that page is not available" error message. The only way I can access the forums at all is to click on the link in the notifications emailed to me. Once I get here, I can run around in a specific forum, but I cannot access any other forums...unless I have an email notification about a topic in a specific forum. Paw...have I been bad? LMAO! ;)-->

edited [This message was edited by CoolWaters on January 31, 2004 at 20:37.]

Each and every day that I rejected what twi tried to make me believe about myself was and is a miracle to me.

Ummm... If you are the person who started the thread then you can delete the whole thread or messages within the thread. I just did it...and have done it on a regular basis for a long time now. Is this a glitch?

Ex10, TYVM. That makes a whole lot of sense, too. It seems that many people had "natural" family in at some point. That is quite a safety net...until one tries to leave, I guess. TY for the warm holiday wishes! I wish the same for you and yours. :D-->

Tom Strange, I read your response yesterday and have thought about it ever since. I was a very scared, very hurt, very lost 16yo girl when I first encountered twi. The first branch I was involved with was a "free love" and "blow your mind" type of branch. I got sex, drugs, rock and roll, and being justified all in one fell swoop. They told me my parents were "devilish". What scared, hurt and lost 16yo wouldn't have become addicted to such an organization? ********************** ExC, Yeah... Thank you! You too! ********************** Linda, You hit the nail on the head when you said, "...whether we felt comfortable telling them to buzz off when they tried to impose stupid, legalistic do's and don'ts on us." That is what I'm talking about when I talk about "the elite". As a lowly twigite, I never felt comfortable speaking up to my "leadership"...it just wasn't allowed without some horrible repercussions. I felt that if I had planned to take the AC, go WOW or corpse, or had aspired to the higher echelons of twi, I would not have met with such disdain for asking questions or having my own mind. But since I was happy to be a twiggie and nothing else, I was considered spiritually immature and was not to be trusted with "deeper truths". Perhaps that's the answer to my question. Thank you for the warm wish! Back atcha! :D--> ******************* NoWay, Nobody knows what's best for your life but you. Do what your heart tells you to do. If you are wrong, then you will have learned something. If you are right, then you will have gained confidence. But if you act on what someone else tells you for your life and it turns out wrong, then all you can do is blame and wonder. If it turns out OK, then all you can do is become more dependant upon them and lose self-confidence...it will make you into a puppet very quickly! *********************** Dovey, I got no good advice in twi...none.

no longer needed [This message was edited by CoolWaters on January 31, 2004 at 21:07.]

TYVM=Thank You Very Much :D-->

The "X-mass and growing up as a wayfer" thread got me to thinking about how different the twi experience was for "the elite" (those at HQ, in corpse and other "leadership") and those favored by "the elite". I'll never forget the experience of my first Christmas "in". B**** G**** was the branch leader. We were all sitting around on the floor of the branch home singing from the blue book. I asked if the guitarist knew any Christmas carols. OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I was taken into the office for a "mild reproving" to "correct the error of my learning". I'll also never forget the hell-fire and brimstone "teaching" the branch leader in Anchorage (R*** U******) whipped out on all of us about Christmas and "other devilish influences" in our lives...like D&D. Wasn't I so very surprised to walk into twig one Thanksgiving to see R*ch's fully decorated Christmas tree in the living room?!?! Then that New's Year's Eve his house was full of military WOWs...and they were playing D&D! From the beginning of my twi experience to the end, it was drilled into my head the Christmas was a pagan ritual to rob "the word" of its "power and glory". Other things like pictures on our walls had to be "officially acceptable"...knick-knacks could not be "graven images"...books had to be checked out by "older grads" for "devil spirit influence"...jewelry could not in any way appear to be any sort of amulet or charm (the silver charm bracelet from my dad was a no-no...it kept me tied to my "unbeliever, idolotrous" family)...even my high school schedule had to go through a leadership approval process. Everything "normal" in life was suspect. Yet I am always reading how "normal" life was for many people here...like how Santa came to HQ and RC. I'm going...HUH?????? What twi were you all in????? [This message was edited by CoolWaters on January 31, 2004 at 21:06.]

edited [This message was edited by CoolWaters on January 31, 2004 at 20:37.]

Too cute! TYVM!

