I don't know about anyone else but I had a big gap to fill in my early adult years,after my best
friend died in a car accident I wanted answers and I was looking for God.
My problem was I had no background about the bible whatsoever,(asside from putting the bible in the drawer
at the Holiday Inn(before I continued to party on!)and to a point that could be destructive to my life!
I thought TWI was an answer to prayer at the time and I did a complete 180 and just got completely
sold out to "the ministry"
So four years in, and then 10 years out saying NOTHING to NOONE ,then LOTS of Therapy (7 yrs )and
now I can talk about it.
For me it had to do with being abused as a child in satanic ritual abuse at the age of four. Never wanting
anything to do with religon but,wanting to know God and that God loved me ,I didn't think that could ever happen for me,when it stopped being what I thought it said it was about, it really hurt, and it hurt all
the way down to the hopes of that 4yr old child. It almost killed me.
Now I read Losing The Way and The Cult That Snapped and The Wrong Way and it really makes me want
to speak out against the damage TWI has done,and now I can.
With all due respect, I think the generation that allowed TWI to grow and prosper were thrilled to find a group that would allow them to smoke dope & seek God at the same time.... sure, there were others who were genuinely focused on finding "God" and "the truth" but there were many aspects of TWI that allowed one to do what they wanted and still be "holy". The associations that allowed such a thing were very welcome.
The ego feeding knowledge of knowing more than the typical minister played a big part, too.
If it weren't for that lore and draw, there would never have been a TWI for me to find in 1993. <_<
With all due respect, I think the generation that allowed TWI to grow and prosper were thrilled to find a group that would allow them to smoke dope & seek God at the same time.... sure, there were others who were genuinely focused on finding "God" and "the truth" but there were many aspects of TWI that allowed one to do what they wanted and still be "holy". The associations that allowed such a thing were very welcome.
The ego feeding knowledge of knowing more than the typical minister played a big part, too.
If it weren't for that lore and draw, there would never have been a TWI for me to find in 1993. <_<
Hey Brush - my take: "self-righteous arrogance" is pretty common, as is dangerous zeal. Not just the religious kind, although that adds a unique pigment to both.
Solomon's claim of "vanity" - he concluded that "all" is vanity anyway - and he came to a simple conclusion.
My perspective on my youth, the year 1968, and what it was like for me is that it wasn't the youthful enthusiasm that attracted me to the Way. I brought the youthful enthusiasm. It didn't attract me. I looked for space to exercise it.
Youthful enthusiasm - this reminds me, bear with me for a sec...years ago the company I worked for had an internal department survey and part of it was open to comments. One of the comments that was made and brought back into our debrief and discussion meeting was that "many of our managment staff are much younger than the people the supervise, and there's a gap there". One of the managers that came into our groups meetings from our department was about 30, and had a lot of people in his unit that were older than him by 10-20 years. He commented "We can work on that, and see what we can come up with. But for my part, all I can say is I'll get older as fast as I can". It was kind of funny.
When you're young, all you can have is young enthusiasm. You're young. That enthusiasm is a valuable part of maturing. When you have more of life ahead of you than you have behind you your perspective is different. You push hard, longer, change and rebound quicker.
Youthful energy is what fuels the world, be it at 20, or 60. The angle on life that there's reason and hope to move forward and each new day brings with it new opportunity - can't beat it. I don't see it as dangerous, I see it as normal. I'm still like that, although I'm much more careful about how I spend it.
I thnk that goes to your point - mature and experienced influecnes, "wisdom" is needed too, at all ages.
Hey Brush - my take: "self-righteous arrogance" is pretty common, as is dangerous zeal. Not just the religious kind, although that adds a unique pigment to both.
Solomon's claim of "vanity" - he concluded that "all" is vanity anyway - and he came to a simple conclusion.
My perspective on my youth, the year 1968, and what it was like for me is that it wasn't the youthful enthusiasm that attracted me to the Way. I brought the youthful enthusiasm. It didn't attract me. I looked for space to exercise it.
