My first response would be: Run, do not walk, to the nearest exit. Run while you can!
But that is a bit extreme, however concise, accurate, and useful that advice is.
I should explain my own history. I was approached by, and investigated, and turned away, from this group back in the mid 1970s. The folks were nice enough - many of them from back then are friends with me today - but the theology and policies fail the sniff test. The subsequent behavior of TWI's management would have embarrassed Jim Jones.
Her interest in you, I can assure you, has to do more with "saving your soul" or "separating you from your money" than it does "you in particular". You may safely ignore any of her protestations to the contrary; she will dump you long before she leaves the group - the group will always be more important to her than you. It's very similar to having an alcoholic romantic partner; guess what always comes first? Alas, a part of cult thinking is to indoctrinate members already in to entice more members in. Using sexual favors in exchange for getting your money, or the brownie points with God for saving your soul, is an absolutely standard tactic. My term for this is "prosyletution" - conversion via slap-and-tickle. The worst part is.... it never worked for me, even with the hotties in the group at the time. Sigh. Seems like that's how it always works for me.
My advice would be to simply study and get familiar with cults and their behaviors, and see how many of them your ladylove and her family exhibit. This website is full of former members - some left of heir own accord, and others driven out in Stalin-style purges - and they'll give you the distasteful, puerile truth of that sorry organization. For Scientology, a well known cult with some interesting similarities to this group (if you skip the aliens part), you can look up the website Operation Clambake on the web, and read up on Scientology and cult behavior in general.
The commentaries of Dr. John Juedes (great name, eh? I'm sure the TWI Kool-Aid Club loved that!) are as succinct and accurate as anything you'll find. Google that name.
One particular bit of reading on that site worth studying - it's very short and full of useful information - is the "baloney detection kit" from Carl Sagan's THE DEMON HAUNTED WORLD: SCIENCE AS A CANDLE IN THE DARK. In fact, I'd go find a used book store and read the entire thing.
Now, maybe you're the sort of fellow who would fit right in to a hate-mongering, Stalinist cult. I don't think so, since you're smart enough to be asking questions up front, but who knows? Maybe this is the only way you can get laid; if so, you'd be better off working on that rather than getting mixed up in this bunch of deluded bizarronauts! If you decide to get on into it, I frankly would make getting laid hot and regular the MINIMUM price. But I suspect the stupidity and boringness of the entire deal will make her charms pall after a short time. 'Tis far, far easier not to enter than to get out.
And if not.... run while you can. DTMFA, as Dan Savage would say.
Sure. I was a bookish introvert who'd been picked on a lot in his old town in New York before moving to a small town in western NC in the 9th grade in 1974. By 9th grade, most small town school cliques are pretty well set, and I was unsure of myself and my social skills, so I mostly stayed by myself. The TWIts saw me eating by myself and reading, and invited me over to join them. Sure, why not? They then invited me to a social meeting and "forgot" to mention the Christianity angle, a right-off-the-bat giveaway even to a 15 year old that they were aware of a potential negative reaction if they were honest about what their group was based on. Kind of like Amway.
Now, I was pretty desperate for social interaction - I had problems at home with two older brothers as well, and in such a small town at that time there was nowhere to go and get away. But I had already, as a voracious reader (how my friends describe me) I had already read science writings by Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke, Issac Asimov, and a lot of SF. I knew something about cults and cult behaviors, and about outrageous claims that couldn't be verified. What little I did not know my dad filled in with a lot of strident warnings and some screaming and yelling.
TWI members said there were all kinds of miracles that could be done by accepting Christ via the TWI method; they're listed in 2nd Corinthians, yes? But somehow oh somehow, none of them could ever take place where anyone ever observed them, except of course for speaking in tongues and interpreting. Let me point out that any second-string ham actor can speak in tongues and interpret in a fashion indistinguishable from the "real" act of doing so. But the raising people from the dead? People said it had been done, but I never met anyone who had been there when it happened - they'd just HEARD about it. Of course. Typical con-man behavior; pay your money, THEN you see the miracles - maybe.
Healing. I never saw one verified illness that the healing verifiably fixed. I even came up with a scientific test - at age 15 - that TWI members refused to rise to the challenge of. A broken arm is pretty hard to fake; it's very easily and definitely diagnosed; it can be verified quickly, cheaply, and easily, beyond mistake, with a simple X-ray photo. Take a person with a broken arm. Set up a room with bright lights and cameras in all four corners and a portable X-ray machine and developer and doctors and trained, skeptical observers looking on, just like real scientists do. Take the first X-ray, develop it, hold it up to the cameras to verify the broken limb. Have the medicos verify the broken arm, the patient's identity, etc. Have the TWI healer do his or her thing, on film, in front of doctors and skeptical observers. Take a second X-ray and let the medicos take another look. If it's the same patient - uninterrupted film will belie any patient switching - and the arm is suddenly healed - a bona fide miracle occurred under circumstances that make it impossible to discount.
