Stayed Too Long

Congratulations! It took you several decades to realize Mike’s responses are not on the up and up. Why so long?

You have made numerous posts about true repentance that are difficult for me to understand. Please put concisely in one post your definition of true repentance. Who do you believe is afraid? What mind games are being played? Thank you.

We know the government is not going to shed any light on the UFO situation. Their response to the whistleblower was to demand they not disclose any classified information they know about the situation. All the feds are doing is holding a gun to the head of anyone who would shed light on the situation.

Depending on the catagory of one’s life being addressed, measuring defeat can be varied. If a baseball hitter successfully gets on base 3 out of every 10 trips to the plate, he is considered a success. If a parachutest fails to deploy his or her chute only 1 time, it can lead to the ultimate defeat. A sales person is required to make a minimum amount of sales to be succeesful. A business owner may not get too many chances to succeed if they cannot read the market they are invested in. Of course these fall into the catagory of making a livelihood, so one must also be able to know their limitations. If you choose baseball as a career, and out of the last 10 times at bat you get a hit only 1 time, it would be wise to choose another path to support your family financially. If someone is talking about bettering their life emotionally, mentally, or physically, they had better be prepared to accept defeat on many turns, but not allow themselves to become defeated. I have experienced defeat so many times when attemting to grow mentally, it is impossible to count. The only thing I can do is pick myself up, start over again, and probably be defeated again. But, at some point, a bit of light shines through, and all the effort has been worthwhile. The result may not be totally what I wanted, but it keeps me going on to greater heights. At one point in my life I was terrified of public speaking. To overcome this I joined a group called Toastmasters International. It’s programs began with very easy tasks such as talking in front of the group for a minute. Then learning how to avoid saying, “uh” every other word, then lengthening the speaking duration to 5 minutes, to going to speach meets competing against other groups. The point being it was like taking baby steps, and not a huge leap forward. As long as a person can find habits, thoughts, and actions to change in their life, they will never want for something to do.

A visit to Yellowstone National Park and Old Faithful Geyser, plus hundreds of other boiling pots, will allow anyone to experience what burning sulphur smells like….rather obnoxious, for sure.

We must be led down a rabbit hole by someone, and we have to ultimately decide to follow them down the hole, just like we followed VPW down his rabbit hole called TWI. After awhile it should have become obvious there are several rabbit hole “leaders” who post on GSC, and their intentions are only to disrupt the thread. They will twist just enough of the subject with the idea of only inticing others to bite and take the bait. Once hooked, apparently the gullible actually believe they can point out the errors to the “leader” of his/her posts, and he ar she will miraculously thank them for the correction. But instead, the “leader” slightly twists the subject a bit more, and drag the firmly hooked, further down and around the hole. After days and pages of postings, that have accomplished absolutely nothing, the hooked finally give up in exasperation, but seem to only wait for their “leaders” to throw out the next bone for them to chop on, and the crazy arguments continue again. Could it be that we have some of the same, still within us, that allowed a man to lead us into his cult and control our lives for years and decades? Do we still need to be led by another? Or might another possibilty might be, after several decades of posting on GSC, there are simply no new subjects to discuss about TWI? We have dug up postings begun twenty plus years ago, and put a new twist on them. Do we need to run down rabbit holes to keep things interesting day to day on GSC?

Having the training and your occupation as a dual diagnostic counselor, goes to show that anyone is subject to the lies and deception of the man you believe has your spiritual interest at heart. The reason GSC is here is to enable people, to once again think for themselves, by offering support from others who have gone through and came out the otherside. Read all that is posted for the past 20+ years to get the support you need. Welcome.

I agree we contribute to people and events to make our life worthwhile, or it would not be too much fun at all. But that doesn’t seem enough for many people…..They have to become immortal and live forever, instead of being a being a passing September. By the way I think she has a horrible voice.

Can you point out a religion that doesn’t operate like TWI? Try telling the Pope their is no purgarory? See if he thanks you for pointing out the error and drops purgatory from their catechism? The Pope didn’t take to kindly to Martin Luther telling him indulgences could not be bought and paid. All groups, religious ones included, have rules that are very difficult to change, TWI didn’t invent brandishing those who went against their beliefs. It happens today still in other religions.

Great song to underscore the actual worth of one’s life. It demonstrates how we are but a drop of rain, a spec of sand sweeping through a large desert, or a small ripple across the mighty oceans, as we venture through our short existence on this planet. Some have the need to be remembered much more than the falling crystal of snow that helped fill a large river. They donate huge sums of money to have schools named after themselves, pay $5 for a brick with their name engraved on it to be used in making a walkway, or give $millions to be remembered by having their names attached to a newly discovered planet billions of light years away. Some have the need to be immortalized, and do so by creating a god(s), who were, are, and always will be. They have no beginning and will have no end, and only exude love. Their followers will also become immortal. However, these created god(s) do have their limits, given by those that created them, as to whom they will love, or even allow into their group(s). One group of creators, decided their god would only accept others who believed on the lord Jesus Christ. This Jesus Christ god will only love those, that believed he died and was raised from the dead. But a branch of the JC’s dropped this requirement all together, and proclaimed their JC god will only accept you if you get dunked in the river and are baptized. Another sect of the JC’s only demanded you pray the sinner’s prayer, and you would be welcomed in. A simple search on the World Wide Web of “gods”, will open a whole world of created beings by those who decided to give up their free wiil thinking, and submit to made up creations.

