Oakspear

Allen? :blink:

They're a little young to be drinking beer...the boyfriend is from Kansas and has been a KU fan since he was a kid. Oops, didn't see that it was pawtucket who posted that...

I'd call it someone expressing their opinion. I don't agree with that opinion any more than you do, but that opinion did not prevent you from expressing yours. Neither the administrator nor the moderators got involved. Nebraska is up 31-21 over Kansas. My daughter and her boyfriend are over at Memorial Stadium wearing KU gear, probably not too happy right now. That's the contest that seems to be the most important up here, southern neighbor

Any reason why we wouldn't be able to? :huh:

The thread is about the election of Barack Obama and there's complaints about making it political? :o Of course, this becomes an opening to whine about the imaginary unlevel playing field. Personally I'm thankful that we can have a change of adminsitration without a coup, unlike so many places in the world. <_<

...in between sh!t happens exC Ah...Craig's b'day...happy b'day Reverend Martindale...do you still have those cards that folks hand-crafted for you, staying up all night to bless the man o' God? You know, the ones that you criticized for having "inaccurate" versions of bible verses in them? Hmmmm?

Wait a minute...I can't vote three times? :huh:

Ignorance will never fade away.

Many people leave TWI, without TWI every really leaving them. If, upon leaving TWI, one believes that it was the place that "the Word was taught like it hadn't been since the First Century", but that people like Martindale screwed it up, then I can see where today's TWI might look appealing. To fully leave TWI behind one has to see that the problems were systemic and not just the result of some rogues.

Well, if I was someone else's "evil S.O.B.", please let me know! T0m J0yce Lincoln NE, originally from Queens NY

I don't

I once went to a "believers costume party" dressed in a black shirt, pinstripe suit and white tie, with a fedora and sunglasses, carrying drumsticks...I was that guy from Acts 10 who was in "the Italian Band" (Cornelius?)

I guess it depends on how you define "cult". A lot of the really "bad stuff" that gets discussed here passed me by, but I have no doubt that I was in a cult. In retrospect, the seeds of "mind control" were sown in the PFAL class itself. If you graduated from that class believing that Wierwille was utilizing keys to reading and understanding the bible and coming up with "accurate" answers, you were manipulated to some extent. Early on in PFAL Wierwille stopped simply "reading what was written" and started inventing interpretations, definitions and sources to back up what he said the bible said. He was subtle enough about it that most of us hardly noticed it. Our subsequent attempts at "working the Word" generally were based on his shoddy research, questionable premises and made up definitions, that "checking it out for ourselves" was a hopeless proposition.

Right. There's never been a lull here before <_< So it must be the new moderators :blink:

Oldies: Of course someone can be serving God while working at Dunkin' Doughnuts or the Federal gov't. But I don't believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that Dunkin' Doughnuts, the Federal gov't, or most, if not all of our employers claim to be representing God. I concede that it is not impossible for an individual to be serving God while a member of TWI, but the initial point was that according to TWI, serving God is serving TWI. The corollary of that statement being that you cannot serve God without serving TWI.

Reminds me of when I was a WOW in a small burg in western Nebraska. Apparently the interim Corps had been told to "get involved". My interim Corps WOW coordinator dragged me to one of the local "help the less fortunate" agencies. He told the head of the office that he wanted to "get involved". She looked at him quizically and asked "get involved in what?" :blink: Mr. Way Corps had no answer other than to smile sincerely.

Good move...it's really the only way to flush all that crap out of our systems.

The terms bride and body are figures of speech, I believe in this case, metaphors. More than one metaphor can and often does apply. If there is some verse that clearly states that Christians aren't one or the other, then there is no reason that I can see that both metaphors can't apply to different aspects of Christians-as-a-whole. TWI made this error with other metaphors, most notably the whole athlete of the spirit teaching.

Maybe we need a god who sends draught (pronounced "draft") - we'd all be happier (or at least think we were)

No, not ridiculous, simply taking his teachings to their logical conclusion. I agree that teaching an impersonal God was probably not Wierwille's intention, but his Law of Believing logically suggested one.

I agree that Wierwille did not overtly teach that God is impersonal etc, but the his teaching regarding the Law of Believing effectively communicated the same thing if examined. Saint & sinner alike?

Oldies, you and I have two (at least) different opinions of Wierwille and the TWI of our youth. That is going to color how we view and interpret, not only what Wierwille said, but what people say about him. My opinion is that what Juedes is saying is broadly correct, and I accept his generalization. You want to emphasize points that are important to you, but that are peripheral to me. Points that I think are of great significance are not as crucial to you. Now get to work!

Hey johnj! What are you doing still up?

I have the equivalent of a degree mill ordination...Universal Life Church. I've got it so I perform weddings and have "Rev." on my business card. But I always introduce myself to folks who use my services as "Tom". (Rascal...the doctorate that I conferred upon you is worth about as much as Wierwille's...more actually )

While I sometimes think that I could contribute better to some threads if I had the books, I'm better off with them away from me. Most of my TWI books were co-owned by my first wife and me. I let her keep them all. When she moved between our separation and divorce, she boxed up all my notebooks and syllabuses. they immediately went into the tarsh behind my apartment. Good for you raf.