Oh, yeah. We were on the front-lines as FellowLaborers of Ohio by virtue of our geographic proximity to Int. HQ. One night, at about 3am, we were assembled as a group at limb HQ and informed that the program was being canceled immediately because, as the buffer zone (front-line defense) for HQ., we had blown it and were the reason Word Over The World was in serious jeopardy. Front-line my butt!
The way international is loaded with cliches. In reflecting on my time in the way international I have lost count of the times I was told that I was on the front-lines in the spiritual competition.
Twi's cliches.....sorta like having a shotgun in the dark.
front lines ---> battlefield scenarios
defeating the adversary ---> four fronts (and one of the enemies was ME!)
dog soldiers ---> staked to twi's "truth"
.......and then, in 1984, martindale moves all twi towards the SPIRITUAL ATHLETE, the SPIRITUAL COMPETITION
.......and then, in 1995, martindale proclaims that to reach the promised land and the prevailing word, ONE NEEDS TO CROSS THE BRIDGE.
Certainly we were taught to look on every negative thing that was said against TWI as being an attack of the adversary. Including everything that pointed out the holes in TWI dogma.
When you come to think you are on the front line of anything... you've really lost sight of the "service element" of serving fellow human beings in (Christian) love.
The way international is loaded with cliches. In reflecting on my time in the way international I have lost count of the times I was told that I was on the front-lines in the spiritual competition. I will recount some of these times following:
as an advanced class student and graduate - the adversary is gunning for those fully instructed ya know
as a fellowship coordinator - the life of the way international is at the fellowship level
as a way disciple - we really were told this often during the 6 month tenure
as staff - In the staff handbook there is a line (paraphrasing here) "Staff of the way international compete at the highest level of the spiritual competition." The context of the statement was forcing the staff to hear the Sunday teaching service each week.
as graduated way corps - Oh...we were the vanguard.
Anyone else see the pattern here?
If you are slaving away for the way international in some capacity then you are on the front lines in the spiritual competition.
That reminds me of a song we all used to sing, slightly modified for the posts sake..
"There is sunshine up my a$$ today, more glorious and bright...."
Did anyone else realize there were so many front lines in the spiritual competition? If the arena is the mind, then wouldn't it stand to reason that so many front-lines would seem to indicate schizophrenia?
IMO all of this is just another form of selling hype. It is the old "appeal to the nobler motives" that Dale Carnegie taught in his "How to Win Friends and Influence People". People want to believe that their life is making a difference. If they do not believe this, and are not sold this at every turn, especially with programs that are mundane and tedious, and with jobs that pay minimum wage, they will not do things.
I remember seeing the advertisements for working on Staff that was a special project that Rozilla had done. They were so far a departure from reality that it was laughable. However, you were required to show them. Also, in the good little Corps Nazi regime tactics, not only do you show them, but you have people write down responses to how it changed their viewpoint, and followed up with people to encourage them to submit an application. The whole thing came off like a dumbed-down sugary sweet Pollyanna version of life on Staff that did not fool people who had been around for one minute. Nobody would submit applications.
I see this mindset built into all aspects of TWI. This also is how they keep people from reading accounts here. The nature of the communication is more realistic here. It is not the dumbed down positive only sugary stuff. I guess people in TWI don't read their Bible very much. There is such a large portion of scriptures that is totally opposite to that type of mindset. Jesus Christ himself would puke at that advertisement depiction.
If you look at the whole "front lines" concept, even from their teaching perspective it makes absolutely no sense. In the DTA class, what are the 4 fronts of the adversary? Yourself, others, environment, and religion. Where exactly on earth can you go that those 4 fronts are not there? Where can you go where they exist to a greater extent than another place? Sure you can argue there are places with worse environmental climates and hot-beds of particular religions. They could and do argue that the "others" front is less in a controlled environment like Staff, and little Wayworld imitation setups. However, in reality it's 100x worse in environments like that - hundreds of brethren waiting to spy out your liberty and report on you. Political posturing over position more cruel and beyond anything you experience in the corporate world. Self-important pompous entitled @$$holes surrounding you on every side. And where can you go that you escape yourself? I guess if you're a drug addict you can go to rehab to help lessen your self-destructive tendencies. But you know, youself you just can't get past.
And that is the main problem with TWI leadership. No matter where they go, there they are. They cannot change the fruit they produce. And when the harvest comes, it will be harvested.