I think the song covers very well the saying, “Life’s a bit** and then you marry one.” Not much to look forward to, eh? Trying to keep up with all the religions of the world can also get harder everyday. Which one will you follow to ensure you get to cross into the pearly gates? Or is it purgatory, first? It is just so complicated anymore.

When people have to face an uncomfortable situation they create some kind of spiritual outcome to deal with their uneasy feelings. Prior to the 1990’s, when a pet died they were buried and that was the end of it. Then, to make grieving “pet parents” feel better, the Rainbow Bridge concept was introduced. Now, not only will grieving “pet parents” see their dead relatives in the future, but they will also be reunited with their deceased dogs, cats, turtles, birds, rabbits, worms, or any pet they owned who died. I can see how the concept of being reunited with dead ones came to be. Overtime, the grief of being away from deceased family became too much to bear. And the belief of being reunited with one’s loving relatives was born. Of course, for some reason, there were caveats thrown in. If Christian, and depending on which religion you followed, some family members might not meet you in the air. If RC, hope and pray your did not die with a mortal sin on your soul, because you will suffer life eternal with the devil. If you were of the belief one had to confess Roman 10:9&10, and your brother Andy didn’t confess, you can forget seeing him again. If your family worships Islam, the best you can get is 27 Virgins wating for you. I am sure there are religions you and I have never heard, who have their own rules for seeing lost loved ones. The hereafter world is sure getting more and more complicated and crowded.

In your previous post you stated you were not interested in proving if the bible could be interpreted correctly. You said it would only be an argument. Personally, I didn’t believe we were arguing, but having a conversation, expressing differing opinions. If you would like to have a conversation about our differing views of the bible, I am all for it. But if you believe it will only lead to an argument, or lead to you not bring interested in further discussion, let’s end the post here.

Rocky that is a good conclusion. At least in Christian and Islamic countries, a non believing person has a label placed on them.

I read an article recently asking why there even has to be a term for anyone not believing in god? If you don’t believe in the tooth fairly or santa clause there is no name applied to your unbelief.

“Maybe the story is in there to show…..”. Again, is your “maybe” about what the scripture means, any better than someone elses “maybe?” Please explain your logic determining that, “Maybe the story is there to show that manipulating godly appearing results r thtough ungodly methods doesn’t work,” please?

I do not believe any view of the bible is correct because it has no relevence in our lives. It has good ideas just as any book would, but it is of absolutely no authority other than containing good ideas. To base one’s life’s beliefs on what it dictates is, IMHO, a real mistake. As you so well point out, it is of any interpretation that the reader wants to apply to it. A judge bent on punishment, will according to you, have an interpretation other than someone else will have. There in lies the problem; it can be interpreted anyway someone wants to. To me VPW’s interpretation of the bible is as valid as any ones. There are over 45,000 Christian religions worldwide today. Which interpretation is accurate? Then throw in Baha'i, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shintoism, Sikhism,Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. What is wrong with their interpretation of who God is? No where have I stated my view of the scriptures is uniquely right. To me the bible belongs in the library filed under fiction. Fiction books have good ideas, and may be entertaining, but contain no rules to live life by. You have not stated what your logic is when determining if a given scripture is, or is not, God breathed?

What is your logic when deciding which scriptures are God breathed and which are not God breathed? What made you decide this verse is not God breathed? Please chose a scripture from the bible and tell why it is God breathed?

The greatest secret in the world today, is that man created God, not that God created man. For some unknown reason man has given his creation crazy powers over himself. Man has equiped God with the authority to cast man into the eternal fires of hell. This made up God, also has even been given the power to even judge man’s personal thoughts. Of course, it totally depends on which parts of the world man lives, as to what the made up rules are that must be followed. If one comes from the Middle East, Alluh demands that all infidels be killed that ignore his nonexistent powers. Also woman must be covered from head toe, except for a small slit around her eyes, so she might avoid bumping into everything, as she walks, always being escorted by a male relative. And the male is looking forward to his death, so he will have 70 virgins at his disposal. What happens when the women are no longer virgins, is not known? People who reside in the America’s, are thankful their God somehow impregnated a virgin (are virgins a recurring theme in the minds of men who have madeup their God)? Within a few years of this son being born, God demanded his son suffer unimaginable tortures, and be murdered by hanging on a cross until dead. If this God performed these unexplainable acts today, he would at the least, be in prison the rest of his forever life, or his forever life, somehow ended. These are only two of the versions of these Gods, as there are many, many versions of this fraudulent God in the world today, so one can pick which one they want to control their lives.

Sam Pruyn on YouTube.