NOTHING COULD HAVE BEEN MORE VALUABLE TO TWI'S CAUSE THAN SUCH A FILM. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TRIVIAL IN COST AND EFFORT TO MAKE SUCH A FILM TO MY STANDARDS. Yet when the idea was posed to them, they refused, and made lots of mealy, eyes-averted excuses about why miracles don't work that way. ....! All I did was pop their pathetic little balloon of lies. I put them into a corner with their own claims, and they surrendered instead of coming back out swinging.
So, while I needed some social contact and outlets, I turned away. A pig is a pig, no matter how much lipstick you slap on it.
Subsequent events simply verified my 1976 conclusions. I didn't know about it for many years, until bored-at-work Google searches brought the later evidence in front of my eyes. Dr. Weirwille died of cancer, after teaching that true believers can't get cancer; his own death certificate is online and shows what he died of. TWI's reaction was to lie and said he died of a stroke.I didn't think the Soviet Union was supposed to be TWI's model for news dissemination! The Fog Years; L. Ron Martindale's fascinating scrambled-eggs-on-a-military-cap dictatorship style of management and eventual could-not-be-more-embarrassing-and-destrutive style of downfall; and now Rosalie Rivenbark's (or whatever that scut's name is) sad rule over the empty shell, at 4% of its peak population in 1982 or so - and still dwindling. Dr. Weirwille was basically just a white Father Divine, except with less genuine concern for his flock than Father Divine had.
I've even re-established contact with many of the twig i was in. We're friends again now, and several of them said I was right all along.
Healing. I never saw one verified illness that the healing verifiably fixed
Me, well, verfiable. It was only by admission of the crazed college student in Morgantown who I prayed for.. he kind of started jumping up and down in an excitable manner, claiming I cleared off his hangover..
The character started witnessing to his friends.. "my GAWD.. I so felt like s*it.. ".. I think it was genuine. I can generally read through nonsense.. and even then.
The then Twig Coordinator was not exactly pleased with the results..
I DO have a verified healing I can attest to! This past June I was cured of cancer ... just as soon as my surgeon removed the cancerous tumor infested thyroid of mine. Bwhahahaha. Once he cut my throat open and yanked that sucker out, no more cancer ... I was cured!!! Yep, for those curious enough, I do have pics I can share of my throat, taken a few days after the surgery before I was healed up much, showing my cut throat. They aren't bloody or gory, but plainly show where I was sliced open across the entire front of my throat.
Sorry, I *had* to post this. It called to me as I read thru the thread and once healings were mentioned. Hehe, I thought of this 'healing' of mine and thought I'd give everyone a smile and hopefully a laugh or two at my expense. While I can laugh about it now, at the time it wasn't fun going thru surgery. Thankfully, I wasn't aware the tumor was there until after the surgery was done and over with, so I didn't have the 'cancer worry' or whatever you'd call it that so many cancer victims must deal with. God was looking out for me I feel. Losing my gallbladder the previous year to infection and then facing yet another major surgery was enough on my plate to deal with mentally. (Pre-surgery sonograms and x-rays never saw the tumor, even though it was big enough they should have.) Pathology actually found the tumor when they received the thyroid and checked it over post surgery, as they do for everyone who has something removed. They notified my surgeon who then informed me when I saw him at a post surgery visit a week or two later. He was as surprised as I was to hear there was a tumor there. We were both under the impression it was just messed up due to my Grave's Disease, but it was even worse than we ever suspected.
Anyway, here's a healing story for the thread. *Not* exactly the type of healing meant, but as close as I can come to it. Heh.
One thing I'd love to know -- what ever happen to the original poster? Has anyone heard from him over the past couple of years? I wonder what ever happened with him and the girl he was dating. Maybe he'll stop in one day and give us an update, I'd love to know if they are still together or not ......
I was healed of cancer. I did have two surgeries......and then months later it came back....the Dr. said I had a 20% chance of living and encouraged me to admit to hospital and live out my days. God literally healed me via someone over the phone praying for me. I went back to the Dr. and she said, well, (She was a christian)I can't write on your medical record, "Healed", but you and I both know that is exactly what happened. I knew I was healed the minute I was prayed for.
God is good.....that was back in 1995 and I've not been bothered with it since.
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excathedra
really sad doc
and really really beautiful about a single kiss
wish i could just experience that
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Argus
My first response would be: Run, do not walk, to the nearest exit. Run while you can!
But that is a bit extreme, however concise, accurate, and useful that advice is.
I should explain my own history. I was approached by, and investigated, and turned away, from this group back in the mid 1970s. The folks were nice enough - many of them from back then are friends with me today - but the theology and policies fail the sniff test. The subsequent behavior of TWI's management would have embarrassed Jim Jones.
