Mister P-Mosh

This is where organic food used to be beneficial. Unfortunately, within the past few years the government (after being paid off by big agri-business, of course) redefined organic to basically make that label meaningless. As a result, there's no way to know if the tainted food is in organics or not.

My dog eats Hill's science diet dry food, which has not been on the list yet, but even if it is...I think she's too weird to die.

No problem FullCircle...I never even noticed what you said. In either case, my post was pure sarcasm anyway.

You know what? You're right. In all sincerity, please help me to understand why this is such an issue? If the guy was worried about being exposed as a plagiarist, why would he speak of B.G. Leonard and his class? Wouldn't he try to hide that so no one could compare the two? I realize there was some missing notes in the bibliography on some of his works. Some people who should have had a note mentioning them didn't get it, and I'm not sure why. There were plenty of people that he did mention. Same goes with Bullinger. How to Enjoy the Bible was required reading for the Way Corp. Don't you think people were going to read that and say, "Hey, that's exactly what VPW wrote!". VPW was always quoting Bullinger and spoke on many occasions about where he learned all of his information from. It's obvious he wasn't trying to hide anything otherwise having people read from the same books you "stole" your class from would be foolish indeed. VPW never once claimed that he came up with all of this on his own. I heard a teaching from Emporia once where he spent the first 30 minutes or so just rattling off names of different people who shared and taught him different things. Do you know how many times I have used other peoples lines when communicating the Word? So does the Lord not honor the Word I'm speaking to someone because I stole their lines and didn't give them credit for it?? Certainly not. God cares a lot less about where you learned your doctrine from and a lot more with saving people's lives. Sheesh, even Jesus said "My doctrine is not mine" (John 7:16). In the end, everyone "steals" from everybody else. Bullinger did not learn everything he did on his own. He went to school and learned what his teachers taught him and so on. In the end, it all comes from God. He is the Source. Anything anyone has to say regarding spiritual truth is just a rehashing of what God has already said generations ago. Mister P-mosh

Man, As a son of someone who has been in TWI a long time (longer than you though), I can tell you that I would gladly welcome either of my parents leaving TWI for freedom. It is a really difficult thing that your wife hasn't left, but there is a chance, especially if you and your kids still prosper. She may not be there because she truly wants to be, but rather because she is afraid to leave because of the lies she has been told. My best advice for you is to open up to your kids and get closer to them. They will help you adjust. Also remember that while much of what you learned in TWI is wrong, you should never look for another "ministry" like TWI to mislead you down another wrong path. You're a human being with a brain and can decide for yourself how to find the right way. In any case, good luck (and the word luck won't bring devil spirits around either.)

Also I left off this. I'm around for a little bit. I had some work that needed to be done by the end of April, and I'm probably going to be done by lunch tomorrow. That means plenty of time to surf the internet instead of working. Anyway, I don't want to get too far so I'll go back to the topic. I think your view of being somewhat vigilant in your life, but not paranoid is good. I think most people in this country tend to be paranoid, partially because of how sensationalist our media is. The fear of terrorists is way too extensive. I remember in the movie Fahrenheit 911 (I know, I know) there was a scene with a little old lady who was scared that terrorists might attack the Walmart in her town or something because they were near some "big" city like Sioux Falls or something else barely on the map. Americans give the terrorists too much power over their lives by having terror in their minds so often. We have much worse things to fear if we want to worry about our safety. Statistics show that there are more than 103,680 car accidents a day, for example, with fatal accidents occurring about once every 13 minutes. Yet most people do not fear driving. We need to get to a point where terrorists are unable to instill fear in us, even while we take actions to prevent them from harming us.

How is reality ludicrous? There's a difference between being tempted to do something and actually doing it. There have been women other than my wife interested in me, yet I haven't and won't sleep with them. Why? Because I have morals, self-discipline, and respect for my family. I'm an atheist. I have no gods helping me, yet I am capable of resisting temptation. Was VPW's god so weak that he couldn't help his top guy avoid not only temptation but actually prevent him from raping people? The apostle Paul was a rapist? I wouldn't say they ruined my life, but they did cause some problems. The people who were raped, the families destroyed, and the people who suffered are the ones who can answer that question better. However, it is clear that TWI was a detriment to my life. As far as people making VPW into an idol, isn't that what you're doing in your post? According to some statistics, there are five times as many Scientologists in the world than your number of TWI followers (which is probably extremely inflated.) Does that mean that L. Ron Hubbard was a greater prophet than VPW? Let's not even get started on how many followers of Islam there are. The problem is that while VPW may have done some good deeds in his life, his bad deeds were big enough to define him. His entire ministry was a sham designed to cater to his immense ego. He "stole" information from other sources because he had nothing of substance of his own. He pretended to be the only source of truth in the world so he could build up his own power. He was an opportunistic charlatan and hurt thousands of people.

