Outin88!

If da class was free, anyone who was hungering and thirsting for God's word (not that I'm eqating pfal with Gods word) would have stuck with it. The only point in charging money for it, imo was so TWI would get their cash. And of course he had to include a copy of "Christians should be prosperous" Gotta make sure these new grads would tithe don't cha know!

Jesus Christ never charged money, Paul & the other disciples never charged money for the Word. As mentioned by Bliss when asking a church official about charging for classes they were surprised and asked why! I don't have a problem with secular organizations charging for classes, it's their livelyhood, but to charge for the gospel imo is wrong based on my understanding of the Bible. A workman is worthy of his reward, I can understand that, but I don't believe it's talking about preaching the gospel. If Wierwille offered pfal for free, as I believe he should have, I also believe folks would have given money freely as a gift.

Oldies said; "quote: Knowhere that I know of in the Bible does it say to charge money for the word. But it does say a workman is worthy of his reward. I forget what verse but I think it's in more than one place. VP and others spent lots of wood and time working on the class, so it should come as no surprise that there would be a one time nominal fee." I can understand paying some money for books etc. But I reiterate (SP?) that I can find no verse that says to charge money for the gospel. But, I do find verses that seem to indicate not to charge money for God's Word; Acts 8:20 "Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!" 2 Cor 2:17 "Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God." 2 Cor 11:7 "Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?" 1 Cor 9:18 "What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it." 1 Tim 6:10 "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." All verses are quoted from the NIV version of the Bible.

I like what Socks wrote. Well stated. Knowhere that I know of in the Bible does it say to charge money for the word. And like Wayfernot, the churches I've taken classes at never charged money, except maybe for a book, but as she stated, they make it available for free to those that couldn't afford it. And one church I attended gave away Bibles to those that asked for them. That it the Christian way, TWI being a cult was just looking for money. As far as a so called principle that if they pay they'll be more committed, tell it to Jesus who alsways taught for free!

"What did he mean by "stick?" Offshoot?" I believe it was Martindale that coined the phrase as someone who has broken off from the way tree and became a stick, i.e. not getting life from the tree thus a dead stick, or something to that effect.

Amen A la prochaine! BTW, I love your other quotes! :)-->

Thank you Rascal! :)-->

I admit, to my shame that at one time I had the same attitude towards churches and non twi believers as personalentertainr. My parents didn't raise me to act in such a bad manner, so where did I learn this from? TWI TWI, being a cult taught us to criticize and make fun of non TWI Christians. Why? Because they didn't want to lose followers and their money to churches that were more loving and godly then TWI! But after a few years away from the ungodly cult of TWI, I started to grow up unto Christ and repented of this evil attitude. I realized that church goers are part of the body of Christ and they're my brethren, even if I don't agree doctrinally with them 100%. I started applying the second greatest command to love your neighbor as yourself and threwout the arogant, ungodly behavior as taught by TWI. I attend church not because of doctrine, but because I love God and my brethren in Christ, I attend to worship God and fellowship with others who love God. There are some churches I prefer not to attend, but I wouldn't be hateful towards them, since that would be against God's Word.

Yup, it's a good read! My wife was in the Corpes with Karl and was very curious so we bought the book and found it to be very interesting.

Thanks Sister Ex. Jesus said the two greatest commands are to Love God with all your heart, mind, sould and strength, and the Love your neighbor as yourself. I really don't recall commands that says not to love others or to not fellowship with those that disagree doctrinally with you.

Hi Jan, I've been attending Pureheart Christian fellowship church, here is a link to their website; http://www.pureheart.org/main.html

I once heard Martindale say, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Churches are swamp breeding grounds for devil spirits" or something to that effect. One of the more devilish things, imo about TWI was there constant negative attitudes towards their brethren in Christ, i.e. Churches! I now believe they did this to keep us away from churches to get us to stay with them and keep giving them money and our service. Just part of the cult mentality IMO.

Allan said; "the differn't churches attended by GSers' gives credence to my point that the haughty 'attacks'on twi 'foundational' truths is definitely from a 'slanted' angle.!!" Are you saying that because some of us prefer church to TWI that we have a "slanted angle"? Thats nonsense! All of us were a part of TWI and at one time bought into their doctrines. But many here at GS Cafe, after investigating TWI doctrines have found a lot of error in them. Allan, instead of chastising those who disagree with you doctrinally perhaps you should discuss your, or TWI's biblical beliefs in a rational manner over in the Doctrinal forum, who knows, maybe you'll be able to show biblically where some of us are in error. But maybe, if you listen you might learn something too!

Hi Jan, If church isn't your thing and you want to check out some of the offshoot fellowships, you should be able to locate one near you throught their websites. Here's a few I know of; Christian Family Fellowship (CFF) http://www.cffm.org/ Christian Educational Services (CES) http://christianeducational.org/network/index.htm Cortright Fellowship and believers home pages http://www.cortright.org/

Hi Jan, Glendale boaders Phoenix to the west.