TheHighWay

Is that the one that was about a guy being witnessed to by someone who'd had contact with twi, but had lost contact, and in the end everybody becomes twig-ites or something like that? (if so, yes it was pure propaganda)

Thanks for letting us know what's happening in your life... you are definately in our thoughts and prayers!!

Your presence will be missed, but thanks for letting us know it is for very good reasons. Wishing you all the best!! THW

Book four was and still is my absolute favorite (yes, even over books five and six) and I CAN'T WAIT to go see the movie. It will be interesting to see what kind of "look" this movie will have. It was a bit shocking to see the differences between the first two and the third because of the different directors. But the trailers for FOUR look pretty good.

Bliss... When I started reading The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, I highlighted what I thought applied directly to me and twi... I would say at least 80% of my pages are yellow!! Also... GREAT advice to look for the love. The thing that really hit me when I started hanging out at WayDale (the website previous to this one) was the comeraderie, the dialog, and the affection that I could actually "feel" even through a computer screen, that had been absolutely absent from twi fellowships for YEARS. And I knew almost instantly which held the truth and which was full of lies.

Oh man, they HATED it when the believers of an area were really close and tight-knit. They were just SURE it meant that the people had gotten lazy, or too attached to a particular leader, or were hiding something... I saw this over and over again. My goodness, people, what does that SAY????? Why didn't I see that at the time?

Ditto!!! I had spent years being unhappy, and thinking ALWAYS that it was my fault for having no joy, no believing... when the truth finally hit me, I felt absolutely dazed and winded.

___________________________________________________________________ when a person continues to sin it’s devil spirit influence….” ___________________________________________________________________ You'd think this would apply to ol' "can't keep his fly zipped" Martindale, but then again I distinctly remember them teaching us that our freedom in Christ discussed in (Romans?) means that there is no sin in bed-hopping if you are spiritual enough to handle it. Clearly, they didn't and don't think it was a sin. But they knew it was a "stumbling block" for those who were "less spiritual" so they wouldn't come right out and say that to non-corps folks, and somehow that made everything okay... Geez... I'm so very glad I don't have to try to wrap my brain around this crap anymore.

Sorry... didn't mean to derail with that last post... I think Approval Addiction is a good term that pretty accurately describes the track we were on in twi... you are approved before God (and the mogglets) if you prove yourself a workman of the Word. Today, that means you are approved if you come to fellowship. Tomorrow that means you are approved if you take the Foundational class. Later it means the Intermediate, Advanced, and Collateral Classes. Then, it means the WIBP and AdvClass Specials, and the ROA, and WOW, and Corps... and if you ABS enough, and if you do exactly everything your leadership tells you to do, the way they tell you to do it when they tell you to do it, if they are in a good mood when you do it. We lived and died by their approval, because we equated it with God's approval. And we conditioned ourselves so that, unless we received constant assurances and approval, we thought we MUST be screwing something up. (after all, they were pretty quick to tell us how much we screwed up)

I enjoy Joyce Meyer when I catch her on TV. I find her easy to listen to... humorous and self-depricating... and I can take little bits of her message to heart, even if I don't agree with all of her doctrine. There is almost always a practical side of her message that I like. As for asking for money... I've heard her talk about the need for giving, but I've never heard her stress HER ministry and HERS alone, but then again, I'm not an avid follower, either. Just catch her occassionally. But what preacher doesn't ask for money? And if you think what she's teaching is helping you, then in my opinion, she has a right to ask you to help her keep it going. A workman is worthy of his hire and all that.

Frankly, dmiller, my answer to what you just asked Sudo is: No, I don't wait. If I see my kid struggling or in trouble, I offer help right away. And then, once the help is accepted and the problem is resolved, I remind them that this relief would have come sooner had they thought to ask and not wait until I noticed. But the fact remains... I pay attention. And I notice. And when I notice I help. My kids, my family, the people around me. I don't wait to be asked, and I don't think I make anyone "weaker" for not waiting.

QUOTE: point is, not all religion leads to corruption not all groupthink leads to a cult not all heirarchies have the same intentionallity not all "schooling" is destined to become a pack of wolves No, but a hefty enough percentage of them do to keep me away!!

Groucho... excellent post. You succinctly put down what I've been thinking for years, and have tried to explain to others with varied success... whenever you get a group of people together, you suddenly need a leader, and hierarchy and before long the group's actions focus more on keeping the group going, than on serving its members.

Yes, here we are again...

I haven't read this thread because I've been through all the arguments far too many times to bother with them anymore. But here's my short answer to what's the big deal about Harry Potter: It's damn good fun!!! And, quite frankly, I think most religions sap the fun out of life to a great extent, and I seriously doubt that's what God meant to happen.

Polly and Lyle were college program folks at Emporia during '84-'85 (13th & 15th corps time)... they got engaged and presumably married. As far as I know, they left twi soon after that... anyone know them? I would love to hear how they are doing.

Well said, Belle. Hey... can we talk about Harry now? Has anyone else finished the book? Not finished? I want to discuss details but don't want to be a *SPOILER* for anyone.

Wow... I hadn't heard. Thanks for posting this. He was arrogant and stubborn and a dirty old man, but he will be sincerely missed!! Beam us up, Mr. Scott.

Oh, and I have to say, I really ENJOYED reading this book. After the painfully frustrating events of book five, it was nice to laugh so much again.

Okay, I finished it. I guessed at the Prince from the moment Harry got the book. I truly wasn't expecting the ending. And it came so fast compared to other such scenes JK Rowling has written. But, after some thought, it all makes sense and seems "right".

It's TONIGHT !!! It's TONIGHT !!! It's TONIGHT !!! It's TONIGHT !!! It's TONIGHT !!! What? Me, excited? ... Nah...

DizzyDog... I'm sure you mean well, but take another glance at the name of this forum: The Greasespot Cafe... it's NOT about putting a Christian glaze on everything and being positive about everything(although there are many here who find the strength to get over their twi experiences through a refreshed relationship with God). This place is about comiserating with others about our experiences: good, bad and ugly. About opening the wounds so the puss can seep out and the healing can truly begin. It's that puss that often gets discussed here. (sorry to be so graphic but that's just how I feel about it) It is about purposely LOOKING (closely, in fact) at the things we hid from ourselves for too long. So if this self-examination process makes you uncomfortable, I'm very sorry. But it is a NEEDED process for most of us to truly recover. And it is a process. Some can come here and say, "Are you STILL here?" But I have thought I'm all better and still found myself getting "jumped" by a thought or a situation that puts me right back in the crapper, even if for only a moment. Who the heck else is gonna understand that experience the way the people on this forum do? So... I'm glad you are here. And I'm glad if you've found what works for you. But please don't preach to the rest of us. You will find no quicker way to a deaf ear from ex-twigites than a preachy attitude.

Absolutely!!! Congratulations!!!

NK Native... haven't seen you post in a long time. Hope all is well with you.

I need to say something here, though, too... to look at this from the other side of things... you cannot dismiss the attitude-training the non-corps was getting either. We ran into several situations where people had already made up their minds about corps before they ever met us. They either thought we were elitists, or they thought we should be held to a higher standard than themselves. Granted, this was probably leftovers from some previous junky corps person. But still, I actually had someone point out an honest mistake I'd made and say, "I couldn't believe you'd do that. You're corps!!!" As if corps people weren't human, too.