simonzelotes

Oaks,Dot Matrix started it...It's her fault...It's probably good to take a little breather,at times...I don't think the thread would get closed down 'cuz there's really no malisciousness behind any of the cussin'... One observation I have is that it seemed like VP preyed on women who were very early in their corpse training...These women had much higher expectations,were willing to do "their utmost for his highest" and were more susceptible to naively following the man of god than those who had exhausted all the classes and training the way had to offer...It seemed like his private motorcoach sessions were not presented as "the next step",but rather a "shortcut" for a special girl to a spiritual nirvana...

Pe****ta Text

Dot,it's in the variation of the curse words...e.g. ****,....,....,****** ****,****ting,****ted,shat

See the tree how big it's grown But friend it hasn't been too long it wasn't big... And I laughed at her and she got mad... The first day that she planted it 'twas but a twig... Did I say twig??...Who said twig???...I'm not goin' to no twig.....

Tom,my thoughts are with you and your mother...I hope for strength and courage for both of you....

Rocky,that picture of that girl in a hot dog bun wrapper is gross....At first glance she looks like she's masturbating with a grotesquely over-sized dildo....Is that the intent?...What are you doing on those Japanese porn sights anyway?

How do you expect a kielbasa to know the answer to that?

You may be polished by God,but I am Polish,by God.....

I'm giving up being Roman Catholic... Then I won't have to give up anything for Lent....

Forget hobbies,Nika...Soon they become obsessions,then you will have to find another hobby to take you away from that obsession,which will also become an obsession,causing you to pick another hobby to get you away from your latest obsession,which will only no longer be an obsession when your most current hobby becomes an obsession,sending you back to where you are right now which is needing a hobby...

Tom, I think your unedited version is just fine... I usually stay away from these types of discussions with real-life ex-wayfers because they tend to talk to me like my name is Lucifer when I even bring up a question about miracles...I've often thought of that guy in the gospel of Mark who said "Lord,help thou mine unbelief"...It isn't as though I make a conscious,deliberate choice to doubt or be skeptical...It's just how mind works,I guess... As a believer,I can't say I was really in very many situations,if any,where a miracle,be it healing,calming a storm,or walking across water was warranted...In fact,I thought my life was kind of boring compared to the excitement of signs and wonders following the believers in the book of Acts... I thought that you made a keen observation about the ministry leadership selling the believers out,and George Jess' insight...In TWI it seemed like the "believing" of a particular individual was glorified beyond God's love and power,hence,so also was the condemnation of an individual when their "believing" did not manifest Godly results.... Still,I would love to see one honest-to-goodness miracle in my life,a validation or a token of things to come...Although,I don't particularly relish the idea of being in a situation of really needing one...

I have a daughter who's a sophomore at ASU and she's starting to get the 'itch' that I had at her age...She's not all that excited about the prospectus of getting her degree,settling down,and working in her field the rest of her life...I had the same itch to get out of Dodge when I was her age...College was not much of an option for me,but I did have a great job with a leading edge technology firm my apprentice corps year..They were sending me to school and had high hopes for me...But I was 21,and not ready to settle into my career job just then,and technology bored me(and still does)...TWI was a good ticket out of Dodge,and tho I may have convinced myself that I would rather serve God,I probably was more interested in the adventure of going in the way corps than the humdrum of the work-a-day world in my hometown...

Dot,I know you're still trying to articulate this in your mind,as I am also(Bullinger),but it sounds like you're blaming yourself for slicing your arm open...Granted,if you were trying to trim your fingernails with a chainsaw we might all agree that if you do something that stupid,God may not be able to protect you...But I never understood the line of teaching that when a believer got hurt they could somehow trace it back to where they didn't listen to God...In fact,it was about my wow year(1974-75)that a way corps guy got killed,a bunch of wows in our town got hurt in a car wreck,...it was like the age of innocence was gone...Then all kinds of teachings started coming out about the devil being after you,and if you don't listen to God,this or this will happen...Not picking on you,just think we beat ourselves up too often for our "unbelief"... Speaking of unbelief,nice of ex(I love (((((everybody))))) )cathedra to put me in the pile with the faithblasters....Sorry,(((((excie))))),you knows I love you...As much as I enjoy reading testimonies such as Thomas',I find myself being too much like the other Thomas,the doubting one...Maybe I'm looking for more consistency in the category of miracles...I don't think all doubters are as Galen says,half empty type of people...In many ways,the concept of the believer's lifesyle would seemingly render the need for miracles moot....Those that have experienced miracles first-hand seem to have more conviction of their faith than those who have not....