Actually, both of those pictures are photoshopped. I'm pretty sure both were originally nice Eostre-bunny type photos.

My wife bought me some Lacoste cologne for Xmas. It is good, but she says it it's more for when I go out to a club or with friends or something, where my Armani cologne is more appropriate for work. Personally, I don't know because too much of either makes me sneeze, but I guess they're good.

Actually, gringo is not a racial slur. I don't like it either and have told people that I find it offensive, but to most Mexicans, it's simply a way of describing people from the U.S., since "American" is extremely vague.

Mutant bunnies...like this?

Thanks FreeAtLast and lindyhopper...the due date is early June. This is good because about a year ago, my wife was pregnant and then had a miscarriage after about 8 - 10 weeks. She took it really hard, I took is hard, but not as much as she did. We weren't trying again, but it just happened and now we've made it past the 7 month mark. Just a little while longer to go.

No disrespect intended, but terrorists should not replace debbil spurts in your mind. There are no terrorists out there evaluating each and every facet of our lives to try to harm us in some small way. That is paranoia, and Waybrain. The terrorists that are out there have never done anything small to us, and realistically, it would not be worth their time and effort. Seriously, after an attack like 9/11, what is the point in making our dogs sick? It's just bizarre. On the other hand, our food supply is mostly unregulated, and it is worse for our pets and livestock. Books have been written about how bad the U.S. food supply is. The fact is, unless you are buying your food from local farmers and ranchers, you're not getting real food, and even then it's questionable. Our food contains rocket fuel, extra hormones, feces, poisons, carcinogens, and all sorts of other nasty things. For an example, do you remember the mad cow disease? That came about because "farmers" were feeding the remains of cows that had died of disease and old age to healthy cows (remember, cows are not naturally carnivores) in an attempt to up their protein and give them more meat. Don't even get me started on those weird beakless fat mutant things that some people call chickens in agro-business. I don't know how many people read that book "The Jungle" as required reading in school. I did, and from all indications, our food supply is in worse shape now than it was back then. I also suggest reading the book "Fast Food Nation" if you'd like to see some modern information about how unsafe and unclean our food supply is. Basically, the terrorists don't need to interfere with our food supply, we've already made a mess out of it.

The (ren?) part is because one is on the way, and who knows how things will turn out after that. As far as having a moral compass, I now believe that it's just inherent in a person. I am an atheist, rejecting all religions and non-provable beliefs. Yet, I don't kill, steal, or harm people. The bible doesn't give you morality, it's just part of being human. Only sociopaths like LCM and VPW require strict religious rules and fear of burning in Hell to keep them from transgressing against their fellow human beings...and even that didn't work. So my point is, if you find comfort and value in religion, then that's great. If not, you aren't missing out.

I went into The Way at about 3 years old or so, meaning that while I wasn't born into TWI, I was certainly raised in it. My siblings were born into TWI. At this point, none of us are in except for our parents, and at least I hope they will leave one day. None of my siblings go to church at this point and I'm not really sure if any of the others are atheist or not, but I am. To put it simply, the logic I had learned and developed to help me see how TWI is wrong also showed me how religion in general is wrong. Other people are free to have their own beliefs; I don't care what people think as long as they don't force it on me. My wife is Catholic so this gives our child(ren?) a chance to make up their own mind. However, I do think that The Way offers religion in such a purified form that those of us who were raised in it and leave are through with religion for good.

I hate to speak ill of the dead, and I extend my condolences to her family if any read this site (and I hope they do.) Since she still has family in TWI, it's likely that one of them wrote her obituary. So while it's sad that it appears TWI wrote it, it's even more sad that her family members may be responsible for their way-brain propaganda.

Unless you have been to her neighborhood and know her situation precisely, you are not in any more of a position to give her specifics on what she should do than me. The gangs in Arizona are not the same as the ones in Georgia for the most part. Having lived in both places (although I was in Atlanta rather than Athens), I have seen that many things are different. I think that anyone who has not been to her neighborhood is incapable of offering specific, actionable advice. Making decisions for Dot without much information is just as valid as Bill Frist's "medical diagnosis" of Terri Schiavo. Also, I believe Dot is probably about my mother's age, and I would not tell my mom to stand up to gangs. If something bad were to happen I would feel guilty for my part in suggesting actions that led to disaster.

If I were in her case I would fight back exactly how I stated above. However, I don't conflate what I consider to be my best decision in that situation with someone else's. It's simply not my call to make. There is a real risk with organizing and standing up to gangs. Paul Gailiunas and his deceased wife Helen Hill come to mind. If you recall, they are the couple who were prominent in rebuilding New Orleans and were later shot at their front door when they opened it in order to help someone. He was shot three times and survived to take care of his little girl. His wife died on the scene. Last I heard, he took his daughter and moved to Canada. All risks must be weighed when making those decisions. I don't really know Dot's situation that well. As a result, I feel that we are more in a situation to offer suggestions, but nothing more.

