Did you REALLY believe?

[Wanderer]

I mean, I believe in Jesus Christ, (I also believe in Budda), but did you really swallow PFAL hook line & sinker, or was there always doubt, in the back of your mind?

I think I felt a bit taken at the conclusion of "The Class", but I hung in there for a while (three years '80-82) as some of the teaching interested me. I liked the practice (And still do ), of praying for people right there to their face. I liked the small intimate twig meetings, where you felt the, "Family like" spiritual community.

On the down side, I felt the scholarship was shoddy, and I disliked the overbearing attitude of some of the "Leadership". There was no doubt in my young mind that this was NOT "The greatest teaching of The Word since Jesus Christ".

To this day I have a saying, "Anything for sale ain't spiritual, and anything spititual aint for sale". If they demand I pull out my wallet to share spiritual ideas, I hit the door. Everytime.

[Ham]

Did I swalllow it? Yes, for the most part. There were a few "discrepencies" with what I knew about science, but I put those on the back burner for a few years.

[VeganXTC]

I believed everything that was taught, except speaking in tongues. I didn't see the difference between what we did at the end of the class, and when I pretended to speak Martian when I was little.

[Bramble]

Haha, Vegan--my brother and i used to pretend we were speaking French. And it was just the same!

[pond]

I am not sure I believed.

but i sure hoped.

[coolchef]

i was very boubtful about sit i still am

3 or 4 crucified ?so what

are the dead alive?

i don't know

it was a bogus

but ya know at the time it did help me

young

naive

and searching

i am very comfortable with God now

and i have to admit twi helped me

but so did the rc church

to whitch i have kind of returned

[nandon]

I believed.

Though I did not understand.

[excathedra]

speak martian

that was funny

[papa-gee]

Yeah, I believed, and still do I suppose. I had just read about SITs for the first time (about a week before I went to a twig) in a religious book called "From Frogtown To Freedom", and then, all of a sudden, I was in a small fellowship where they were doing it. I attributed this to God and the incredible timing of it all. And so, when I heard it, I was amazed. And, it was done without fanfare and holy hands (as I had seen later), and it was cool! And so, I still believe. I didn't like the ego trips that I saw in The Way with some of the young buck "Revs" and a few hotshot women, but I did like alot of things I was taught. One woman made me crazy. Stacey somebody. She was as mean as a snake. Never could figure out how she considered herself a representative of Jesus, our kind and benevolent Saviour. I wonder what happened to her after the dang hit the fan.

[johniam]

Yes, I believed.

[rascal]

I believed.

[bowtwi]

I really believed it all. Except for the Way's stand on abortion. That never sat right with me, but I was a good little waybot and put that on the back burner...

I really believed it all.

[Ca_dreaming]

I am a believer in the Body of Christ no matter where I am!!!!!!!!

[markomalley]

I mean, I believe in Jesus Christ, (I also believe in Budda), but did you really swallow PFAL hook line & sinker, or was there always doubt, in the back of your mind?

I think I felt a bit taken at the conclusion of "The Class", but I hung in there for a while (three years '80-82) as some of the teaching interested me. I liked the practice (And still do ), of praying for people right there to their face. I liked the small intimate twig meetings, where you felt the, "Family like" spiritual community.

On the down side, I felt the scholarship was shoddy, and I disliked the overbearing attitude of some of the "Leadership". There was no doubt in my young mind that this was NOT "The greatest teaching of The Word since Jesus Christ".

To this day I have a saying, "Anything for sale ain't spiritual, and anything spititual aint for sale". If they demand I pull out my wallet to share spiritual ideas, I hit the door. Everytime.

Think about how much hurt has been expressed in so many threads on this board.

If people didn't believe, they couldn't have gotten so mentally and emotionally invested.

And had people not been so mentally and emotionally invested, they wouldn't have been so hurt when they were let down.

So while I don't doubt that a sizable percentage of people didn't believe, I doubt that many members of that sizable percentage have even ever heard of the Greasespot, much less are those who would post here.

[Oakspear]

Did I believe? Did I swallow PFAL hook, line and sinker? Not at first, but I was a young Christian looking for answers that I wasn't getting anywhere else. I wanted the bible to make sense, and TWI were the only ones that I had encountered up till that point that claimed it could make sense.

I did not have the skills at that time to seriously investigate or really research myself, so I was stuck within TWI's box as far as "making it my own" went.

There were things that I did not understand, but I bought the line about holding things in abeyance; I was convinced that Wierwille knew what he was talking about.

The longer that I stayed in the more I had invested in it being right, the more I was willing to put up with in the cause of "doing the Word".

[Robes]

100%, hook, line and sinker, I believed.

I was 18 or 19 when I took the class for the first time. I believed it ALL. I believed it for many years, even for 5 years AFTER I left TWI. I believed even after LCM took over and screwed up all that VPW taught. I believed even after I started coming to WayDale...

