Oakspear

Yeah, well, this site isn't intended for Wierwille apologists and starry-eyed nostalgia about TWI, but both are allowed here :D-->

Which Weenie wants to be the Marvin guardian?I've got a few pictures of ol' Marv already: one with my turtle collection, one in the bosom of our goddess statue, one each with Oakmom, Reikilady and Donner. I'll be instructing the photographer tomorrow to get more with some guests. We had a get together of family (and Donner) tonight at a local buffet. My parents, my two oldest sons and Reikilady's son and daughter and son's girlfriend.

Yes, put that way, I agree with you Oldies, but that wasn't usually what it was:Wierwille would hold forth on something for which he had no biblical foundation. I'm not saying he did this all the time, but you and I both know that there were plenty of occassions where he would say something along the lines of "we haven't found the text yet, but it's got to be such-and-such". Anyway, someone would ask for an explanation and be brushed off and told that they needed to gain more maturity, or they would get it if they were faithful, or some other dodge. Those weren't situations where no one had the answer, Wierwille taught about it. If he was the great resaerch and teaching whiz, then he HAD the answer. But in reality, he didn't have an anser, he was shooting from the hip, or massaging scripture or concepts to fit one of his other doctrines. He, and his "leaders" had to put people off, because there WAS NO ANSWER. Now, you mentioned that you received written answers to your questions. I did too on a few occassions, especially when I was new to TWI and was asking fairly basic questions. Any complex or deep questions were pushed aside, though. Bad new days too - but many of us believed that that TWI was the place where God's Word lived, and when we saw what we perceived as an error, we didn't want to jump ship when we disagreed, but wanted to either come to an understanding of why we were wrong, or convince "leadership" that the doctrine needed to be changed.

Not everyone who smokes dies young, Oldies. There was also the persistant Way mythology that "believing" would override any health concerns. If he hadn't spent a chunk of his time deriding others who didn't believe, or point out these other people who died young (or would die young, as per his prediction) due to their negative believeing, then it wouldn't be an issue, but he did. It's an issue, and a topic of discussion because he succumbed to what he mocked others for.

Gotta wonder how long these guys lasted...(I`d LOVE to hear that they were alive and well) when ol vp only lasted what...ten years after making this statement? Alla that peace and going with God didn`t really ensure HIM a free pass from an early death did it? Seems to be there might be some flaw in his logic... Are you assuming that these guys he's talking about even existed?

Wierwille seems to portray himself as "good-at-everything": basketball, motorcycle riding (and repair), guitar playing, business ("I was offered a job as Vice-President of AB Dick")...you name it, but that he "gave it all up for The Word" In many ways these "stow-ries" remind me of the class geek who wants to inflate his importance by telling tales of all the great people he knows and the wonderful adventures he has...when no one else is around.

Awright! The FedEx man delivered marvin as I was getting in the car to go to the airport this morning. :D-->

Donner is here and has been out seeing the sights of Lincoln with an old buddy from her WOW days. Reikilady's son, his girlfriend, and her room mate got here Wednesday night and my parents arrive at the Omaha airport in about 2 hours. Bowtwi will be here tonight. Where's Marvin?

AND I'm eligible to go to the next Advanced Class Special

I'm all for mortgages & such...but credit card debt is just a dead weight.

Bingo! :D-->Credit cards are a good tool for money management if used properly. Currently I don't ahve any credit cards, but make extensive use of a debit card. At the time my income was rather low and my ex-wife was putting on a lot of pressure to "believe" for prosperity. One day she and another woman in our twig told me and the other husband that they were no longer going to accept "we can't afford it" from us when they expressed a "need". Rather than deal with the constant haranguing from her and TWI "leadership", I would foolishly charge things, figuring that I would figure out how to pay for it later. (Did I mention that I was foolish? ) Initially, my credit limit was $1000. But every time I got close to that amount, I would be granted a higher credit limit. When they stopped extending the limit, I'd just get another card. Oh, they loved me. They got quite a bit of interest out of my hide.

$21,000

Sometimes I think they are in cahoots with the credit card companies.. One I had to deal with once CHRONICALLY made late payments. The late payment charges were far worse than the interest.. I started off with four credit cards. One of them sold the debt to another credit card company. So far, no problem.The CCS had a computer breakdown...not sure of the nature of the problem, but when they got up and running again, the information that was in their files had the original creditor, rather than the one that they sold the debt to. So, when I sent my payment in to be disbursed to my creditors, the money that was supposed to go to the new creditor was sent to the old creditor. I started getting late notices from the credit card company, and called the CCS several times, with no satisfactory answer. The credit card company was not buying my (true) story that I was sending the money to the Credit Counselling Service, and refused to contact them, since it was my debt. I was getting calls from the credit card co. asking for payment; my explanations fell on deaf ears. I would explain the situation in detail, then the drone on the phone would pause and say "So, would you like to make a payment today?" --> Finally the CCS admitted their error and said that they would get the money back from the wrong credit card company. This took about two months. In the meantime I had to pay the back money to the credit card company, incurred late charges and additional interest, none of which the CCS would pay. At one point I suggested to the CCS that, since they made the mistake, they should pay off the credit card co. before they received the money back from the wrong credit card co. that THEY sent it to. They retreated back to their script and waited. Keep in mind that I had documentation for all of this, cancelled checks, printouts from the credit card co. & CCS...no question what happened Eventually I was able to talk to someone at the credit card co. higher up than the trained monkeys who usually called, and was able to negotiate a deal that did not involve the CCS

I hope Marvin makes it to the wedding!!!

The insidious "hold it in abeyance" scam at it's genesis!One of the things that kept me quiet when something wouldn't make sense was the above quote, or something like it: "you don't understand it...well, hold it in abeyance, eventually you'll understand it" Here Wierwille portrays himself as the humble seeker-after-truth, ready and willing to wait YEARS for answers...if Wierwille can do it, why couldn't we? In reality it was just another trick to avoid giving real answers.

"Strange Things Happen"? - I know there's a girl's name that precedes that...Amy mebbe? Or Linda? (Thanks for the hint :D-->)

No matter the TWI or anybody else's "policy" on debt, credit card debt is not something I ever want to experience again. Over a period of about seven years in the mid to late nineties, I amassed a HUGE amount of credit card debt, due to a number of things, but mainly my own stupidity In 1999 I worked with a credit counselling service and got a second job to start paying it all off. In 2002 I ditched the credit counselling agency due to their mismanagement and negotiated separate payment plans with all my creditors. Earlier this year I decided to accelerate my payments, and sent my last check to the final creditor within the last month. It's like an incredibly heavy weight was lifted from off my shoulders :D-->

Get me an address. It's in a PT to you

Bowtwi & Donner...please check your PT's

I believe that Donner & Bowtwi are the only ones going...FedEx maybe?

Oftentimes what "regular" folk believe and what the theologians believe are two different things. Your typical "man on the street" Christian couldn't tell you why he believes what he believes, or explain any inconsistancies; Jesus = God or not.

...you'd think the smell woulda tipped him off

well, he didn't know she was dead...

Guy goes out on a date with a dead girl and ....es off her dad...

I don't know Catcup...the "ancestral home" goes back about 150 years, but it wasn't the present TWI leaders who yanked it out from under the Wierwille family, it was their ancestors themselves: Reuben and Charles (Otto's son) who sold their portion to Vic & Harry who in turn deeded it to the brand spankin' new "The Way Incorporated".