I remember seeing the advertisements for working on Staff that was a special project that Rozilla had done. They were so far a departure from reality that it was laughable. However, you were required to show them. Also, in the good little Corps Nazi regime tactics, not only do you show them, but you have people write down responses to how it changed their viewpoint, and followed up with people to encourage them to submit an application. The whole thing came off like a dumbed-down sugary sweet Pollyanna version of life on Staff that did not fool people who had been around for one minute. Nobody would submit applications.
Ha! The gig is up Rosie. All of the advertisements, especially the DVD, were outright lies. None of them showed what being on staff is really like. Of the sweet smell of lost credibility. Great job, Rosie and Donna! you dorks are batting a thousand!
Froggy, you did a bad thing with that link. That song/tune has been floating itself around in my head all day. Been so long since I heard it, I wouldn't have thought I'd've recognized it.
Froggy, you did a bad thing with that link. That song/tune has been floating itself around in my head all day. Been so long since I heard it, I wouldn't have thought I'd've recognized it.
to me its not bad. This stuff plays in my head randomly at times.. without much prompting..
generals suck..
well, there were a few that didn't..
Patton wasn't so bad, when he wasn't misunderstanding shell shock..
the unrelenting pounding of artillery turned some people's brain into mush..
Oh, yeah. We were on the front-lines as FellowLaborers of Ohio by virtue of our geographic proximity to Int. HQ. One night, at about 3am, we were assembled as a group at limb HQ and informed that the program was being canceled immediately because, as the buffer zone (front-line defense) for HQ., we had blown it and were the reason Word Over The World was in serious jeopardy. Front-line my butt!
omg, that's just terrible. I think about how those kinds of hideous things could have affected the real humble-hearted people who just wanted to do what's right, and then to get treated like this. This kind of BS is no more walking by the spirit of God than throwing a temper tantrum is.
One time when I was in residence at Gunnison and it hadn't rained for quite a few months (hmmm...in that dry part of the country, amazing) and Ed H. had told us a week or two before to pray for rain, and it still hadn't rained. He stood up there at the head table at this meal and ranted and raved and banged his chair on the floor in anger at us, the in residence Corpse, because we weren't believing for rain. He had told us to pray, and dammit, we weren't doing it and he knew it because it hadn't rained. And all the while I'm thinking, WTF? Do I control the weather now? and also, Why is this up to me when these supposed spiritual elders who are more spiritually mature than me can't make it rain either? Just goes to show you...poop rolls downhill. I guess they weren't on the front lines any more than we were. Nowadays, I'm perfectly happy taking a back seat. Front lines, my rosie red arse.
Why is this up to me when these supposed spiritual elders who are more spiritually mature than me can't make it rain either? Just goes to show you...poop rolls downhill. I guess they weren't on the front lines any more than we were.
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waysider
Oh, yeah. We were on the front-lines as FellowLaborers of Ohio by virtue of our geographic proximity to Int. HQ. One night, at about 3am, we were assembled as a group at limb HQ and informed that the program was being canceled immediately because, as the buffer zone (front-line defense) for HQ., we had blown it and were the reason Word Over The World was in serious jeopardy. Front-line my butt!
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skyrider
Twi's cliches.....sorta like having a shotgun in the dark.
front lines ---> battlefield scenarios
defeating the adversary ---> four fronts (and one of the enemies was ME!)
dog soldiers ---> staked to twi's "truth"
.......and then, in 1984, martindale moves all twi towards the SPIRITUAL ATHLETE, the SPIRITUAL COMPETITION
.......and then, in 1995, martindale proclaims that to reach the promised land and the prevailing word, ONE NEEDS TO CROSS THE BRIDGE.
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Ham
did anyone ever find anything on the other side?
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waysider
"I may never march in the infantry
Shoot the artillery
Fly o'er the enemy-------"
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Twinky
It's all "us and them" culture.
We're in the front line.
Everyone else is the enemy's front line.
Certainly we were taught to look on every negative thing that was said against TWI as being an attack of the adversary. Including everything that pointed out the holes in TWI dogma.
When you come to think you are on the front line of anything... you've really lost sight of the "service element" of serving fellow human beings in (Christian) love.
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Ham
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waysider
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Ham
:)
I'd say more..
digging away.. the moments that make a dull day..
fritter and wasting..
Might be off topic.. maybe not..
I've always loved that music..
I think they explored rather closely.. what drove Sid Barret into the clutches of insanity..
most of us seem to be able to emerge mostly unscathed..
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OldSkool
the hours in an offhand waay!
I love Time.
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Ham
yeah.. we end up singing the blues..
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Twinky
Floyd!!!!