I QUIT believing AFTER I read Karl Kahler's book, "The Cult That Snapped, Journey into the Way International".

I got the book one day, spent the next 10 or 12 hours reading it, and it changed everything.

Of course, visiting WayDale consistantly helped me work out some of the conflicts I had. It kept my brain straight whenever I lapsed and 'floated' back to cult thoughts. I did other research as well, read Steve Hassan's books, visited other ex-cult web sites and read other books...

Now, I DON'T believe (in PFAL stuff). But boy, did it scare me to not have anything to believe for a while. I've spent several years trying to figure out 'what' exactly I do believe now....but it was worth leaving some of the cult cr*p behind....

[waysider]

I feel like the old guy who gets on the 6 o'clock news and admits he was swindled by a con artist. It feels both liberating and embarassing at the same time.

So,yes, I believed.

Do I have to hold my questions until the end of the thread?

[Outin88.]

I feel like the old guy who gets on the 6 o'clock news and admits he was swindled by a con artist. It feels both liberating and embarassing at the same time.

Me too!

Yup, I bought into the whole package, drank the cool aid and pretty much believed whatever they taught.

I was young when I took the class, and didn't know the Bible at all, so after hearing it explained (what I percieved at the time) logically, I trusted TWI completely. Much to my embarassment now. Well, as I said I was young and naive.

Now I will say that I'm still a believer in God, the Bible and Jesus Christ. I do believe that some of what we were taught by TWI is correct, and some of it was cr@p.

[Outin88.]

Think about how much hurt has been expressed in so many threads on this board.

If people didn't believe, they couldn't have gotten so mentally and emotionally invested.

And had people not been so mentally and emotionally invested, they wouldn't have been so hurt when they were let down.

So while I don't doubt that a sizable percentage of people didn't believe, I doubt that many members of that sizable percentage have even ever heard of the Greasespot, much less are those who would post here.

Good points Mark, you are a wise man.

Some of us were hurt (for a little while) because we did believe it and were emotionally invested in it for a time. Some of us now feel embarassed at being conned and sometimes get a little annoyed at folks that still profess admiration towards those we feel had dupped us, or doctrines that some of us now feel are bogus. Well I know I do at times.

[Free Soul]

Yes, I believed.

I also believed that what our leadership did was good & without ulterior motive.

It seemed solid and real.

Weirwille betrayed us, & he did it with malice & forethought.

[JumpinJive]

Did I believe? Did I swallow PFAL hook, line and sinker? Not at first, but I was a young Christian looking for answers that I wasn't getting anywhere else. I wanted the bible to make sense, and TWI were the only ones that I had encountered up till that point that claimed it could make sense.

I did not have the skills at that time to seriously investigate or really research myself, so I was stuck within TWI's box as far as "making it my own" went.

There were things that I did not understand, but I bought the line about holding things in abeyance; I was convinced that Wierwille knew what he was talking about.

The longer that I stayed in the more I had invested in it being right, the more I was willing to put up with in the cause of "doing the Word".

I think Oak has it right. I so wanted to believe! Who wouldn't want God active in their lives? Who wouldn't want to manifest spiritual power? Who wouldn't want to eat of the meat of the Word? How many times did you picture yourself getting someone up out of a wheelchair? Pretty heady stuff, especially for the young and searching.

Sadly, it doesn't work like that (even though I still think it should).

-JJ

[Eyesopen]

I didn't believe PFAL hook, line and sinker. When I took the class I believed what sounded correct, and tossed the illogical cr@p, the rest I set on the back burner and am still sifting through it.

But like Free Soul I believed hook, line and sinker that those who were "ordained" would do what was right by the body and not have ulterior motives. Fully realizing how much of the leadership was corrupt was what hurt me when I was shown the door. Just thinking about it all now just... :wacko: (That's just wacco!)

I have always questioned the doctrinal stuff, maybe that is why they showed me the door? Ya think?

[Thomas Loy Bumgarner]

Now class, please turn to your hymnals to that old Paul Rader classic "Only Believe" Remeber VPW singing that at ROA?

Edited February 18, 2007 by Thomas Loy Bumgarner

[ex70sHouston]

I didn't believe it all.

The excitement and friends kept me for a long time.

What helped me stay the 4 years was something my dad taught me. You can attend a church and not believe everything they teach. Believe what you believe and hold on to it. Listen and check out what is taught but don't take it at face value.

It was great at first and better when I left.

One thing that was done right was the small groups. Many church's have gone to cell groups to give that intimate feeling the twigs had.

[tonto]

Yep, I really did believe. Stuff like needs and wants parallel never made sense to me. Rather than listen to my own mind and heart, I attributed my lack of understanding to my lack of spiritual heaviness.