Youthful enthusiasm - this reminds me, bear with me for a sec...years ago the company I worked for had an internal department survey and part of it was open to comments. One of the comments that was made and brought back into our debrief and discussion meeting was that "many of our managment staff are much younger than the people the supervise, and there's a gap there". One of the managers that came into our groups meetings from our department was about 30, and had a lot of people in his unit that were older than him by 10-20 years. He commented "We can work on that, and see what we can come up with. But for my part, all I can say is I'll get older as fast as I can". It was kind of funny.
When you're young, all you can have is young enthusiasm. You're young. That enthusiasm is a valuable part of maturing. When you have more of life ahead of you than you have behind you your perspective is different. You push hard, longer, change and rebound quicker.
Youthful energy is what fuels the world, be it at 20, or 60. The angle on life that there's reason and hope to move forward and each new day brings with it new opportunity - can't beat it. I don't see it as dangerous, I see it as normal. I'm still like that, although I'm much more careful about how I spend it.
I thnk that goes to your point - mature and experienced influecnes, "wisdom" is needed too, at all ages.
I never said it's bad. But in a religious context, many times it can be.
I can't speak for anyone else, but my "youthful enthusiasm" wasn't based on arrogance but on a desire to help others with what helped me. I never bought into the "TWI is the only source of truth" nonsense; but I did believe it was the best thing out there.
Oh, and Belle, to this day I've never done drugs. :)
I definitely was looking for God! I was very clear on one thing.....I did NOT want religion! I thought church was dry and boring....and even though I had a background in church attending (didn't know much about the bible)......I had a sunday school teacher who contradicted what the preacher said one Sunday......And that, as a young person blew my mind when she showed me in the bible he was wrong. When TWI came into my life.....it was exciting and thrilling.....it was something I thought was stable. That at last I found a group that did teach truth! I was elated!!! I remember shortly after I took the class.....I witnessed and got a bunch of people involved. Zeal.....I definitely had it! It was the best thing going that I had ever attended. PLUS.....I am a musician and the music was awesome!!! Not the music you would hear in a church.......The people.....wow....young people who were excited and loving.......and had great zeal also.
On the contrary, I drank a lot before TWI and I all but quit when I got involved. I was heavily in debt before TWI and I got out of debt totally, for the first time in my life I was actually happy. I had never felt such acceptance and love before in my life.
ZEAL? Why wouldn't you have zeal if you thought all these things were true??? And I did. I didn't know the real truth about it all.
I just knew how I felt, what I had just learned and it was all brand new and I wanted everyone to know about it.
Unfortunately, I've been out for quite awhile now........And now in contrast, I have NO zeal for anything or anybody........And that is what I think is sad.
My observation was that any self-righteousness and arrogance came later in a wayfer's life, when the youthful zeal and enthusiasm had waned. I was involved in TWI from 1978 - 2001 and virtually all the people that I saw get involved got involved because they wanted to learn more about God, or they liked what they saw in the people.
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cheranne
I don't know about anyone else but I had a big gap to fill in my early adult years,after my best
friend died in a car accident I wanted answers and I was looking for God.
My problem was I had no background about the bible whatsoever,(asside from putting the bible in the drawer
at the Holiday Inn(before I continued to party on!)and to a point that could be destructive to my life!
I thought TWI was an answer to prayer at the time and I did a complete 180 and just got completely
sold out to "the ministry"
So four years in, and then 10 years out saying NOTHING to NOONE ,then LOTS of Therapy (7 yrs )and
now I can talk about it.
For me it had to do with being abused as a child in satanic ritual abuse at the age of four. Never wanting
anything to do with religon but,wanting to know God and that God loved me ,I didn't think that could ever happen for me,when it stopped being what I thought it said it was about, it really hurt, and it hurt all
the way down to the hopes of that 4yr old child. It almost killed me.
Now I read Losing The Way and The Cult That Snapped and The Wrong Way and it really makes me want
to speak out against the damage TWI has done,and now I can.
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Belle
With all due respect, I think the generation that allowed TWI to grow and prosper were thrilled to find a group that would allow them to smoke dope & seek God at the same time.... sure, there were others who were genuinely focused on finding "God" and "the truth" but there were many aspects of TWI that allowed one to do what they wanted and still be "holy". The associations that allowed such a thing were very welcome.