LMAO! Not only do many folks buy presents from pawn shops, but many folks pawn items to get the money for the presents. The deeper question here, imo, is how did a gift of a dowry translate to a symbol for pawnshops...?!?!? I mean, is there part of this St Nick story that nobody's telling..?!?!? LMAO! ************ Now that I'm a full-blown practitioner of many things pagan, this time of year is so much fun and so full of meaning and power! Yay! :D-->

{{{{{{{{{Watered Garden}}}}}}}} I am so very glad that you are still with us! And if I was involved in any way with you not getting to a doctor, I humbly apologize. You said, Oh man! I broke into huge sobs. That is almost identical to what was said and done when the pastor of the offshoot tried to talk me out of taking medication. What he/she said was, "Well maybe this is your believing for how you're going to get all that weight off." Isn't it great to be out from under such insanity? ***************** OM, I wish I had a pill to give you...you know...the red one or the blue one...

:D--> Thanks, DATWAY. And you did, too. I didn't keep my twi books...and I've done everything possible to bury whatever I may have remembered...so being able to point to something "tangible" was too kewl!

OM, Where in twi books and other material does it say that people should work for free? Or that the use of the words "Christmas" and "creative" are discouraged? Or that women should "meet the needs" of the reverend mr so-and-so? Or anything else that people on this board have put forth about twi? VPW taught that diabetes and certain other illnesses/diseases are caused by "devil spirits". He taught that believing=receiving and that if one is "right believing" and "in fellowship", then one will "prosper and be in health". He also taught that what one feared, one would experience. I believed it because I was waybrained. (In other words, I swallowed vpw's version of "the truth" and applied it to my daily life...because I was afraid of "being out in left field" if I did not. THAT, dear OM, is waybrain.) So when I came across a situation (in this case, a young woman with diabetes) that I was taught was the direct result of "devil spirit" infestation, I pushed vpw's "rememdy" for the situation. Ta da! Wasn't a big leap after all, was it? Also, you did not question any of the other posts on this thread. I would appreciate it if you would step back from your twi defense mode long enough to see just how damned offensive and belittling your attitude is to me. Just try for one minute to see that what you have basically said to me is that you never experienced what I experienced, and you can't find any written documentation that would specifically encourage me to do something so dumb as to not take medication, so therefore what I did then and said now is/was invalid. That's the way what you said feels to me. If that was not your intent, I ask that you express to me what your intent was in that post. Thank you.

Are you serious?

I had so much waybrain that I refused to accept the gift from my parents of a fully paid, 4-year college education because my twig leader said the college was "devilish"...and, as my twig leader explained to me, the credits from such a college would not be transferrable to a better college like (ta da) The Way College of Emporia...where I could "learn the word like it hadn't been known since the 1st Century!" I had so much waybrain that I dropped out of high school 12 weeks before graduation to get my GED so that I wouldn't be accepted at most colleges...which meant that I would be a "doulos(sp) doer" in getting my "in fellowship" education. I had so much waybrain that I didn't even bother to ask anybody if anything that twig leader was telling me was even correct. I had so much waybrain that for 15 years I raised my daughter "like a WOW"...possessing only the belongings that could fit into the trunk of a car, moving every few months "as led by the spirit", working only part-time so that the rest of my time could be devoted to "moving the word over the world", yada yada yada. I had so much waybrain that I refused to accept very good job offers from companies whose logos had "devilish" symbolism in them...according to my twig leader(s). I had so much waybrain that I convinced a diabetic woman to "believe god" and stop taking her insulin because a "devil spirt" was the cause of diabetes, not a lack of insulin. (4 1/2 years ago I was diagnosed diabetic...and my twi offshoot pastor convinced me to stop taking my medicine.) I shouldn't have gotten started...there's a book in there somewhere. :/

If anybody is interested, my gift to others this year is to put some fancy art that I've made in my graphics programs around digital pictures people send me. This way folks can print the pics on their printers and put them in frames or on mattes or whatever they want to do. Makes great personalized gifts! If anyone is interested, email pics to CoolWatersDesigns@cox.net. Here are some samples of some of things I can do: 001 002 003 004

:D--> :D--> :D--> :D--> :D-->

Works for me most often. After Jonestown, Waco, Heaven's Gate, etc., most people "get it" when I say "it's a fundamentalist cult". Some people ask me why I stayed for so long. I look at them and say, "Um, I just told you it's a cult. Get it?" Some people ask how am I sure that I am really "out". I look at them and say, "I'm standing here telling you it's a cult...and I'm not looking over my shoulder for a cult leader to knock me over the head." People think I'm nuts whether they know I was in a cult or not. Just something about me...that I really like...LOL.

LMAO!!!! I still get a good Har Har every time I read that list...but it's not mine. I got it in an email a long time ago. It wasn't credited then, so I couldn't credit it now. "Private Summer"!!!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!

Minnie Moments You all have GOT to go to this site! It saved my brain!