Right,Rocky...Christmas wore me out... I woke up on the sofa at 4:30 this morning to the television blaring "I could own these wonderful Popiel knives,an $800 value,for three easy payments of $13.33...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight...

I think the 6th one is Recieve,retain,release Oh,that's already up there...Never mind....

Just Thinking.... Since my son already has a drum set,and I'm sure you're more than happy about it,I'll share with you the second stanza.... When I speak in tongues...I speak to God... Speaking divine mysteries... I edify the Church,through interpretation.. By the spirit tells me what to say.... Oh,Jesus said I should... And Paul said I could...

Have a safe and happy Christmas everybody...Christmas may mean something different to all of us,but hopefully it gives us that time to reflect on what's good about the life we're living,and to enjoy the better side of those who we are close to....

Dot.... My response reminded you of LOY?...SHUT THE !@%#&%$! UP!!! And excie,who told you to answer for me??? You shut the !#%*&%@! up!! Sorry,girls...got carried away reading the TC meeting at ROA thread.... Seriously,Dot,there was a time I thought like that,back when I was 17 and getting ready to go WOW...I remember having dinner at a believer's parent's house and trying to explain to them all about believing and even telling them that I would never get sick or be in the hospital because I believed God for perfect health...A short time later my foot slipped under a lawn mower with a brand new blade and I spent a week in the hospital....I had a good slice of humble pie back then... I don't know,it's sort of like what excie said,..I never understood the whole miracles thing...You could have two persons of faith...One never gets hurt or sick;the other does oftentimes and may get healed...I don't see how either could profess to have more faith than the other...Too many things about our health are,in my opinion,beyond our control and even our understanding... If this board were filled with testimonies of miracle after miracle,I would enjoy reading them,but it would accomplish little in substantiating my own personal faith in God...I think of the record in the Gospels where the people on the boat awoke Jesus from a perfectly good nap because of the tempestuous storm-and he calmed the winds and the seas...I wonder why there was a storm there to begin with...unless it was to show the people on the boat a first-hand miracle of God...Jesus could have said "Let's not go out on the boat,today...Storm's a-comin'."... Like I said,miracles have always been hard for me to figure out...It seems to me that primarily,they occur as some sort of confirmation of a person's faith....

Jeez,Radar made me think of that song.... Jesus said I should.... And Paul said I could... So speaking in tongues is very,very good... It edifies my spirit like the Word said it would... Jesus said I should and Paul said I could...

I agree with Socks but I disagree with TomTuttle.... I could only think of two reasons for a miracle to take place...One would be to authenticate an individual's personal faith in God...Which,if the replies on this topic were full of first hand miracles,would still become second-hand,and would do little or nothing to validate anyone's personal faith except the individual who experienced it... The other reason would be to fulfill some kind of "need",or "opportunity" as we affectionately called them,which always begged the question of why one is in that "opportunity" where one needed a miracle in the first place....

Happy Ho-Ho Relo,everybody...Anybody headed towards Duluth got room for two passengers?....

I-i-i-it's Christ in meeeeee-eeeeeeee....

Nika,you seem to be handling the difficult things well...Go ahead and spike the eggnog...But grade the papers first....

A guy goes into a whorehouse and tells the madam,"look,I'm desparate and I only have two bucks..Can you help me out?"....The madam says "two bucks,are you out of your mind?"...Then she thought for a second and said "Wait a minute,I do have Olga...But I'll tell you,nobody has seen her in years and she's pretty old,and,well, she's not all there"...The guy says "I told you I was desparate,didn't I? Where is she?"...So the madam points him to Olga's room at the end of the hall...The guy pays his two bucks and goes into Olga's room and finds a frail,homely old woman and thinks to himself 'you get what you pay for'...So he starts to get undressed,wondering why Olga's not doing the same...When he finally gets all of his clothes off Olga lays down on the bed,pulls out her glass eye,points to the empty socket and says "give it to me here,baby!"...After the initial shock,the guy figures,hey two bucks is two bucks and gave it to her where she wanted it...When finished,he smiled and said "Wow,Olga,that was the best sex I've ever had! Can I come see you again sometime?...Olga said "Sure,baby,...You can come see me again anytime...I'll keep an eye out for you."