The ego feeding knowledge of knowing more than the typical minister played a big part, too.
If it weren't for that lore and draw, there would never have been a TWI for me to find in 1993. <_<
But, that's just my opinion.
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Belle
Sorry, I think I posted this in the wrong thread.
I do, however, stand behind my post.
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socks
Hey Brush - my take: "self-righteous arrogance" is pretty common, as is dangerous zeal. Not just the religious kind, although that adds a unique pigment to both.
Solomon's claim of "vanity" - he concluded that "all" is vanity anyway - and he came to a simple conclusion.
My perspective on my youth, the year 1968, and what it was like for me is that it wasn't the youthful enthusiasm that attracted me to the Way. I brought the youthful enthusiasm. It didn't attract me. I looked for space to exercise it.
Youthful enthusiasm - this reminds me, bear with me for a sec...years ago the company I worked for had an internal department survey and part of it was open to comments. One of the comments that was made and brought back into our debrief and discussion meeting was that "many of our managment staff are much younger than the people the supervise, and there's a gap there". One of the managers that came into our groups meetings from our department was about 30, and had a lot of people in his unit that were older than him by 10-20 years. He commented "We can work on that, and see what we can come up with. But for my part, all I can say is I'll get older as fast as I can". It was kind of funny.
When you're young, all you can have is young enthusiasm. You're young. That enthusiasm is a valuable part of maturing. When you have more of life ahead of you than you have behind you your perspective is different. You push hard, longer, change and rebound quicker.
Youthful energy is what fuels the world, be it at 20, or 60. The angle on life that there's reason and hope to move forward and each new day brings with it new opportunity - can't beat it. I don't see it as dangerous, I see it as normal. I'm still like that, although I'm much more careful about how I spend it.
I thnk that goes to your point - mature and experienced influecnes, "wisdom" is needed too, at all ages.
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Brushstroke
I never said it's bad. But in a religious context, many times it can be.
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polar bear
I think there is a natural enthusiam the youth have. Twi did prey on the youth of our day and use it to promulgate the corporation.
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GeorgeStGeorge
I can't speak for anyone else, but my "youthful enthusiasm" wasn't based on arrogance but on a desire to help others with what helped me. I never bought into the "TWI is the only source of truth" nonsense; but I did believe it was the best thing out there.
Oh, and Belle, to this day I've never done drugs. :)
George
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newlife
I definitely was looking for God! I was very clear on one thing.....I did NOT want religion! I thought church was dry and boring....and even though I had a background in church attending (didn't know much about the bible)......I had a sunday school teacher who contradicted what the preacher said one Sunday......And that, as a young person blew my mind when she showed me in the bible he was wrong. When TWI came into my life.....it was exciting and thrilling.....it was something I thought was stable. That at last I found a group that did teach truth! I was elated!!! I remember shortly after I took the class.....I witnessed and got a bunch of people involved. Zeal.....I definitely had it! It was the best thing going that I had ever attended. PLUS.....I am a musician and the music was awesome!!! Not the music you would hear in a church.......The people.....wow....young people who were excited and loving.......and had great zeal also.
On the contrary, I drank a lot before TWI and I all but quit when I got involved. I was heavily in debt before TWI and I got out of debt totally, for the first time in my life I was actually happy. I had never felt such acceptance and love before in my life.
ZEAL? Why wouldn't you have zeal if you thought all these things were true??? And I did. I didn't know the real truth about it all.
I just knew how I felt, what I had just learned and it was all brand new and I wanted everyone to know about it.
Unfortunately, I've been out for quite awhile now........And now in contrast, I have NO zeal for anything or anybody........And that is what I think is sad.
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ljn698
i understand that newlife
it's as though all the youthful enthusiasm got used up by twi or something
upon going bye-bye from twi it sure woulda been nice to get a
refund of all that enthusiasm.
i'd even take that over the abs money!
oh well life goes on anyway
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Oakspear
Brush:
My observation was that any self-righteousness and arrogance came later in a wayfer's life, when the youthful zeal and enthusiasm had waned. I was involved in TWI from 1978 - 2001 and virtually all the people that I saw get involved got involved because they wanted to learn more about God, or they liked what they saw in the people.
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