Her interest in you, I can assure you, has to do more with "saving your soul" or "separating you from your money" than it does "you in particular". You may safely ignore any of her protestations to the contrary; she will dump you long before she leaves the group - the group will always be more important to her than you. It's very similar to having an alcoholic romantic partner; guess what always comes first? Alas, a part of cult thinking is to indoctrinate members already in to entice more members in. Using sexual favors in exchange for getting your money, or the brownie points with God for saving your soul, is an absolutely standard tactic. My term for this is "prosyletution" - conversion via slap-and-tickle. The worst part is.... it never worked for me, even with the hotties in the group at the time. Sigh. Seems like that's how it always works for me.
My advice would be to simply study and get familiar with cults and their behaviors, and see how many of them your ladylove and her family exhibit. This website is full of former members - some left of heir own accord, and others driven out in Stalin-style purges - and they'll give you the distasteful, puerile truth of that sorry organization. For Scientology, a well known cult with some interesting similarities to this group (if you skip the aliens part), you can look up the website Operation Clambake on the web, and read up on Scientology and cult behavior in general.
The commentaries of Dr. John Juedes (great name, eh? I'm sure the TWI Kool-Aid Club loved that!) are as succinct and accurate as anything you'll find. Google that name.
One particular bit of reading on that site worth studying - it's very short and full of useful information - is the "baloney detection kit" from Carl Sagan's THE DEMON HAUNTED WORLD: SCIENCE AS A CANDLE IN THE DARK. In fact, I'd go find a used book store and read the entire thing.
Now, maybe you're the sort of fellow who would fit right in to a hate-mongering, Stalinist cult. I don't think so, since you're smart enough to be asking questions up front, but who knows? Maybe this is the only way you can get laid; if so, you'd be better off working on that rather than getting mixed up in this bunch of deluded bizarronauts! If you decide to get on into it, I frankly would make getting laid hot and regular the MINIMUM price. But I suspect the stupidity and boringness of the entire deal will make her charms pall after a short time. 'Tis far, far easier not to enter than to get out.
And if not.... run while you can. DTMFA, as Dan Savage would say.
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waysider
Date and Switch.......common recruitment tactic of The Way.
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excathedra
oh please do explain argus if you can
thank you,
ex
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Argus
Sure. I was a bookish introvert who'd been picked on a lot in his old town in New York before moving to a small town in western NC in the 9th grade in 1974. By 9th grade, most small town school cliques are pretty well set, and I was unsure of myself and my social skills, so I mostly stayed by myself. The TWIts saw me eating by myself and reading, and invited me over to join them. Sure, why not? They then invited me to a social meeting and "forgot" to mention the Christianity angle, a right-off-the-bat giveaway even to a 15 year old that they were aware of a potential negative reaction if they were honest about what their group was based on. Kind of like Amway.
Now, I was pretty desperate for social interaction - I had problems at home with two older brothers as well, and in such a small town at that time there was nowhere to go and get away. But I had already, as a voracious reader (how my friends describe me) I had already read science writings by Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke, Issac Asimov, and a lot of SF. I knew something about cults and cult behaviors, and about outrageous claims that couldn't be verified. What little I did not know my dad filled in with a lot of strident warnings and some screaming and yelling.
TWI members said there were all kinds of miracles that could be done by accepting Christ via the TWI method; they're listed in 2nd Corinthians, yes? But somehow oh somehow, none of them could ever take place where anyone ever observed them, except of course for speaking in tongues and interpreting. Let me point out that any second-string ham actor can speak in tongues and interpret in a fashion indistinguishable from the "real" act of doing so. But the raising people from the dead? People said it had been done, but I never met anyone who had been there when it happened - they'd just HEARD about it. Of course. Typical con-man behavior; pay your money, THEN you see the miracles - maybe.
Healing. I never saw one verified illness that the healing verifiably fixed. I even came up with a scientific test - at age 15 - that TWI members refused to rise to the challenge of. A broken arm is pretty hard to fake; it's very easily and definitely diagnosed; it can be verified quickly, cheaply, and easily, beyond mistake, with a simple X-ray photo. Take a person with a broken arm. Set up a room with bright lights and cameras in all four corners and a portable X-ray machine and developer and doctors and trained, skeptical observers looking on, just like real scientists do. Take the first X-ray, develop it, hold it up to the cameras to verify the broken limb. Have the medicos verify the broken arm, the patient's identity, etc. Have the TWI healer do his or her thing, on film, in front of doctors and skeptical observers. Take a second X-ray and let the medicos take another look. If it's the same patient - uninterrupted film will belie any patient switching - and the arm is suddenly healed - a bona fide miracle occurred under circumstances that make it impossible to discount.