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chockfull
IMO all of this is just another form of selling hype. It is the old "appeal to the nobler motives" that Dale Carnegie taught in his "How to Win Friends and Influence People". People want to believe that their life is making a difference. If they do not believe this, and are not sold this at every turn, especially with programs that are mundane and tedious, and with jobs that pay minimum wage, they will not do things.
I remember seeing the advertisements for working on Staff that was a special project that Rozilla had done. They were so far a departure from reality that it was laughable. However, you were required to show them. Also, in the good little Corps Nazi regime tactics, not only do you show them, but you have people write down responses to how it changed their viewpoint, and followed up with people to encourage them to submit an application. The whole thing came off like a dumbed-down sugary sweet Pollyanna version of life on Staff that did not fool people who had been around for one minute. Nobody would submit applications.
I see this mindset built into all aspects of TWI. This also is how they keep people from reading accounts here. The nature of the communication is more realistic here. It is not the dumbed down positive only sugary stuff. I guess people in TWI don't read their Bible very much. There is such a large portion of scriptures that is totally opposite to that type of mindset. Jesus Christ himself would puke at that advertisement depiction.
If you look at the whole "front lines" concept, even from their teaching perspective it makes absolutely no sense. In the DTA class, what are the 4 fronts of the adversary? Yourself, others, environment, and religion. Where exactly on earth can you go that those 4 fronts are not there? Where can you go where they exist to a greater extent than another place? Sure you can argue there are places with worse environmental climates and hot-beds of particular religions. They could and do argue that the "others" front is less in a controlled environment like Staff, and little Wayworld imitation setups. However, in reality it's 100x worse in environments like that - hundreds of brethren waiting to spy out your liberty and report on you. Political posturing over position more cruel and beyond anything you experience in the corporate world. Self-important pompous entitled @$$holes surrounding you on every side. And where can you go that you escape yourself? I guess if you're a drug addict you can go to rehab to help lessen your self-destructive tendencies. But you know, youself you just can't get past.
And that is the main problem with TWI leadership. No matter where they go, there they are. They cannot change the fruit they produce. And when the harvest comes, it will be harvested.
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OldSkool
Ha! The gig is up Rosie. All of the advertisements, especially the DVD, were outright lies. None of them showed what being on staff is really like. Of the sweet smell of lost credibility. Great job, Rosie and Donna! you dorks are batting a thousand!
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Twinky
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cheranne
I instantly thought of this scene when I saw this post.
The Last Samari,Tom Cruise is hired to teach these people to fight and they are NO WHERE NO WAY READY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6mr21S_QoI
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Ham
to me its not bad. This stuff plays in my head randomly at times.. without much prompting..
generals suck..
well, there were a few that didn't..
Patton wasn't so bad, when he wasn't misunderstanding shell shock..
the unrelenting pounding of artillery turned some people's brain into mush..
couldn't figure that out I guess..
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Twinky
Nonetheless, LCM as the veritable leader, is standing in the gap in his tights, and beats off all the wicked devil spirits.
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Ham
sure showed them, didn't he?
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waysider
I can't remember which class now but at one time it was taught that this concept was supposed to be an extrapolation of "The Parable Of The Sower".
Which raises the question---- Why is it alright to assign symbolistic meaning to this section of scripture and not to others?
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Broken Arrow
"Too much mind." That fits too.
Ham, you quoted this in an earlier post:
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died
And the General sat, and the lines on the map
moved from side to side
Awesome quote! What is that from?
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WordWolf
When I plugged it in to Google (which you could have done), I got this:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pink+floyd/us+them_20108709.html
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Broken Arrow
Thanks Wolf! I guess I still don't think of the 'net automatically when I need something.
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What About It
omg, that's just terrible. I think about how those kinds of hideous things could have affected the real humble-hearted people who just wanted to do what's right, and then to get treated like this. This kind of BS is no more walking by the spirit of God than throwing a temper tantrum is.
One time when I was in residence at Gunnison and it hadn't rained for quite a few months (hmmm...in that dry part of the country, amazing) and Ed H. had told us a week or two before to pray for rain, and it still hadn't rained. He stood up there at the head table at this meal and ranted and raved and banged his chair on the floor in anger at us, the in residence Corpse, because we weren't believing for rain. He had told us to pray, and dammit, we weren't doing it and he knew it because it hadn't rained. And all the while I'm thinking, WTF? Do I control the weather now? and also, Why is this up to me when these supposed spiritual elders who are more spiritually mature than me can't make it rain either? Just goes to show you...poop rolls downhill. I guess they weren't on the front lines any more than we were. Nowadays, I'm perfectly happy taking a back seat. Front lines, my rosie red arse.
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waysider
Exactly!
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