Dot, There are a few alternatives to moving, but none are easy, unfortunately. The first is to work to change your local government, either by organizing your neighbors and taking over the city council meetings and becoming a huge thorn in the side of all the politicians who do not help you, or by running for office yourself (or getting someone who lives in your neighborhood with the resources to run for office to do so.) The fact is that the government controls the police force, so unless the politicians have a reason to do something about the problem, they will not. They must either willingly help you because it is the right thing to do (and their jobs) or they must help you out of fear of having someone else elected to their job. The second is to work to set up community outreach programs to prevent more youths from joining gangs and to help those who want to leave. Nobody is born into a gang mentality, it has to be learned. Most people join gangs because they are either missing something at home with their family or because they are scared and want other gang members on their side. Gangs are essentially a cult like TWI, but with a much more violent side. With your knowledge of how cults work, you may be able to have some insight into the psychology of gangs and find ways to stop them without a direct confrontation. With all that being said, moving away is going to be the easiest solution. It sounds like the cops already gave up on your neighborhood, and perhaps the local government too. It takes a lot of hard work to change such things, and you have to evaluate if the fight is worth it or not for you.

Just for fun, check out Britain for Americans. Don't take it as a completely serious source, though. It's humour.

Wow, you are nucking futs! You want civilians roaming the streets shooting at people who they think might be in gangs? In the U.S., we have a principle in our laws that is referred to "innocent until proven guilty." You can't just go around shooting people. What is worse is that you are insinuating that you want to go around shooting latinos, and you don't care if your militant vigilante gangs murder innocent people. You are a sick individual and should seek psychological help before you become a danger to those around you.

I live in Houston, so of course we've had an increase. However, the rising murder rate is primarily between gangs. I don't care if one gang member kills another that much. With all that being said though, there is also a rise in gang activity amongst white middle class teenagers. That doesn't necessarily explain what's going on in your neighborhood, but I would look at it as a possibility. The midwest is having an explosion of gang activity, and it's mostly white teenagers who are getting involved with meth and so bored and without a future that they end up in gangs. Unfortunately, I've not really seen a good way to combat gangs. It's similar to TWI in some ways...it's a religious cult without the religion.

It's almost enough to make me believe in deities. It's almost as if god would have redirected all the storms and earthquakes to other parts of the world to make sure Robertson's predictions were completely wrong. I mean, it seemed like a safe bet that at least some strong storms would hit the U.S. after 2005, but the strong winds kept all the storms to the Atlantic last year. He probably got some new converts from Bermuda, but I hope that his "predictions from God" are used against him in the future. He has no credibility.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Nation of Islam (Farrakhan's group) has nothing to do with actual Islam. They call themselves Muslims, but they're about as real Muslim as Mormons are Christian. Also it is true that the NoI promote some racist beliefs against white "devils." Of course, not everyone who is a member of the NoI are racist or bad, it's just like us when we were in TWI I suppose. Also, to address dmiller's post, the U.S. has never been a "melting pot" and has always treated immigrants like dirt. The Know-Nothings were a sort of anti-Irish Minutemen type group that were more successful in their reign of terror than the Minutemen are. They had office-holding politicians and police working with them to help murder and cover up the murders of immigrants. If you look at our history, immigrants were always demonized and hated. The Irish and Italians were said to be an invading army to take over the U.S. for the Pope, similar to how the white supremacists invented the "reconquistadora" story about Mexican immigrants. The Polish and Germans were also mistreated and hated. Why do you think there are so many jokes about Polish people? The Germans had it even worse, considering the wars that they were involved with. Also don't forget how blacks were enslaved and brought here and are still not treated equally, or the genocide committed against the native americans many times throughout our history. So no, we're not a melting pot, and we're just barely not as bad as we used to be. The way it works out is that as a new group of immigrant comes, the old ones get accepted as being "white" and everybody gangs up on the newer groups. The Irish used to be called n****rs turned inside out, and now they're considered as white as anyone of British descent. As to the main topic of this, I don't really care what the guy swears on in his private ceremony. As others have pointed out, in the official swearing in he uses nothing. It's just that he has a private ceremony to satisfy his own religious beliefs or his own ego. As long as he does a good job and represents the people of his community well, that's what matters.

A study was done a year or two back that found Wikipedia's information was about as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica. That's not to say that abuse doesn't happen, but that regular encyclopedias can be very wrong as well. Like Mark said, each article should be viewed independently. If you look at a wikipedia article on something that could be controversial like Bush, then definitely question it. However, if you look up an article on something like the planet Saturn, then it should be fairly accurate.