brainfixed

the absolute lack of the way ministry in its ability to comprehend or teach anything about the bible has become very obvious to me since i began reading the baha'i writings because now i can hear the poetry, and now i can perceive the symbolism, and now i can understand how idiotic it was to pick apart "every jot and tittle" until the message had no meaning and the words carried weight only in their definitions. what a sorry, sad, dark path to spiritual death was laid and is still being laid by the way international. there's so much more to the message than the words themselves! and no matter how any one person interprets the words, it's still god's message and no one person will ever get it exactly right because nobody is god. what is god speaking into my heart when i am reading that particular part of his message? that's all i need to know right then and right there.

it'd be very interesting to know how this is progressing, and with all the mentioning of rico here, it'd be nice to see the RICO laws come into play with this one.

i think when you've got lots and lots and lots of people believing your lies then you've really got no other choice than to act like they're true, and then a deep fear sets in about being found out by all of those lots ad lots and lots of people so then the mind has to believe the lies to keep from giving yourself away. so i guess that what i'm saying is that he didn't support his lies all by himself.

whether or not someone is a christian or a buddisht or a baha'i or a sunni or a shiite or is jewish or a hindu or whatever religion they must practice the tenets of that religion in order to be accepted by others as a representative or authority of that religion. the world's largest religions all evolved from the same root and so when the bible says "by their fruit you will know them" those words impact a vast majority of people in this world, and even the religions that do not have the same root do have the same type of statement about living what you preach and teach or you are making a mockery of yourself by using the writings to serve your own vain imaginations. what this means to me is that if somebody says they are a christian (or any other religious follower) and then turns and rends you, they are in that moment acting as a swine, so i don't have to honor them as if they were living their religious beliefs at that moment, but i am instructed to not cast my pearls before them! something the baha'is practice is non-confession to one another, and that means that they don't go around telling everybody everything because they understand that human beings have weaknesses and that human beings will use information about others in their weak moments. baha'is do their best to practice that the only confessor is god and there is no god but god. this helps them to keep with the "no backbiting" instructions, and baha'is considered backbiting equivalent to murder, just like the bible does. but i'm saying all of this because you said "but at first i was too stupid to realize this". not stupid! you've probably never considered that a person's religious beliefs are only as good as the person is living in the moment. why would you? it wasn't taught like that in the way international. i never thought like that until i read the baha'i writings. even though it's as plain as the nose on my face all over the bible it was never obvious to me, and it isn't obvious to most religious practitioners because most religious practitioners use their religion as a way to sin without going to hell, so of course a "christian" can treat you like their emotional toilet and expect you to not only take it but shut up about it because, well, they are your "christian" brother or sister and you surely don't want to cause a schism in the body, do you? well, that's a bunch of balderdash. if they're not living their christian tenets in the moment, then they're not allowed to stand on the christian grace. it's real simple once the emotional blackmail is removed.

i had forgotten about this little altruistic platitude that gave the talking heads of the way international the illusion of some more spiritual power while leaving the holy spirit and jesus out of the picture again.

you've gotten a lot of good input from others and particularly the input that says that whoever wrote this was lashing out at you because they refuse to cope with what's within themselves. what was written to you is a conversation stopper and allows no room for frank discussion between two thinking people, but demands that you shut up and listen to them shred you. why would somebody want somebody else to shut up? because they don't want to hear what's being said. why would somebody want to shred somebody else? because their own mind is shredding themselves. misery loves company. if you've ever considered the person that wrote that a friend, i'd reconsider because no friend would talk to you that way, and if you've never really considered that person a friend but just someone to talk with, i'd also reconsider because they just told you they weren't going to let you talk with them, but that they were going to talk to you and you are going to be expected to shut up and take whatever they dish out.

that's the healthiest thing i've heard today! it will be my mantra of the day. thanks!

wasn't enough of that for me to focus on. what does this mean? i don't get that "all smudged away" stuff, but if you focus on remembering the kindness of the way international and the other stuff washes away, then why do you only hope that kindness is what's left when you meet the lord? seriously? you can filter through an insane cult and find kindness but you can only hope to find kindness with god? i think you've managed to sum up exactly what was and is wrong with the way international's point of view.

i'm forgetting the pain, the sorrow, the fear, the anger, the bitterness and all the stuff that was left in me after the people of the way international did their dirty deeds. the lessons i learned were by the hands of the always gracious god and i am learning to understand those lessons without associating them with a cult of insanity called the way international and give them their proper credit to the one god who is god.

"the rod and the staff do comfort me." neither were ever supposed to be used for hitting the sheep at any time, but both were to be used as guidance and protection against predators. something i am learning as a baha'i is how very differently the western mind perceives things so simple as a rod and a staff, and how that different perception has served to turn god's guidance and protection into a theological topic of discussion that often ends up defending abuse (not saying that's what's happening here because you do say you don't condone hitting a child), intolerance of differences and hatred of thinking for ourselves. even in the baha'i faith these things have to be constantly weighed and looked at as we reach for the understanding that there is one god who is god, but as a baha'i it is a simpler thing to do because the translations are not in the hands of governments or ruling class priests or councils with something to gain so we get one translation and a better understanding. it's been like reading the rest of the story that was left out for one reason or another.

i think they put sherry on the show because she will say and do just about anything like when she had that one guy do curls lifting her body weight? sherry is the real comic relief of the show and a great counter balance to joy and whoopie but she does get set up to come off a little bit betty boopish sometimes and i think this was one of those times, and even elisabeth (that's supposed to be her such a good friend) plays her off as a betty boop character every now and then, so i think that's what happened this time, too. but for a talk show i liked them so much better than anything else out there until the talk came along with leah remini, sarah gilbert, julie chen, sharon osbourne, and holly robinson peete because these girls treat the whole thing like it's one big slumber party and even though it gets goofy sometimes it's slumber party goofy, but i tend to watch the view for my "hard core" interests and the talk for my "girlfriend" interests, so i guess i could be considered well balanced. and i can hear some people i know snorting with laughter if they read that last piece. lol

even with the best therapy i ever had i couldn't forget and things were always in the back of my mind, but now i am beginning to forget to think about the way international and the horror of it all and my life is a new life. Allah-u-Abha.

it has taken a whole lot of therapy for me not to run to my car in tears and curl up in the fetal position when i see somebody "spank" a child, but that's just me and i don't understand the need for any adult to ever hit a child and nobody has ever been able to explain it to me successfully so i don't even try to discuss it, but i'm just saying. yah, i had to breathe, breathe, breathe for the opening scenes, but i knew jojo wasn't going to put up with it one second longer! i was right, too. :)

which is why i like how oprah was shown about forgiveness, because even god can't change the past, and that includes me and my past. i used to rank on myself real bad for fighting so much with my family and it seemed like i was always itching for a fight and it seemed like maybe i was the abuser and maybe everybody was right about me having devil spirit problems or something, but then my current therapist explained to me that if i was defending myself or reacting to the insanity then that wasn't the same as being an abuser and it certainly wasn't the same as having devil spirits or anything like that at all, but that it was survival. i just had to learn that i was really and truly out of the situations and didn't have to live like that any longer. that was hard!

there it was in all of its horridness, a father chasing his children up the stairs with a wooden spoon in his hand, a wooden spoon he had just pulled from his back pocket. he also used hot sauce in the mouth, the belt, screaming and "spanking" that was not "just a smack on the behind". jojo went off on the man and taught him the difference between discipline and abuse and then taught him better options. i feel a little bit vindicated that jojo killed that wooden spoon on international television.