NOTHING COULD HAVE BEEN MORE VALUABLE TO TWI'S CAUSE THAN SUCH A FILM. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TRIVIAL IN COST AND EFFORT TO MAKE SUCH A FILM TO MY STANDARDS. Yet when the idea was posed to them, they refused, and made lots of mealy, eyes-averted excuses about why miracles don't work that way. ....! All I did was pop their pathetic little balloon of lies. I put them into a corner with their own claims, and they surrendered instead of coming back out swinging.
So, while I needed some social contact and outlets, I turned away. A pig is a pig, no matter how much lipstick you slap on it.
Subsequent events simply verified my 1976 conclusions. I didn't know about it for many years, until bored-at-work Google searches brought the later evidence in front of my eyes. Dr. Weirwille died of cancer, after teaching that true believers can't get cancer; his own death certificate is online and shows what he died of. TWI's reaction was to lie and said he died of a stroke.I didn't think the Soviet Union was supposed to be TWI's model for news dissemination! The Fog Years; L. Ron Martindale's fascinating scrambled-eggs-on-a-military-cap dictatorship style of management and eventual could-not-be-more-embarrassing-and-destrutive style of downfall; and now Rosalie Rivenbark's (or whatever that scut's name is) sad rule over the empty shell, at 4% of its peak population in 1982 or so - and still dwindling. Dr. Weirwille was basically just a white Father Divine, except with less genuine concern for his flock than Father Divine had.
I've even re-established contact with many of the twig i was in. We're friends again now, and several of them said I was right all along.
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waysider
I agree.
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Ham
Me, well, verfiable. It was only by admission of the crazed college student in Morgantown who I prayed for.. he kind of started jumping up and down in an excitable manner, claiming I cleared off his hangover..
but this is a true story..
must have been one prior heck of a night..
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Ham
The character started witnessing to his friends.. "my GAWD.. I so felt like s*it.. ".. I think it was genuine. I can generally read through nonsense.. and even then.
The then Twig Coordinator was not exactly pleased with the results..
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BikerBabe
I DO have a verified healing I can attest to! This past June I was cured of cancer ... just as soon as my surgeon removed the cancerous tumor infested thyroid of mine. Bwhahahaha. Once he cut my throat open and yanked that sucker out, no more cancer ... I was cured!!! Yep, for those curious enough, I do have pics I can share of my throat, taken a few days after the surgery before I was healed up much, showing my cut throat. They aren't bloody or gory, but plainly show where I was sliced open across the entire front of my throat.
Sorry, I *had* to post this. It called to me as I read thru the thread and once healings were mentioned. Hehe, I thought of this 'healing' of mine and thought I'd give everyone a smile and hopefully a laugh or two at my expense.
While I can laugh about it now, at the time it wasn't fun going thru surgery. Thankfully, I wasn't aware the tumor was there until after the surgery was done and over with, so I didn't have the 'cancer worry' or whatever you'd call it that so many cancer victims must deal with. God was looking out for me I feel. Losing my gallbladder the previous year to infection and then facing yet another major surgery was enough on my plate to deal with mentally. (Pre-surgery sonograms and x-rays never saw the tumor, even though it was big enough they should have.) Pathology actually found the tumor when they received the thyroid and checked it over post surgery, as they do for everyone who has something removed. They notified my surgeon who then informed me when I saw him at a post surgery visit a week or two later. He was as surprised as I was to hear there was a tumor there. We were both under the impression it was just messed up due to my Grave's Disease, but it was even worse than we ever suspected.
Anyway, here's a healing story for the thread.
*Not* exactly the type of healing meant, but as close as I can come to it. Heh. 
One thing I'd love to know -- what ever happen to the original poster? Has anyone heard from him over the past couple of years? I wonder what ever happened with him and the girl he was dating. Maybe he'll stop in one day and give us an update, I'd love to know if they are still together or not ......
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excathedra
bb, i am so very very touched and thrilled to hear of your healing
love you, e
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newlife
I was healed of cancer. I did have two surgeries......and then months later it came back....the Dr. said I had a 20% chance of living and encouraged me to admit to hospital and live out my days. God literally healed me via someone over the phone praying for me. I went back to the Dr. and she said, well, (She was a christian)I can't write on your medical record, "Healed", but you and I both know that is exactly what happened. I knew I was healed the minute I was prayed for.
God is good.....that was back in 1995 and I've not been bothered with it since.
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soul searcher
Hey, since most 'o youze seem to still be around I thought I'd say hi.
Hi. I've thought about you guys.
SS
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waysider
Hey there, SS.
Nice to "see" you.
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soul searcher
Hey Waysider. Hope you're doing well.
So...I'm having trouble remembering the greasespot café names of the 5 or 6 people here who I have as Facebook friends, including you. Are you on FB?
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